Meet the author of Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury Meet the author of Fahrenheit 451

BOA Bell ringer: Discussion of the Bradbury quote. Objectives: Students will examine Bradbury’s motivation to write Fahrenheit 451. Agenda: Bell ringer Power point Closure: journal entry

His wise words…

“Live Forever!” When Ray was not yet a teenager in 1932, he was captivated by a carnival sideshow featuring an enthusiastic magician. When Mr. Electrico finished his act, he raised his sword and touched the boy, instructing him to go forth and “Live forever!”

Immortality “I decided that was the greatest idea I had ever heard,” remembered Bradbury. “I started writing every day. I never stopped.” And thereby he did gain, over his 91 years, a kind of immortality! The Martian Chronicles Something Wicked This Way Comes The Illustrated Man

The Fireman In the early 1950’s, with a young family, Bradbury sought refuge from the commotion at home by venturing to UCLA’s library, where he discovered a basement room with 12 typewriters in it that you could rent for ten cents a half-hour. Bradbury went to the bank, got a bag full of dimes and returned to the library. With $9.80 worth of half hours behind him, he had completed the short story “The Fireman,” which he would later expand into his 1953 masterpiece Fahrenheit 451.

Fahrenheit 451 So the most famous novel ever written about book burning was conceived amidst thousands of books in a library.

Science fiction genre What if? If only… If this goes on… “If this goes on..” asks what would happen if that thing, that one thing, became bigger, changed the way we thought and behaved. EX. If this goes on… all communication everywhere will be through text messages or computers, and direct speech between two people, without a machine, will be outlawed.

Intro to Fahrenheit 451 Written by Neil Gaiman, a current popular sci-fi writer for children, young adults, and adults He’s written 50+ books!

This is a book of warning! “It is a reminder that what we have is valuable, and that sometimes we take what we value for granted.” -Neil Gaiman (Introduction to Fahrenheit 451)

Speculative fiction “It’s an If this goes on…story. Ray Bradbury was writing about his present, which is our past. He was warning us about things; some of those things are obvious, and some of them, half a century later, are harder to see.”

History of the time that this book is written (1950’s) Radio is waning and the exciting new medium of television is becoming popular. “idiot box” News channels in America warned of juvenile delinquents. Cold War was going on between Russia and America-no bombs/ Third World War. Senate hearings to root out Communist/stamp out comic books.

Families gather around the T.V. “The joke in the 1950’s…in the old days you could tell who was home by seeing if the lights were on; now you knew who was home by seeing who had their lights off. The televisions were small and the pictures were in black and white and your needed to turn off the light to get a good picture.”

“If this goes on… Thought Ray Bradbury, nobody will read books anymore, and Fahrenheit 451 began!” “When the book was published, people love it and they argued about it. It was a novel about censorship,… about mind control, about humanity. About government control of our lives. About books.”

Think for yourself! “Fahrenheit 451 became a book about independence. It was about treasuring books and the dissent inside the covers of books. It was about how we as humans begin by burning books and end by burning people.” to differ in sentiment or opinion, especially from the majority

Bradbury’s questions remain valid: Why do we need the things in books? The poems, the essays, the stories? Why should we read them? Why should we care?

Ideas, written ideas, are special! “They are the way we transmit our stories and our thoughts from one generation to the next. If we lose them, we lose our shared history. We lose much of what makes us human. Fiction gives us empathy: it puts us inside the minds of other people, gives us the gift of seeing the world through their eyes.” Gaiman

Those who can read, should read!

Bradbury’s definition of a book “We should not judge our books by their covers, and that some books exist between covers that are perfectly people-shaped.” Take advantage of your freedom to read and enjoy books!

Study guide answers! 1. What does the author indicate about the importance of the number 451 and the fireman’s job? The Title page of this edition says that 451 degrees Fahrenheit is “The temperature at which book paper catches fire, and burns…” By saying that Montag, who is a “fireman,” wears the “symbolic helmet numbered 451,” Bradbury is stressing the IRONY that Montag’s job as a fireman is to burn things, rather than to save them from burning.

Study guide answers! 2. How does this introduction go against conventional wisdom and signal to the reader that a different value system will be introduced? We think of firemen as putting out fires, but this fireman starts them; he burns books, one of the most important aspects of a civilized society. By going against society’s usual values, the author will make the reader consider his or her own values.

Closure OPTIONS (A and B) Respond to ONE of the following prompts in your journal. Your response should be at least one full paragraph (5-7 sentences): A. Gaiman mentions that Fahrenheit 451 is a novel that made him think when he read it as a teenager. What are some short stories, novels, or even movies that have made you think? What issues did they raise? What about them made you question the norm? B. Gaiman tells us in the intro that we need to imagine the past, the period of the 1950s in which Ray Bradbury was writing, in order to understand the vision of the future that he creates in Fahrenheit 451. What other stories or novels, or even movies, have you experienced that depicted a time period with which you were unfamiliar (most likely the past)? What did you learn about that time period from the story, novel, or movie?

Closure (Options c, d, and e) C. What books have inspired you or at least impacted your life in a significant way? Explain. D. Cinema has its own kind of power, which can also be life-changing or at least inspiring. What movies have inspired you? Explain. E. Film adaptations of books must often by necessity condense or change specific plot points or characters. What are the differences between the book you have read and the movie version of that book?

For tomorrow…. If your smart device has a QR code scanning app, please bring it along tomorrow!