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Fahrenheit 451 | Introduction

Of the hundreds of stories Ray Bradbury has written, none are better known than Fahrenheit 451. Published in 1953 during the Cold War and McCarthy Eras, the novel reflects Bradbury's concerns about censorship and conformity during a period when free expression of ideas could lead to social and economic ostracization. The book expands the concept of a short story that Bradbury wrote in 1947 under the title "Bright Phoenix," which was published in a revised form in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1963. Galaxy published an expanded version of the premise under the title of "The Fireman" in 1951. Fahrenheit 451 is twice as long as "The Fireman." Book burning and the memorization of texts for preservation are the central actions of all three versions of the story.

While viewed as a science fiction work, Fahrenheit 451 has led to mainstream critical acclaim for Bradbury's ability as a prose stylist and as a writer of ideas. The novel is often compared to other dystopias—works which create societies where people lead dehumanized and often dangerous lives—such as Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and George Orwell's 1984. Bradbury has been praised for the richness of his imagery in Fahrenheit 451. The thematic elements of the novel have gained it the reputation as a book of social criticism which focuses particularly on American consumerism and cultural decline.

Fahrenheit 451 Summary

Part One: The Hearth and the Salamander
Guy Montag is a thirty-year-old fireman experiencing an intellectual awakening. For ten years now he has protected the sanity and comfort of the community by setting fire to books. He and his wife Mildred live comfortably in the suburbs of a large city. All Mildred needs to make her life complete is a fourth TV wall, so she can be surrounded by the characters she watches and interacts with everyday in her living room. True, an international war has been brewing, but nobody much cares as long as they're comfortable.

One evening, after having taken great pleasure in burning a house full of dangerous books, Montag meets Clarisse McClellan. Clarisse, a seventeen-year-old "oddball" neighbor, likes to talk about the world around her. She challenges Montag's authority as a guardian of their way of life. She questions his purpose, practically tells him that he cannot think, and asks him, "Are you happy?" These questions bring to his mind the dissatisfactions which up to now he has only vaguely felt. Going into the house, he finds Mildred lying in bed, practically dead from an overdose of sleeping pills, and he realizes that Mildred's happiness is only a mask, too. The "technicians" who come to fix her up are so casual about it that Montag realizes that something has happened to everybody, that under the "mask of happiness" lies a great emptiness.

Still from 1966 film
Still from the film Fahrenheit 451, starring Oskar Werner and Julie Christie, 1966.

Montag's doubt about his way of life begins to show at work. At the fire station they have a Mechanical Hound, which is usually employed to track people with illegal book collections. Now, however, the Hound seems to get suspicious and begins striking at Montag when he comes to work. Captain Beatty promises to fix the Hound, but it continues to sniff around Montag and strike its needle-nose full of poison at him.

One night the station's fire alarm sounds, and the firemen are called out to burn an attic full of books. The firemen chop down the unlocked doors, slap the helpless old woman down, and douse the piled-up books with kerosene. Before they can set the blaze, however, the woman kneels in her piled books, strikes the match, and burns herself with her books The scene strikes Montag numb—so numb, in fact, that his hands, as if with a mind of their own, steal and hide a book under his arm, which he carries home

The incident with the unnamed woman only aggravates Montag's doubt and alienation. He is so upset that he lays awake all night, so upset that by morning he feels too sick to go to work. Alerted by Montag's absence, Captain Beatty comes to call on him. Beatty understands his curiosity about the fireman's job and tells him the history of firemen. He tells him that the masses of people wanted the books burned because the differing ideas and information in books confused them and caused conflict. Anytime there was conflict, there was discomfort. All the people... » Complete Fahrenheit 451 Summary