FAHRENHEIT 451

CENSORSHIP

• Owning and reading books is illegal
• If you are caught with books they will be burned
• Fast cars,loud music, and massive advertisements create an over stimulated society

IGNORANCE/KNOWLEDGE

• Montag,in his belief that knowledge reigns, fights against a society that embraces and celebrates ignorance.
• The fireman's responsibility is to burn books, and therefore destroy knowledge.

LIFE/DEATH

• Mildred attempts suicide by swallowing sleeping pills
• Many people die in the book
• The old woman burns herself to death, Clarisse is killed by a speeding car, Beatty is killed by Montag with the flamethrower, and the Mechanical Hound kills an innocent man

TECHNOLOGY

• Technology is highly advanced in the book
• TV screens take up an entire parlor room walls
• Characters can speak directly to the listener, saying his or her name.

QUOTES

• "You weren't there, you didn't see," he said. "There must be something in books, things we can't imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don't stay for nothing."
• "It took some man a lifetime maybe to put some of his thoughts down, looking around at the world and life, and then I came along in two minutes and boom! it's all over."

SUMMARY

• Set in the 24th century, Fahrenheit 451 tells the story of the protagonist, Guy Montag. At first, Montag takes pleasure in his profession as a fireman, burning illegally owned books and the homes of their owners. However, Montag soon begins to question the value of his profession and, in turn, his life.

CONFLICT

• The main conflict is the conflict between man and society. Guy Montag, the main character in the story, is a firefighter who starts fires at houses where books are stored instead of putting fires out.

SETTING

• In a suburban city in the twenty first century. The main character, Montag, lives in a dark empty house just like everyone else

AWARDS

• In 1954, Fahrenheit 451 won the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature and the Commonwealth Club of California Gold Medal.It has since won the Prometheus "Hall of Fame" Award in 1984 and a 1954 "Retro" Hugo Award, one of only four Best Novel Retro Hugos ever given, in 2004.Bradbury was honored with a Spoken Word Grammy nomination for his 1976 audiobook version.