1. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Historical Context and Background Information
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

2. WWII
Nazi & fascist censorship and book burning runs rampant during WWII.
The Nazi goal was to bring all elements of culture, including literature, “in line” with Nazi goals and ideas.
In the 1930s, teenaged Bradbury is appalled by watching these book burnings on TV.

3. May 10, 1933
The largest and most famous Nazi book burning took place on May 10, 1933 in Berlin.

4. May 10, 1933
Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda, organized the effort and received support from German student organizations.

5. May 10, 1933
On April 6, a German university student organization announced a nationwide “Action against the Un-German Spirit,” to climax in a literary purge or “cleansing” (Säuberung) by fire.

6. May 10, 1933
Local chapters of the organization were to provide books and pamphlets to burn, blacklists of authors, find Nazi speakers, and get radio coverage.

7. May 10, 1933
In a symbolic act of ominous significance, on May 10, 1933, university students burned upwards of 25,000 volumes of “un-German” books, presaging an era of state censorship and control of culture.
Over 40,000 people gathered to watch the burning and hear Goebbels deliver an address.
This was Hitler’s first year in power.

8. May 10, 1933 Thousands of authors were on the burn list.
Some large book burnings took place in the days following the May 10 burning, and the censorship and book burning continued under the Nazi regime.

9. Nazi Book Burning
Click here for a video about Nazi book burning.

10. The 1950’s
Although Fahrenheit 451 is set in a futuristic society, it is anchored (and was written) in the 1950s. The book was published in 1953.
Post-WWII U.S. was known for its productivity, affluence, and social conformity.
The economy was strong.

11. The 1950’s
New technologies like TV, air travel, and the transistor brought the future to the front stoop.
With improved roads and cars, the suburbs arrived in the U.S.

12. The 1950’s
Although there was prosperity and exciting new technology, there were also problems.
Tens of thousands of Americans died in the Korean War.
The larger Cold War was a source of anxiety and fear.
Governments had nuclear weapons and Americans (fueled by figures like Joseph McCarthy) lived in fear of Communism.

13. The 1950’s
Censorship was alive and well in America as the press assailed Communists, comic books were deemed “subversive” by parents and educators, and any “suspicious” activity could lead to persecution.

14. The 1950’s
Social and psychological problems like these were addressed in Fahrenheit 451.

15. Science Fiction
Although it has roots much older, science fiction started growing in popularity in the U.S. in the 1920s. A young Ray Bradbury became interested in science fiction and was inspired in his writing.
The futuristic technologies of the 1950s, along with the arms race and space race, led to science fiction becoming increasingly popular.

16. Science Fiction
Future visions of technology and science are essential to these stories.
Common subjects have come to include robotics, aliens, time travel, biological experiments, and apocalyptic disaster.

17. Science Fiction
Although a branch of fantasy, science fiction often makes philosophical statements about our current existence.

18. Science Fiction
Over time, science fiction has presented not only some of the greatest stories in modern literature but has foreseen many developments that define the contemporary world.

19. Science Fiction
Writers such as George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, Kurt Vonnegut, and Michael Crichton have, like Bradbury, practiced social criticism and sometimes prophecy that has made them favorites around the world.

20. A look at the author – Ray Bradbury.
Novelist
Short Story Writer
Essayist
Playwright
Screenwriter
Poet
A look at the author – Ray Bradbury.

21. Early Life Born August 22, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois.
As a child, he was a huge fan of magicians and a voracious reader of adventure and fantasy fiction—especially L. Frank Baum, Jules Verne and Edgar Rice Burroughs.
He decided to become a writer at age 12.
Jules Verne- Journey to the Center of the Earth, Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Around the World in Eighty Days
Frank Baum- Wizard of Oz
Edgar Ride Burroughs- Princess of Mars, Tarzan, The Land that Time Forgot

22. Early Life
After graduating from high school in 1938, Bradbury couldn't afford to go to college, so he went to the local library instead.
"Libraries raised me," he said. "When I graduated from high school, it was during the Depression, and we had no money. I couldn't go to college, so I went to the library three days a week for 10 years."
Jules Verne- Journey to the Center of the Earth, Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Around the World in Eighty Days
Frank Baum- Wizard of Oz
Edgar Ride Burroughs- Princess of Mars, Tarzan, The Land that Time Forgot

23. Career
To support himself while he wrote, Bradbury sold newspapers.
He published his first short story in 1938, the same year he graduated from high school.

