| "FAHRENHEIT 451"
Author: Ray Bradbury
Interest Level: Upper Grades (9-12)
ATOS Reading Level: 5.2
AR Points: 7.0
Publisher Recommended Age:
Publisher: Random/Del Rey
Book Type: Trade Paperback
Pages: 179
Book Description:
"The system was simple. Everyone understood it. Books were for burning, along with the houses in which they were hidden."
Guy Montag was a fireman whose job it was to start fires. And he enjoyed his job. He had been a fireman for ten years, and he had never questioned the pleasure of the midnight runs nor the joy of watching pages consumed by flames...never questioned anything until he met a seventeen-year-old girl who told him of a past when people were not afraid.
Then Guy met a professor who told him of a future in which people could think. And Guy Montag suddenly realized what he had to do...
Background and History of "Fahrenheit 451":
Fahrenheit 451 was first published in 1953.
The novel presents a future American society in which the masses are hedonistic ("Hedonism" is where pleasure is the most important pursuit) and critical thought through reading is outlawed. The central character, Guy Montag, is employed as a "fireman" (which, in this future, means "book burner"). The number "451" refers to the temperature (in Fahrenheit) at which the books burn when the "firemen" burn them "for the good of humanity". Written in the early years of the Cold War, the novel is a critique of what Bradbury saw as an increasingly dysfunctional American society.
The concept for "Fahrenheit 451" began with Bradbury's short story "Bright Phoenix," written in 1947 but first published in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1963. The original short story was reworked into the novella, "The Fireman", and published in the February 1951 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction. The novel was also serialized in the March, April, and May 1954 issues of Playboy magazine. Bradbury wrote the entire novel on a pay typewriter in the basement of UCLA's Powell library.
His original intention in writing "Fahrenheit 451" was to show his great love for books and libraries. He has often referred to Montag as an allusion to himself.
Over the years, the novel has been subject to various interpretations, primarily focusing on the historical role of book burning in suppressing dissenting ideas. Bradbury has stated that the novel is not about censorship; he states that "Fahrenheit 451" is a story about how television destroys interest in reading literature, which leads to a perception of knowledge as being composed of "factoids", partial information devoid of context. For example, Napoleon's birth date alone is a factoid when there is not an indication of who he was.
A movie version of the novel was released in 1966, and it is anticipated that a second version will begin filming in 2008. At least two BBC Radio 4 dramatizations have also been aired, both of which follow the book very closely.
Themes: Individual vs Society, Conformity vs Rebellion, the Importance of Literature, Propaganda, Censorship, Political Correctness, Knowledge vs Ignorance, Technology, Religion, Apathy, Disintegration of Society, Hope, and Reformation of Society.
About the Author:
Ray Bradbury is America's foremost writer of science fiction and fantasy. Among his most popular adult books are Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, Dandelion Wine, and Death is a Lonely Business. In addition, he has written several books for children, including Switch on the Night.
He lives in Los Angeles. |
