Download Anchor Text Theme Tracker Our Big Question How does Ray ... and more Lecture notes Technology in PDF only on Docsity! Anchor Text Theme Tracker Our Big Question How does Ray Bradbury use craft, devices, and elements to shape the themes of Fahrenheit 451? Themes in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Books are a controversial and important part of our society and our lives. Our reliance on technology can spiral out of control if we let it. Knowledge is joyful and painful. We can be confined by our own selfcensorship. Grade 9: Fahrenheit 451 Craft, Devices, and Elements Author’s Craft Literary Devices Literary Elements word choice foreshadowing tone imagery symbolism plot structure figurative language irony setting allegory point of view tension characterization Grade 9: Fahrenheit 451 from ten years of apprenticeship at Seashell earthimbles.”(16) ● tension “The jet bombers were going over, going over, going over, one two, one two, one two, six of theme, nine of theme, twelve of them, one and one and one and another and another and another, did all the screaming for him.”(11) “One drop of rain. Clarisse. Another drop. Mildred. A third. The uncle. A fourth. The fire tonight. One, Clarisse. Two, Mildred. Three, uncle. Four, fire. One, Mildred, two, Clarisse. One, two, three, four, five, Clarisse, Mildred, uncle, fire, sleeping tablets, men, disposable tissue, coattails, blow, wad, flush, Clarisse, Mildred, uncle, fire, tablets, tissues, blow, wad, flush. One, two, three, one, two, three!” There are planes flying over Montag’s house and they are extremely loud and frightening. There is a storm starting while Montag is thinking to himself about what has happened that day. This use of tension seems to be building toward the theme of knowledge causing joy and pain. After his walk with Clarisse, Montag is feeling very unsettled and thinking about so many things this new knowledge is making him feel lost. Grade 9: Fahrenheit 451 “Mildred’s hand hand frozen behind the pillow. Her fingers were tracing the book’s outline and as the shape became familiar her face looked surprised and then stunned. Her mouth opened to ask a question …”(53) “‘A natural error. Curiosity alone,’ said Beatty. ‘We don’t get overanxious or mad. We let the fireman keep the book twentyfour hours. If he hasn’t burned it by then, we simply come burn it for him.’”(59) During Montag’s conversation with Beatty, Mildred finds the book Montag hid under the pillow. Throughout the conversation, Montag fears Millie will say something about the book. When Beatty comes to Montag’s house to check on him, it is clear, through their conversation, that Beatty actually knows that Montag took a book and is having an inner conflict about whether or not to keep it even though neither man acknowledges this. This connects to how books are important and controversial in society. This connects to the theme that books are an important and controversial part of society. allusion “Trumpets blared. ‘Denham’s Dentifrice.’ Shut up, thought Montag. Consider the lilies of the field. ‘Denham’s Dentrifice.’ They toil not ‘Denham’s Consider the lilies of the field, Montag is riding on the subway. He is reading the Bible, one of the books he had hidden. He keeps trying to memorize one of the passages in the Bible, but at the same time there is an advertisement for Denham’s Detrifrice, a dental detergent, playing in the subway. This develops several themes: reliance on technology can spiral out of control, and knowledge is joyful and painful. The allusion builds these themes by highlighting two points: 1. Montag is openly reading the Bible on the train and frantically trying to memorize it and make Grade 9: Fahrenheit 451 shut up, shut up. ‘Dentifrice!’ He tore the book open and flicked the pages and felt of them as if he were blind, he picked at the shape of the individual letters, not blinking. ‘Denham’s. Spelled: DEN’ They toil not, neither do they … A fierce whisper of hot sand through empty sieve. ‘Denham’s does it!’ Consider the lilies, the lilies, the lilies … ‘Denham’s dental detergent.’” ● The excerpt from “Dover Beach”(9697) In the poem, there is language that contributes to a tone of worry and concern about the state of the world. This is very similar to Montag’s feelings about the world he is living in. Everything he thought was true, and right, has now turned out to be false and wrong, just as described in the poem. In the poem, the poet is sense of it, but the ad on the subway is distracting him like it is supposed to do. This shows how Montag is changing from his initial description in the first pages, where he felt the pleasure of burning books, but there are still many obstacles in the society. 