24. Career
Bradbury sold his first professional piece, the story "Pendulum," in November 1941, just a month before the United States entered World War II.
Bradbury became a full- time writer by early 1943.

25. Career
In 1950, Bradbury published his first major work, The Martian Chronicles, which detailed the conflict between humans colonizing the red planet and the native Martians they encountered there.
While taken by many to be a work of science fiction, Bradbury himself considered it to be fantasy.
"I don't write science fiction," he said. "Science fiction is a depiction of the real. Fantasy is a depiction of the unreal...”

26. Career In 1953 he published his best- known work, Fahrenheit 451.
In all, Bradbury published more than 30 books, close to 600 short stories, and numerous poems, essays, and plays.
Ray Bradbury died June 5, He was 91.

27. Bradbury on writing, learning, and F451.
conversation with ray bradbury

28. the temperature at which paper catches fire.
Fahrenheit 451:
the temperature at which paper catches fire.

29. Imagine a world where everything is sped up, where billboard are 5x bigger than outs because the speed limit is so high, where everything you see from a car is a blur, where pedestrians don’t exist.

30. Imagine a future populated by non-readers and non-thinkers, people with no sense of their history, where a totalitarian government has banned the written word.

31. The Future & Books
Montag & other firemen burn books, which are now considered illegal to own or read.
Fahrenheit 451 is a novel that warns against the danger of suppressing thought through censorship.
Set in the 24th Century.
Fahrenheit 451 tells the story of Guy Montag, a 31-year-old fireman whose job is to set fires, not put them out.

32. People want more and faster technology.
Messaging that enable us to “speak” to faceless stranger, comprehensive cell phone networks, cars with internet access, devices that can be taken anywhere.
People seem petrified of wasting time and being “disconnected” …

33. Fast cars, loud music, & too many ads
Bradbury believed that the presence of fast cars, loud music, and a constant barrage of advertisements created a life with far too much stimulation. A life where no one had the TIME or ABILITY to think and concentrate.

34. TOO, TOO MUCH …
Bradbury felt people regarded the huge mass of published material as too overwhelming, leading to a society that read condensed books rather than the real thing.

35. Censorship
Censorship is a key theme in Fahrenheit 451. Books are burned because they trigger discontent and thought. Two things not wanted in a “happiness oriented” society.

36. Don’t blame the government …
One of the most chilling aspects of this society is that seems the people themselves wanted books censored. So many different groups wanted certain books banned that ultimately, most books became threats to the happiness of society.

37. Censorship today
Look at headlines today. Many school districts must fight again those who wish to take certain reading material out of the schools. Libraries must fight to keep certain reading material available for all.

38. Bradbury’s Predictions …
In Fahrenheit 451, society had abandoned books in favor of hollow entertainment and instant gratification. Can you think of any shows on TV today that fit this category?

39. HUGE TV’s in every room
Every home has a TV that fills the walls, the shows presented seem a lot like our “reality” TV shows. How far are we from Bradbury’s broadcast TV “families?”

40. The Staggering Statistics …
33% of high school graduates never
read another book for the rest of their lives.
42% of college graduates never read another book after college.
57% of new books are not read to completion.
80% of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.
70% of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last 5 years.

41. The Staggering Statistics …
There are over 17,000 radio stations
& over 2,000 TV Stations in the U.S.
Every day in the U.S., people spend on average 4.7 hours watching TV, 3 hours listening to the radio/music, and 14 minutes reading a magazine.
Individuals (12 & older) will spend 1,750 hours watching television this year.
The average child sees 20, second TV commercials every year.

42. The Staggering Statistics …
59% of Americans can name
The Three Stooges
17% of Americans can name
at least 3 justices of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Children (2-17) spend an average of
19 hours, 40 minutes watching TV
every week.
56% of children (8-16) have a TV in their bedroom.
Children develop brand loyalty by age 2

43. What do each of these pictures say about us as a society today?

44. Ray Bradbury on Fahrenheit 451