On August 22, 1920, Ray Douglas Bradbury was born in Waukegan, Illinois. During the Great Depression his father lost his job in Illinois and the Bradbury family was forced to leave their home in Waukegan to finally settle in southern California in 1934. Four years later, Bradbury graduated from Los Angeles High School. In school, …
Beatty, explaining the history of censorship and periods of human education: “Out of the nursery into the college and back to the nursery; theres your intellectual pattern for the past five centuries of more.” Beatty, touting the role of technology in mans aim to abolish individual thought: “The zipper displaces the button and a man …
The theme of Ray Bradburys Fahrenheit 451 can be viewed from several different angles. First and foremost, Bradburys novel gives an anti-censorship message. Bradbury understood censorship to be a natural outcropping of an overly tolerant society. Once one group objects to something someone has written, that book is modified and censorship begins. Soon, another minority …
Salamander: The Salamander insignia represents the firemen of Bradburys brave new world. Bradbury uses the Salamander to exemplify the decrepit nature of the government. This society, like a salamander, has sunk into the depths of depravity, and now, though seemingly modern, is really more primitive than ever. Seashells: The seashells, or ear-radios, are used to …
Guy Montag Montag is the protagonist of Bradburys novel. Though at the beginning of the story he is little more than a fireman who lives without thinking or feeling, by the end of the novel, he is transformed into a true human-someone who realizes the value of knowledge. He changes from a fireman dedicated to …
What follows is Bradburys intense account of Montags struggle to lose the Hound. Despite being sought by the Mechanical Hound, the helicopters, and twenty million television viewers instructed to look for the fugitive fireman, Montag is able to find the river, which we follows for some time before reaching safety on land. Now safe, Montag …
Finally, Montag reaches Fabers house. The old man is shocked to see him alive, after losing the ear-piece that was their only connection. Montag quickly fills Faber in on his recent actions, scarcely believing his own words. “My God, how did this happen?” he says. “It was only the other night everything was fine and …
Remembering to pick up the books that he had hid in the garden, Montag limps away from his burning house, hearing police sirens approaching. Suddenly Montag comes to the realization the Beatty wanted to die. He reflects over Beattys demeanor just before his death, “How strange, strange, to want to die so much that you …
Now in front of Montags house, Beatty drops all pretenses of being kind. He refers to Clarisse as “that little idiot,” blaming Montag for accepting her philosophy of life. Soon, Mildred rushes out of the house, muttering to herself about her lost “family.” As she scurries into a waiting car, Montag asks her if she …
Soon, Montag becomes so bold with the ladies that he begins to read them poetry from one of his books. This is a traumatic experience for the women, one of whom starts to cry. Though Montag destroys the book afterwards, to make it seem as though he was simply demonstrating the silliness of poetry, the …