2. The message of the verse is significant because it cautions against worrying to much about possessions, and instead focusing on the beauty around you. This develops the idea that technology can spiral out of control and we are our own selfcensors. In the poem,the poet worries about the changes happening in the world, which connects to how Montag feels about his own world a reliance on technology has led to the censoring of society until only mindless activities are left for people to engage in. Grade 9: Fahrenheit 451 manikin, no long human or known, all writhing flame on the lawn as Montag shot one continuous pulse of liquid fire on him. There was a hiss like a great mouthful of spittle banging a redhot stove, a bubbling and frothing as if salt had been poured over a monstrous black snail to cause a terrible liquefaction and a boiling over of yellow foam. Montag shut his eyes, shouted, shouted, and fought to get his hands at his ears to clamp and to cut away the sound. Beatty flopped over and over and over, and at last twisted in on himself like a charred wax doll and lay silent.”(113) were two strong influences in Montag’s life Beatty and Faber. This scene show show Montag has chosen Faber as his partner, by killing Beatty. It also shows how Montag has become more sensitive the first line of the book showed how he got pleasure from burning things but Montag takes no pleasure in burning Beatty, even though he decides he must do it. The language has several things in common: it has words that denote strong or violent actions (jumping, sprawling, writhing, bubbling, frothing, flopped, twisted; it creates vivid, disturbing images (Beatty writhing in flames, Beatty’s skin looking like a snail when you pour salt on it, Beatty flopping over and over, and then laying twisted on the ground); and it has language that creates a strong sense of what the scene sound like (shrieking, spittle banging a redhot stove). painful. Montag’s journey to be more aware and knowledgeable in society has led him to this moment when he has to kill Beatty in order to fight for what he believes is right. Grade 9: Fahrenheit 451 ”It made a single last leap into the air coming down at Montag from a good three feet over his head, its spidered legs reaching, the procaine needle snapping out its single angry tooth. Montag caught it with a bloom of fire, a single wondrous blossom that curled in petals of yellow and blue and orange about the metal dog, clad it in a new covering as it slammed into Montag and threw him ten feet back against the bole of a tree, taking the flame gun with him. He felt it scrabble and seize his leg and stab the needle for a moment before the fire snapped the Hound up in the air, burst its metal bones at the joints, and blew out its interior in a single flushing of red color like a skyrocket fastened to the street. Montag lay watching the deadalive thing fiddle the air and die.”(114) This passage reveals how Montag has taken control of his future. Previously, Montag has feared the Mechanical Hound, but in this scene he fearlessly faces the Hound and destroys it. The language seems to emphasize how unbelievable the scene is. The descriptions of the Hound, both as it attacks Montag and as it burns, seems like a cartoon, like it can’t be in real life. You have the image of the dog leaping at Montag with the needle coming out, the dog “scrabbles” and “seizes” Montag’s leg to stab him, then the fire “snaps” the Hound up, “bursts” him and “blows” him up like a rocket. This language makes a vivid image for the reader and you can imagine the sounds of the scene from Bradbury’s words. The description of the fire is also significant because of the way Bradbury compares it to a flower which is an odd comparison. He says it is a “bloom” like a bouquet of flowers, This scene connects to the idea that technology can spiral out of control if we let it. The society has let technology spiral out of control and the Mechanical Hound is a product of that. Montag is trying to reverse that spiral through his rebellion, starting with destroying the Hound. Grade 9: Fahrenheit 451 and then a “blossom” with different colored petals. It is interesting that Bradbury uses this comparison because flowers are made in nature, as opposed to fire and the Mechanical Hound, which are manmade. ● mood “You could feel the war getting ready in the sky that night. The way the clouds moved aside and came back, and the way the stars looked, a million of them swimming between the clouds, like the enemy disks, and the feeling that the sky might fall upon the city and turn it to chalk dust, and the moon go up in red fire; that was how the night felt. Montag walked from the subway with the money in his pocket (he had visited the bank which was open all night every night with robot tellers in attendance) and as he walked he was listening to the Seashell Radio in one ear … ‘We have mobilized There are many words and images that have a negative connotation: war, enemy, sky might fall, turn to chalk dust, moon go up in red fire. There is also the message from the announcer on the radio about the men being mobilized for war. This language and this message create a tense mood. The reader feels this tension and is waiting for something to happen. It feels like the climax of the plot may be coming soon. This connects to how knowledge is joyful and painful. Montag is motivated to be more aware in society, but that means that he know worries about things like war. Grade 9: Fahrenheit 451