Imagine a society where books are illegal, and thinking is discouraged. Imagine that homes are fireproof, and firemen no longer put out fires - they create them. The job of a fireman is to burn books and the homes that they are found in; if that includes the residents of the home, well, so be it. Enter the world of Farenheit 451. Guy Montag is a fireman who spends his days burning other people's homes. After he is stimulated to think by Clarisse McClellan, Guy begins to realize the emptiness in his life, and the lives of those around him. He begins to see how constant entertainment (through 3D television and incessant radio listening) has actually destroyed the lives of people around him - instead of improving them. He sees that there is no meaning in his life, and he sets out to find some. The following is a quote from the author - Ray Bradbury:
In writing the short novel Fahrenheit 451 I thought I was describing a world that might evolve in four or five decades. But only a few weeks ago, in Beverly Hills one night, a husband and wife passed me, walking their dog. I stood staring after them, absolutely stunned. The woman held in one hand a small cigarette-package-sized radio, its antenna quivering. From this sprang tiny copper wires which ended in a dainty cone plugged into her right ear. There she was, oblivious to man and dog, listening to far winds and whispers and soap-opera cries, sleep-walking, helped up and down curbs by a husband who might just as well not have been there. This was not fiction.
50th Anniversary Edition Book Cover
Born August 22, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois, Ray Bradbury's formal education ended with his graduation from High School. Nonetheless, Mr. Bradbury devoted himself to writing. In 1943 he quit his job (selling newspapers in L.A.) and became a full-time writer. He began by writing short stories for periodicals, and published a collection of them Dark Carnival, in 1947. In 1953, his third novel Fahrenheit 451 was published. Ironically, although his novel emphasized the dangers of censorship, Bradbuyr's publisher (without Bradbury's consent) released a censored edition in 1967 for schools that emliminated words deemed "offensive." The following program contains no significant "bad language."
For more information about Ray Bradbury, visit his website located here.
In 1982 and 2003, the BBC produced dramatized recordings of Fahrenheit 451. Below is the 1982 version.