Fahrenheit 451

Bradbury, R. (1967). Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0671239775

Plot Summary

                    Guy Montag is a fireman in a futuristic world – a world in which television and electronic entertainment are all that matter, and books are banned.  Firemen are no longer responsible for putting out fires, but rather for starting them for the purpose of burning contraband books and the houses in which they are found.  Life with his television-obsessed wife seems satisfying enough until he meets a young girl who thinks differently than anyone he’s ever met.  She ignites his mind with stories of the beauty found in books and a past in which people were unafraid to live life however they wanted to.  The girl soon disappears and in her wake, Montag finds that he has changed in lasting and dangerous ways.  Suddenly he is irresistibly drawn to the very books he is meant to destroy and, despite everything he has been taught, he begins a secret collection in his house.  To his own continuing shock, Montag has chosen to live his life contrary to law and to the status quo, and for this he will reap both great reward and great consequences – but no matter what, he will be free.

Critical Analysis

                       This book is truly a classic, the work of a rebel and a visionary.  Bradbury tackles major themes such as societal repression and conformity, freedom of speech and information, and censorship by showing readers a futuristic world in which books are illegal and the surface happiness of television and electronic entertainment are all that matter.  The evolution of Montag’s character is the engine of the entire story.  In the beginning he accepts what he has without questioning it – indeed, questioning the status quo would not even have occurred to him.  But after his conversation with Clarisse, it is as though his eyes have been opened and he cannot close them again.  Much to his shock, Montag discovers himself, one of the book burners, one of the people enforcing this status quo, to be a dissident.  Suddenly he can see how empty his wife is, how nonexistent their relationship, and how little depth there is to the glossy surface of entertainment.  This is more of less the coming of age story of an adult man.  The reader is anxious for Montag as he begins collecting books, and must watch helplessly as he makes the terrible mistake of showing his wife his entire illegal library and putting himself at risk.  Montag, for all his strength and brawn and the power of fire that he wields, is achingly vulnerable.  The surrounding characters are just as compelling.  His wife is a ghost.  The night she overdoses on sleeping pills and is brought back, followed by the morning after when she remembers nothing, and her dependence on her television family, shows just how completely she has checked out of this world.  Captain Beatty serves as the reasonable voice defending the world the way it is, and although his opinions are appalling at times, he is not an unintelligent character, meaning the reader may almost identify with his points sometimes.  There is the dreamy and fearless Clarisse who serves as catalyst for the entire story.  And of course there is Faber, the English professor who helps Montag cope with his new viewpoints and points him down the road of revolution and escape.  Written with an urgency and momentum to the prose that echoes Montag’s desperation as his life completely crumbles and must be rebuilt, this book is deeply affecting both as a work of fiction and a cautionary tale for the future of our society.

Reader’s Annotation

                              Montag is a fireman who burns books and the houses of the people who own them in this futuristic society that has banned reading outright.  But after his viewpoints change thanks to a girl who refuses to follow the status quo, he must cope with his new life as a revolutionary and his new mission to bring down the system from within.

About the Author

                           Ray Bradbury was born in Illinois and graduated in 1938 from a high school in Los Angeles.  He did not continue on to college, but rather worked odd jobs such as selling newspapers on the street.  He spent his spare time in the public library and sitting at a typewriter, working on novels and short stories.  His first collection of short stories was published in 1947, but it was in 1950 with the publication of The Martian Chronicles that his career really took off.  Until she passed away in 2003, Bradbury lived in Los Angeles with his wife and many cats.

                          Bradbury has published over 30 books and nearly 600 short stories.  He has won such prestigious awards as the O. Henry Memorial Award, the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction Writers of America, among many others.  He has adapted many of his short stories into plays and animated films, and has served as a consultant on projects such as the United States Pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair and the conception of the Orbitron space ride at Euro-Disney, France.

Genre

        Crossover

Challenge Issues

                          Possible challenge issues in this book include civil disobedience, anti-government sentiments, bible burning, and mild profanity.   In the event of a challenge, I would consult the challenge defense file prepared for this book.  The challenge defense file would include: positive reviews from credible sources for the purpose of proving merit to the challenger; negative reviews in order to inform me on what might be challenged; a written explanation of my own rationale for including the book in the collection as well as a summary of the plot; the American Library Association Bill of Rights; a review of my branch’s selection policy; and, as a last resort, an explanation of the reconsideration policy for my library and an official reconsideration form.

Curriculum Ties

                        English and Writing, or Social Studies:  for English and Writing, prose, imagery, and character development; for Social Studies, civil disobedience and political oppression.    

Booktalk

                 What if you weren’t allowed to read?  Ray Bradbury creates a society in which books are banned and television is king, and not good television – imagine the reality television of today, but that’s all there is to watch, and it’s constant, and there’s no escape.  Fahrenheit 451 shows you what it would be like to live in this kind of world, and what happens when the characters rebel against it.

Reading Level and Interest Age

                                              Grade 7-12, and infinitely beyond.

                                                  

Why I Included This Book

                                       This book is absolutely a classic, written for adults, but very popular with young adults.  The themes of civil disobedience, oppression, and attacking the system are perennial for all ages but of particular interest to teenagers, most of whom are beginning to examine values they may have once taken for granted.  Also the feelings of fear and uncertainty Montag experiences as he sites his thrilling rebellion are very relatable to teenagers.  This book is a quick read but very weighty in its issues.  When I read it around age eleven it blew my mind.  It belongs in every library.

References

Ray Bradbury (n.d.). About Ray Bradbury.  Retrieved from http://www.raybradbury.com/bio.html