8. Fahrenheit 451 (1953) by Ray Bradbury About the book First published in 1953, Fahrenheit 451 is a classic novel set in the future when books forbidden by a totalitarian regime are burned. The hero, a book burner, suddenly discovers that books are flesh and blood ideas that cry out silently when put to the torch. Guy Montag was a fireman whose job it was to start fires.... The system was simple. Everyone understood it. Books were for burning...along with the houses in which they were hidden. Guy Montag enjoyed his job. He had been a fireman for ten years, and he had never questioned the pleasure of the midnight runs nor the joy of watching pages consumed by flames...never questioned anything until he met a seventeen-yearold girl who told him of a past when people were not afraid. Then he met a professor who told him of a future in which people could think...and Guy Montag suddenly realized what he had to do.
About the author Ray Bradbury was one of those rare individuals whose writing changed the way people think. His more than 500 published works—short stories, novels, plays, screenplays, television scripts, and verse—exemplify the American imagination at its most creative. Once read, his words are never forgotten. His best-known and most beloved books—The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, Fahrenheit 451, and Something Wicked This Way Comes—are masterworks that readers carry with them over a lifetime. His timeless, constant appeal to audiences young and old has proven him to be one of the truly classic authors of the 20th Century—and the 21st. Ray Bradbury's work has been included in several Best American Short Story collections. He won countless awards and honors for his work (see below). On the occasion of his 80th birthday in August 2000, Bradbury said, "The great fun in my life has been getting up every morning and rushing to the typewriter because some new idea has hit me. The feeling I have every day is very much the same as it was when I was twelve. In any event, here I am, eighty years old, feeling no different, full of a great sense of joy, and glad for the long life that has been allowed me. I have good plans for the next ten or twenty years, and I hope you'll come along. Other interesting information: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/451/summary.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cQ-yGCyjyM (Truffaut film)
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jun/08/margaret-atwood-on-raybradbury
Topics for Discussion 1. Why would society make "being a pedestrian" a crime? (Clarisse tells Montag that her uncle was once arrested for this). 2. One suicide and one near-suicide occur in this book. 3. Why does suicide happen so frequently in Montag's society? 4. Montag turns to books to rescue him; instead they help demolish his life - he loses his wife, job and home; he kills a man and is forced to be a nomad. Does he gain any benefits from books? If so, what are they? 5. Although Ray Bradbury's work is often referred to as science fiction, Fahrenheit has plenty to say about the world as it is, and not as it could be. Discuss how you feel about the stands the author or characters take in Fahrenheit.