Fahrenheit 451: introduction & journal assignments Ms. Milton AP Language and Composition

Background on Ray Bradbury In a career spanning more than seventy years, Ray Bradbury has inspired generations of readers to dream, think, and create. A prolific author of hundreds of short stories and close to fifty books, as well as numerous poems, essays, operas, plays, teleplays, and screenplays, Bradbury was one of the most celebrated writers of our time. His groundbreaking works include Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, Dandelion Wine, and Something Wicked This Way Comes. He wrote the screen play for John Huston's classic film adaptation of Moby Dick, and was nominated for an Academy Award. He adapted sixty-five of his stories for television's The Ray Bradbury Theater, and won an Emmy for his teleplay of The Halloween Tree. In 2005, Bradbury published a book of essays titled Bradbury Speaks, in which he wrote: “In my later years I have looked in the mirror each day and found a happy person staring back. Occasionally I wonder why I can be so happy. The answer is that every day of my life I've worked only for myself and for the joy that comes from writing and creating. The image in my mirror is not optimistic, but the result of optimal behavior.”

Ray Bradbury (cont’d) Throughout his life, Bradbury liked to recount the story of meeting a carnival magician, Mr. Electrico, in 1932. At the end of his performance Electrico reached out to the twelve-year-old Bradbury, touched the boy with his sword, and commanded, Live forever! Bradbury later said, I decided that was the greatest idea I had ever heard. I started writing every day. I never stopped.

Ray Bradbury (cont’d) Ray Bradbury, recipient of the 2000 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, the 2004 National Medal of Arts, and the 2007 Pulitzer Prize Special Citation, died on June 5, 2012, at the age of 91 after a long illness. He lived in Los Angeles.

Introduction to Fahrenheit 451 Imagine a world where everything is sped up, where billboards are five times bigger than ours because the speed limit is so high, where everything you see from a car is a blur, where pedestrians don’t exist. A future populated by non-readers and non-thinkers, people with no sense of their history, where a totalitarian government has banned the written word. This is more than just a story of dictatorial censorship, it is a story that also draws parallels between entertainment and addiction, between individual avoidance of thinking and governmental means of thought prevention.

What type of novel is Fahrenheit 451? Utopian Literature Dystopian Literature Literature that describes an imaginary ideal world. Coined by Thomas More Pun on the Greek eutopia “good place” and outopia “no place” Literature that describes an imaginary world that is highly unpleasant. Greek term for “bad place” Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian novel.

Backdrop of novel’s composition Fahrenheit 451 is a social criticism that warns against the danger of suppressing thought through censorship. It uses the convention of science fiction to convey the message that oppressive government, left unchecked, does irreparable damage to society by curtailing the creativity and freedom of its people. The dystopia motif, popular in science fiction—that of a technocratic and totalitarian society that demands order at the expense of individual rights—is central to the novel. Developed in the years immediately following World War II, Fahrenheit 451 condemns not only the anti-intellectualism of Nazi Germany, but more immediately America in the early 1950’s—the heyday of McCarthyism.

War Fahrenheit 451 is set in the future, but the events of the 1950’s greatly influenced the story’s plot. WWII recently ended Atomic bombs-Nagasaki and Hiroshima Cold War-fear of communism and nuclear warfare reflected in many aspects of Western culture.

By the 1950s 60% of Americans were considered “middle class”=consumerism Electronics industry became 5th largest post-war. Television was both popular and controversial. 1956 Interstate Highway Act lead to the American automobile culture. In 10 years the number of cars on the road increased by 20 million. The American Dream

In the futuristic world of Fahrenheit 451, everything is fireproofed. In the 1950s the use of asbestos, a mixture of minerals used to make noncombustible materials, became extremely popular. The first 200 copies of Fahrenheit 451 were bound in a fireproof material. Asbestos

Censoring-when words or parts of books are “cleaned up” or completely deleted from the original novel Censorship-to change to public’s access to material based the decisions of a governing authority or its representatives. This can range from restriction to complete removal of the text from an institution Challenged-an attempt to remove or restrict materials based on the objections of a person or group. Restriction-when a book is kept from a certain audience based on the objections of a person or group. Banned –when a book completely removed from an institution because of the objections of a person or group. Defining

In the 13th c. during the Mongol invasion of Baghdad, entire libraries were burnt, and books were thrown into the Tigris River WWII Germany, thousands of books that were unapproved by the Nazi party were burned. Communist Russia and China, which rose after the war, have also banned books. Dictatorships that survived the war, such as the Soviet Union and Spain, also banned and burned books. The authors of these works were also persecuted. Book Burning

Premise of Fahrenheit 451 “The temperature at which Premise of Fahrenheit 451 “The temperature at which book paper catches fire and burns…” Setting Major Characters 24th Century Firemen set fires, not put them out Books are considered contraband Guy Montag Mildred Montag Clarisse McClellan Old Woman Captain Beatty Professor Faber

Journal Assignment 1: Read pages 1-31 Due date: October 21, 2015 Assignment value: 45 points Rubric: Student will receive five points for answering each component of each bullet assignment and five points for providing detailed evidence for each component answer. On a sheet of paper, respond to the following items providing quotes, quotations, paraphrases, and specific page numbers—details—from the novel: Describe Guy Montag and his job. Describe Clarisse McClellan. Describe Mildred. Define parlor-walls.

Journal Assignment 2: Read pages 32-65 Due date: November 2, 2015 Assignment value: 70 points Rubric: Student will receive five points for answering each component of each bullet assignment and five points for providing detailed evidence for each component answer. On a sheet of paper, respond to the following items providing quotes, quotations, paraphrases, and specific page numbers—details—from the novel: Describe the way life used to be in this town. Describe Captain Beatty. Describe the mechanical hound. Describe why the old woman lights a match. Describe why the alarms were to always ring at night. Describe the lie Captain Beatty tells Montag. Describe what happens to Clarisse.

Journal Assignment 3: Read pages 67-85 Due date: November 9, 2015 Assignment value: 45 points Rubric: Student will receive five points for answering each component of each bullet assignment and five points for providing detailed evidence for each component answer. On a sheet of paper, respond to the following items providing quotes, quotations, paraphrases, and specific page numbers—details—from the novel: Describe Faber. Describe the three elements missing from Faber’s life. Describe the plan Montag and Faber devise.

Journal Assignment 4: Read pages 87-130 Due date: November 16, 2015 Assignment value: 30 points Rubric: Student will receive five points for answering each component of each bullet assignment and five points for providing detailed evidence for each component answer. On a sheet of paper, respond to the following items providing quotes, quotations, paraphrases, and specific page numbers—details—from the novel: Describe the informant on Montag’s home. Describe what happens to Captain Beatty. Describe why Montag takes some of Faber’s dirty clothes with him.

Journal Assignment 5: Read pages 131-158 Due date: December 2, 2015 Assignment value: 60 points Rubric: Student will receive five points for answering each component of each bullet assignment and five points for providing detail evidence for each component answer. On a sheet of paper, respond to the following items providing quotes, quotations, paraphrases, and specific page numbers—details—from the novel: Describe what the railroad tracks mean to Montag. Describe what was different about the fire Montag saw after leaving the river. Describe why the camera identified an innocent man as Montag. Describe what was different about the hobos Montag met. Describe what happened to the city during the war. Describe the mission Montag and the intellectuals took on once the war ended.