Fahrenheit 451 Rhetoric

A. The word that describes the first third of Fahrenheit 451 is ‘fear’. The people in this society are afraid of the government, and the government is afraid of the people. In an attempt to stay in power, the government banned free thought – à la mode of Syria, Libya, the USSR and other countries. Because books bring intellectualism, books are thus banned and replaced with mass media.

The technique that Bradbury uses to state tone mostly has its roots in the dialogue. For instance, Guy Montag talks about how he loves to destroy the books: “”Kerosene,” he said, because the silence had become lengthened “is nothing but perfume to me” ” (pg4). Bradbury shows with this quote that people like to destroy things for the sake of destroying them. This

This makes it seem that each side is plotting against each other. The point of view also adds a bit of mystery to all characters, since you cannot immediately figure out the various emotions of the people.

B. The point of view is third person. It follows Guy Montag as he goes about his various activities. The disadvantages to this point of view are mostly based on the fact that we cannot gage the feeling of Chief Beatty, but we can gage the emotions of Montag, to a certain extent.

C. i)

““Do you ever read any of the books you burn?” He laughed. “That would be against the law!”” (pg5)

Clarisse is talking to Montag as they walk down the street. This quote is significant because it shows the point where Montag is turned by Clarisse. He begins to doubt what the government and his friends are telling him. It might not seem like much at the time, but later in the book Montag begins to read books. ii)””A natural error. Curiosity alone,” said Beatty. “We don’t get overanxious or mad. We let the fireman keep the book twenty four hours. If he hasn’t burned it by then, we simply come burn it for him””

Montag fears that Beatty knows that Montag has the book (and he most certainly does). Paranoia is a huge theme in this book, as everybody who has the books is paranoid that the government will burn them. The government is also paranoid that the book owners will start a rebellion, so they are burnt with the books.

D. i) At what point does freedom of speech restrict other people’s personal freedoms? ii) Does Chief Beatty know about the stolen book? What is going to come of that? iii) Is the government coming after Montag? How do we know?

E. I think that the appropriate title would be ‘Ember’ because of how the novel starts. A small flame is started in Montag’s mind, and that small flame will turn into a large blaze. It also pains him, much like an ember, because he begins to feel that he doesn’t belong in this dystopian society.

F. The word that is the most important in the first chapter, and entire book, is ‘ignorance’. People in the book are ignorant of others, for instance Mildred is ignorant of Montag. This level of ignorance actually aids the government in its quest to keep the population under control. There are people who are not ignorant, but still follow the government - an example being Beatty. Most people don’t care about what happens to the books, after all, ignorance is