"FARENHEIT 451" , BY RAY BRADBURY

Created by AcademicEarth.org

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LISTENING COMPREHENSION EXERCISE

Fahrenheit 451 is set in a homogenous, ……………………, war-obsessed America, where books are…………………, intellectualism scorned and the entire population exists in a state of dull …………………and sensory overload. Ring any bells?

Guy Montag, the……………………………., is an impressionable fireman. His job is to burn books, which have been denounced as emotionally upsetting and…………………………………………...

Montag starts to question his actions after meeting an …………………………young woman, even going so far as to steal a book from a house as he burns it down. Montag becomes steadily more ……………………….of his miserable life, and resolves to take action against the ……………………….ruling society. With the help of a former English professor, Montag learns that books allow for self-examination and …………………thought.

Montag is then caught with the stolen books and must become a………………….. After a harrowing chase, Montag escapes and joins up with a group of roving ………………………..in the countryside. They watch as enemy planes bomb the city, and the group resolves to construct a new, better…………………………..

 Major Characters

“Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal.”

 Montag: Guy Montag is a firefighter, and the book plots his movement from mindless drone to ……………………….. book-lover. He struggles with independent thought, and is often swayed by people’s rhetoric, making him something of an archetypal citizen in Bradbury’s ……………..future.

 Beatty: The fire chief, Beatty is brilliant, and very…………………………….. He is well-read, and can …………………..famous literary works at will, but he finds the written word dangerous and upsetting. He represents the more …………………..side of censorship.

 Faber: Faber is a former English professor who is Montag’s intellectual mentor. Faber teaches Montag that ………………….and reason are the true paths to a more …………………..life.

 Themes, Motifs and Symbols

“If you hide your ignorance, no one will hit you and you’ll never learn.”

 Fire: Fire destroys contraband, but it also entertains and delights people—Montag notices that almost all fires are at night, when they will look……………. Eventually, Montag comes to view fire as a ……………..not just for destruction or entertainment, but for sustenance as well.

 Mirrors: Clarisse, the young woman, is described as a mirror, and one of Montag’s eventual friends in the countryside claims the new world needs a mirror………………….. Mirrors represent inquiry and………………...

Censorship: Bradbury argues that the population censors itself by ignoring ……………..or positions that make it………………………….. Reading books, he says, encourages beneficial…………………………….., while ……………………..only deludes people into being superficially happy.

 Analysis

“Everyone must leave something in the room or left behind when he dies.”

 Farenheit 451 is a bleak ……………….of a world that’s too ……………….being…………………. By wiping out the written word, the world is supposedly free from …………………and upsetting information, but the only thing this brings is more…………………. The suppression of books is the suppression of……………………………………, which will slowly destroy any society.