Ray Bradbury’s internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 is a masterwork of twentieth-century literature set in a bleak, dystopian future.
Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.” But then he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television. When Mildred attempts suicide and Clarisse suddenly disappears, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known. He starts hiding books in his home, and when his pilfering is discovered, the fireman has to run for his life. |
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ray bradbury short stories
"THERE WILL COME SOFT RAINS" CLOSE READING
"THE LAKE"
"THE FOGHORN"
"IS MARS HEAVEN"
"THE VELDT"
"THE PEDESTRIAN"
annotation topicsPart 1: The Heart and the Salamander
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dover beachBY MATTHEW ARNOLD
(See Part 2: Sieve and the Sand 96-97). The sea is calm tonight. The tide is full, the moon lies fair Upon the straits; on the French coast the light Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand, Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay. Come to the window, sweet is the night-air! Only, from the long line of spray Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land, Listen! you hear the grating roar Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling, At their return, up the high strand, Begin, and cease, and then again begin, With tremulous cadence slow, and bring The eternal note of sadness in. Sophocles long ago Heard it on the Ægean, and it brought Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow Of human misery; we Find also in the sound a thought, Hearing it by this distant northern sea. The Sea of Faith Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled. But now I only hear Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, Retreating, to the breath Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear And naked shingles of the world. Ah, love, let us be true To one another! for the world, which seems To lie before us like a land of dreams, So various, so beautiful, so new, Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; And we are here as on a darkling plain Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, Where ignorant armies clash by night. |
allusions
"First Fireman: Benjamin Franklin" (32).
"Play the man, Master Ridley; we this day shall light such a candle, by God's grace, in English as I trust shall never be put out" (33).
Little Black Sambo
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Hamlet
"The books are to remind us what asses and fools we are. They're Caesar's praetorian guard, whispering as the parade roars down the avenue, 'Remember, Caesar, thou art mortal'" (82).
"Oh, there are many actors alone who haven't acted Pirandello or Shaw or Shakespeare for years because their plays are too aware of the world" (83).
"Men quoting Milton? Saying I remember Sophocles?" (84)
The Book of Job
"Play the man, Master Ridley; we this day shall light such a candle, by God's grace, in English as I trust shall never be put out" (33).
Little Black Sambo
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Hamlet
"The books are to remind us what asses and fools we are. They're Caesar's praetorian guard, whispering as the parade roars down the avenue, 'Remember, Caesar, thou art mortal'" (82).
"Oh, there are many actors alone who haven't acted Pirandello or Shaw or Shakespeare for years because their plays are too aware of the world" (83).
"Men quoting Milton? Saying I remember Sophocles?" (84)
The Book of Job
assignments
Captain beatty's lecture: pages 50-60
“Writers (my kind of writers: aspiring novelists, ruminative thinkers, people whose brains don't work quick enough to blog or link or tweet, basically old, stubborn blowhards) were through. We were like women's hat makers or buggy-whip manufacturers: Our time was done.” (Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl).
Captain Beatty serves as a main source of irony in the lecture he gives to Montag about the history of firemen. While he explains that man is happiest without the conflicting, rabble rousing ideas presented in books, he is clearly well read and uses this knowledge to manipulate and confuse Montag.
Reread this lecture on pages 50-60.
Choose THREE QUOTES that capture Beatty’s main ideas. These quotes should illustrate ideas such as conformity, propaganda, lack of intellectualism, and irony.
Captain Beatty serves as a main source of irony in the lecture he gives to Montag about the history of firemen. While he explains that man is happiest without the conflicting, rabble rousing ideas presented in books, he is clearly well read and uses this knowledge to manipulate and confuse Montag.
Reread this lecture on pages 50-60.
Choose THREE QUOTES that capture Beatty’s main ideas. These quotes should illustrate ideas such as conformity, propaganda, lack of intellectualism, and irony.
graded discussion: part 1
Everyone will be given 4 cards.
Red cards are response cards. Black cards are question cards. You must use at least one card throughout the discussion in order to receive points. More cards=more points.
Questions should be about the following: big ideas/themes, important quotes, characters and relationships, connections to today.
Red cards are response cards. Black cards are question cards. You must use at least one card throughout the discussion in order to receive points. More cards=more points.
Questions should be about the following: big ideas/themes, important quotes, characters and relationships, connections to today.
part 2 article connections
Directions: Read one of the articles below and answer the following questions.
1. What is the main idea of the article?
2. What can you infer is the author's opinion of the subject of the article? (How does the author feel about what is going on in society?)
3. What is the tone of the article?
4. How does this article connect to Fahrenheit 451?
1. What is the main idea of the article?
2. What can you infer is the author's opinion of the subject of the article? (How does the author feel about what is going on in society?)
3. What is the tone of the article?
4. How does this article connect to Fahrenheit 451?
- Hooked on the Web
- From Anna to Brittany to Zawahri
- Too Posh to Push
- Banned Books #1
- Banned Books #2
- Banned Books #3
- A Candidate's Looks Count
- The New Preschool is Crushing Kids
- Our Robotic Future
- For Election Day, Twitter Ruled Social Media
- Big Data meets Big Brother as China moves to rate its citizens
- Parents' Screen Time is Hurting Kids
fishbowl: part 3 discussion
Group One Topics: Duality of fire, the phoenix, the war
Group Two Topics: Montag's change, the importance of nature
Group Three Topics: Granger and the Intellectuals, themes
Group Two Topics: Montag's change, the importance of nature
Group Three Topics: Granger and the Intellectuals, themes
Fishbowl Questions: You may use any of the questions below, in addition to your assigned topic, during your fishbowl discussion.
1. What makes a person an outcast? Is it the influence of society or the individual?
2. Who leads the happier life the individual or the conformists?
3. How should individuals be treated? Are there different rules for different types of people?
4. What do we learn about fulfillment in Fahrenheit 451?
5. What is more comfortable, equality or difference?
6. What is sadder a gain from someone’s loss or a loss from someone’s gain?
7. What is more exhausting knowing all of the answers or knowing none of the answers?
8. What is more secure, physical freedom or mental freedom?
9. Which is weaker, strength in numbers, or strength in an individual?
10. What is the message about difference vs sameness in Fahrenheit 451?
1. What makes a person an outcast? Is it the influence of society or the individual?
2. Who leads the happier life the individual or the conformists?
3. How should individuals be treated? Are there different rules for different types of people?
4. What do we learn about fulfillment in Fahrenheit 451?
5. What is more comfortable, equality or difference?
6. What is sadder a gain from someone’s loss or a loss from someone’s gain?
7. What is more exhausting knowing all of the answers or knowing none of the answers?
8. What is more secure, physical freedom or mental freedom?
9. Which is weaker, strength in numbers, or strength in an individual?
10. What is the message about difference vs sameness in Fahrenheit 451?