1. Fahrenheit 451
By Ray Bradbury

2. Ray Bradbury Biography
Born August 22, 1920 in Illinois
Mother was Swedish Father worked for Electric Company
Grandfather was a newspaper publisher

3. Ray Bradbury Biography
Bradbury was 12 when he went to the Carnival in He met Mr. Electrico who “ touch him with an electrified sword, made his hair stand on end, and shouted ‘Live Forever’”! Bradbury began writing after this incident…. He wanted to blend literature and science.

4. Ray Bradbury Biography
Ray moved to Los Angeles when he was 13. He graduated from LA High, but did not go to college. He sold newspapers and wrote stories in the UCLA library basement.

5. Ray Bradbury Biography
1938 Bradbury published his first Science Fiction story (earned $15). He married in 1947 and had 4 daughters. He published Fahrenheit 451 in 1953.

6. Historical Context
Bradbury wrote in the 1950’s anti- conservatism / post – modernism / disillusionment. He was influenced by WWII and science of atomic bombs. Who else wrote in this context?

7. Setting
Setting is a futuristic American town. Why is the setting so vague?

8. Main Characters
Guy Montag – protagonist, fire man Mildred Montag – married to Guy, vapid conformist Clarisse McClellan - non conformist, teenage neighbor who is the catalyst for change Captain Beatty – chief of the fire dept., an enigma

9. Main Characters
Mechanical Hound – robotic dog Mrs. Blake’s neighbor – a martyr who burns house Faber – retired, non conformist English professor Granger – leader of “rebels”

10. Important Themes Dystopia vs. Utopia Conformity vs. Non conformity
Censorship
Reactions to Technology

11. Utopia Plato’s Republic Sir Thomas More, Utopia, 1516
(1) An ideal place that does not exist in reality. It possessed a perfect socio-political system. (2) A work about such a place
Height of the genre nineteenth-century Anglo-American literature

12. Distopia
The opposite of utopia: A horrific place that does not exist in reality.
A society in a repressive and controlled state (often under the guise of creating a utopia).

13. 1984 George Orwell

14. The Handmaid’s Tale Margaret Atwood