AP Language: Major Works Data Sheet
Title: Fahrenheit 451
Author: Ray Bradbury
Date of Publication: 1953
Genre: Dystopian Fiction Biographical information about the author:
Ray Bradbury was born on August 22nd, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois. His mother, Esther Bradbury was a Swedish immigrant and his father, Leonard Spaulding Bradbury, was an English power and telephone lineman. Bradbury loved the town he grew up in so much, when he began writing he used this setting under the name “Green Town” as a symbol of peace and happiness. When he was young, Bradbury read adventure and fantasy fiction. Bradbury decided he would like to be a writer at the age of twelve because he wanted his words to live eternally. He never went to college because he could …show more content…
He often uses similes, personification, and metaphors to convey his message. The use of symbolism constantly makes the audience think about the deeper meaning. The story is narrated in past tense third person. Examples that demonstrate style:
The beginning paragraph explains Montag’s thoughts on his job. “It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed.” Bradbury personifies fire in this paragraph to seem like a terrific monster swallowing paper. “With this great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world,” Bradbury compares a fire hose pouring kerosene to a snake. The rhetoric compares things he loved to venomous monsters. The paragraph shows how much Montag loved a job full of destruction.
Memorable quotations:
-“Books were only one type of receptacle where we stored a lot of things we were afraid we might forget. There is nothing magical in them, at all. The magic is only in what books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe together into one garment for us.” (Page …show more content…
“He wanted above all, like the old joke, to shove a marshmallow on a stick in the furnace, while the flapping pigeon-winged books died on the porch and lawn of the house.” This sentence on the first page personifies a book being burned by fire. By using personification, Bradbury shows fire is destructive because the words metaphorically die with the book. Towards the beginning of the book, fire is used as a symbol of destruction, but fire later turns into a symbol of creation. Granger speaks about the symbol of the phoenix. “But every time he burnt himself up he sprang out of the ashes, he got himself born all over again.” Granger explains to Montag that humans for generations have destroyed themselves and have been reborn over and over again. Now fire is used as a symbol of creation. Granger was explaining creation comes after destruction and is an endless
Title: Fahrenheit 451
Author: Ray Bradbury
Date of Publication: 1953
Genre: Dystopian Fiction Biographical information about the author:
Ray Bradbury was born on August 22nd, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois. His mother, Esther Bradbury was a Swedish immigrant and his father, Leonard Spaulding Bradbury, was an English power and telephone lineman. Bradbury loved the town he grew up in so much, when he began writing he used this setting under the name “Green Town” as a symbol of peace and happiness. When he was young, Bradbury read adventure and fantasy fiction. Bradbury decided he would like to be a writer at the age of twelve because he wanted his words to live eternally. He never went to college because he could …show more content…
He often uses similes, personification, and metaphors to convey his message. The use of symbolism constantly makes the audience think about the deeper meaning. The story is narrated in past tense third person. Examples that demonstrate style:
The beginning paragraph explains Montag’s thoughts on his job. “It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed.” Bradbury personifies fire in this paragraph to seem like a terrific monster swallowing paper. “With this great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world,” Bradbury compares a fire hose pouring kerosene to a snake. The rhetoric compares things he loved to venomous monsters. The paragraph shows how much Montag loved a job full of destruction.
Memorable quotations:
-“Books were only one type of receptacle where we stored a lot of things we were afraid we might forget. There is nothing magical in them, at all. The magic is only in what books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe together into one garment for us.” (Page …show more content…
“He wanted above all, like the old joke, to shove a marshmallow on a stick in the furnace, while the flapping pigeon-winged books died on the porch and lawn of the house.” This sentence on the first page personifies a book being burned by fire. By using personification, Bradbury shows fire is destructive because the words metaphorically die with the book. Towards the beginning of the book, fire is used as a symbol of destruction, but fire later turns into a symbol of creation. Granger speaks about the symbol of the phoenix. “But every time he burnt himself up he sprang out of the ashes, he got himself born all over again.” Granger explains to Montag that humans for generations have destroyed themselves and have been reborn over and over again. Now fire is used as a symbol of creation. Granger was explaining creation comes after destruction and is an endless