1. Background Information And History
Fahrenheit 451
Background Information
And History

2. What a Man
Born: August 22, 1920
Began reading Science Fiction at the age of eight
Began writing at the age of eleven
Formal education ended after high school
“Spent his nights in the public library and his days on the typewriter”
“On the lawn one night when I was 12 years old, and I looked at the planet Mars, and I said, ‘Take me home,’ and the planet Mars took me home, and I never came back.” - The Big Read

3. What a Man 1943: Became a full time writer
1950: The Martian Chronicles
Wrote for The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Helped design a ride for Disney World
Crater named on the moon to honor him
30 books, 600 short stories, numerous poems, essays, and plays

4. A lot to admire… Published short stories in 2007 Comicon
Star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame

5. We’re reading Playboy
Fahrenheit 451 was published in the second, third, and fourth issues of Playboy magazine. Bradbury sold it to them for only $400!

6. Influence of the Time
Following WWII, Americans enjoyed the immediate comfort and enjoyment of victory
Late summer of 1949, the Soviet Union detonated its first atomic bomb giving Americans a case of the jitters
Fear of war and death
Fear of communism
McCarthyism

7. Influence of the Time McCarthyism 1940-1950s
The nation became concerned with America turning into a communist country
Why?
“Don’t criticize the United States”
“Don’t be different”
“Just conform”
Lives were ruined because of the pressure to conform to what the US wanted its citizens to be

8. Directions
Look at the following pictures of inventions and advancements of the 1950’s
What impact did each one have on the average American’s life?
What concerns might someone living at that time have about all these changes?
If you lived at that time, what would you predict the future to look like based on what life was like in the 1950’s?

9. 1950: Telephone Answering Machine created by Bell Laboratories and Western Electric

10. 1951:UNIVAC 1 First commercial computer.

11. 1953: TV color broadcasting began
Television is no longer for the wealthy. The average American can own one too.

12. Influence of the Time Television 1946: 7,000 TV sets in America
1950: 4.4 million TV sets in America
“Soaps” became popular and stressed conformity
Family time became less valued as obsession with the television increased
“By 1959 the average US family was sitting before the same box some six hours a day, seven days a week” (TIME 250)
“From age five to eighteen, an American child watches approximately fifteen thousand hours of TV – 30 percent more than the number of hours spent in school” (Perkinson 9)

13. 1950 Zenith introduces “Lazy Bones” tuning
By 1955, they came out with a wireless version

14. Swanson introduces TV Dinners
Why would such a product sell?

15. Suburbs sprang up during the 1950’s
Why do you think they multiplied so quickly during this decade?
What do you notice about the houses?

16. Levittown, PA: ca 1957
On the surface, everything looks perfect and orderly, but the residents of Levittown were constantly distraught by lingering rumors of war.
Built by Levitt and Sons….6 models to choose from…..moderately priced and required only a small down payment….public
With the looming Cold War, “Everyone was learning that the world could be destroyed with the push of a button” (NEA 16)

17. Influence of the Time Conformity
Suburbs began to develop outside of big cities with look-alike houses
Hairstyles, clothing, thinking, and behavior were becoming quite standardized
Mass media
Suburbs contributed to competition and the need to be alike…people started spending more time with their neighbors (BBQs, Girl/Boy Scouts, Dance lessons, etc)

18. History Repeats Itself?
Nazi Book-Burning
“Where they burn books, they will, in the end, burn human beings too” Heinrich Heine (1822)
Cleansing of the “un-German spirit”
Article Notes
Ray was 15 years old at the time
“So I learned then how dangerous it all was, because if you didn’t have books and the ability to read, you couldn’t be part of any civilization. If you don’t know how to read, you don’t know how to decide.

19. “There are worse crimes than burning books
“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.”

20. Purpose statements
At the conclusion of the novel, you will be asked to write a handful of purpose statements.
What is a purpose statement?
Examples from To Kill a Mockingbird:
Justice:
Bravery:
Discrimination:
Respect
Purpose statements for Fahrenheit 451
Censorship
Government Control
Entertainment
Relationships
Happiness