Litcharts Fahrenheit 451 (2024)

FAQs

Why is Fahrenheit 451 banned? ›

Is "Fahrenheit 451" banned in America? This novel is not banned. Sometimes Fahrenheit 451 is challenged and asked to be removed because it contains vulgar language and content. Some people may take offense to the content due to conflicting moral, ethical, or religious beliefs.

To Montag, the sand represents the knowledge that he seeks—something of material importance—and the sieve represents his mind trying to grasp and retain this knowledge. Get the entire Fahrenheit 451 LitChart as a printable PDF. Lichtenstein, Jesse.

In Fahrenheit 451, the ownership and reading of books is prohibited. Members of society focus only on entertainment, immediate gratification, and speeding through life. If books are found, they are burned and their owner is placed under immediate arrest.

Ironically, Fahrenheit 451, an indictment of censorship, was itself censored by its publisher for thirteen years before Bradbury himself became aware of that. In 1967, Ballantine published an expurgated version of the novel to be used in high schools. Such words as “hell,” “damn” and “abortion” were eliminated.

For example, the subject of censorship is still important today, as we continue to witness attempts to impose book bans and repress certain views. The novel Fahrenheit 451 serves as a warning that we must defend intellectual liberty and stop efforts to restrict opposing viewpoints.

This book's Lexile measure is 890L and is frequently taught in the 9th and 10th grade. Students in these grades should be reading texts that have reading demand of 1050L through 1335L to be college and career ready by the end of Grade 12. To find additional guides, please visit Lexile.com/lexile−by−chapter.

Mildred later tells Montag that Clarisse was run over and killed by a car and that her family moved away. Clarisse's death could have been an accident by the joyriding teenagers Clarisse admitted she was scared of. In fact, Montag even believes as much when he is run down by a car full of teenagers later in the novel.

Mildred takes a bottle of sleeping pills, and when Montag asks her about it, she denies that she would do something like that. She has no memory of the event. She took the pills to numb herself, which she equates with happiness, and she argues she would not attempt suicide.

Montag feels "fat" because his new knowledge of and interest in books is a great burden. The burden is so great that it is even effecting him physically; he feels uncomfortable in his body, and he feels heavier.

What was the language you might wonder? Turns out the challenger happily quoted the uses of the following: “Good Christ”; “goddam”; and “damn.” This language was described as “filth” that children shouldn't be exposed to.

What secret does Montag reveal to his wife? ›

Montag tells Beatty that he might come back to work, even though he doesn't want to. After Beatty leaves, Montag shows Mildred the stash of 20 books he's been hiding in the vent and tells her he doesn't want to be a fireman anymore.

We are seeing Bradbury's terrifying vision of the future slowly coming true. In the novel, the path to book burning is explained this way: First, television and sports shortened attention spans. Then, books began to be shortened to please readers with shorter attention spans.

Ray Bradbury's 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451 addresses complex themes of censorship, freedom, and technology. Unlike most science fiction, Fahrenheit 451 does not view technology as a universal good. Rather, the novel explores the potential for technological advancement to make humans less free.

Shame, scorn, and exclusion from society all for embracing a taboo: owning books. In a world where firemen burn rather than tame fire, Ray Bradbury uses Fahrenheit 451 to warn society about the dangers of censorship and making poor lifestyle choices, especially with the use of technology.

However, it is clear from the rest of the novel that the citizens of this society are not particularly happy. So now do you see why books are hated and feared? They show the pores in the face of life. The comfortable people want only wax moon faces, poreless, hairless, expressionless.