THEMES IN F451

Power and control wheel → https://classroom.google.com/u/0/c/NDU4MTA1MDM5NzM1

EOY exam themes:
1. Role of women → Women : bowles and phelps (characterisation )
- Superficial and shallow → presidential election → objecifies her children → two
way abuse
- Microcosm of the macrocosm → rep the brainwashed society
- Conditioned to conform
Mildred :
- Strong sense of self preservation → able to adapt when needed
- Cold and distant→ turns on Montag her husband ( family ) → sees TV family as
family instead of Montag ( able to connect with tech than her husband ) →
forgets when she and Montag met
- Abusive → animal abuse
- Dismisses Montag and his feelings
- Desensitised and oppressed → 4th parlor wall → seashells
Old Woman
- Able to stand up for what she believes in→ sacrifice in the pursuit of
knowledge
- Brave → stands up to the opp gov → doesn’t conform → martyr

2. Role of men → Men: Montag and Faber : (characterisation )

- Symbolism of hope and rebirth
- Courageous and brave, initiate the uprising to break the chains the opp gov puts
on the society → e.g faber in the park / Montag killing the mech hound → killed
or be killed
- See past the superficiality of technology
Fireman → beatty + Montag
- Carries out gov orders like a mindless robot
- Burns books for pleasure → sadism frivolous
- Rutheless and cold in the pursuit of eradicating books → beatty → sacrificing
the old woman
- Irony of the situation, fireman supposed to help not destroy
- Carry kerosene instead of water
- Lore of salamander →affinity with fire → denied that salamnders could put out
fire (sextuis niger) → immune from fire, anyone smeared with its blood is
protected from fire (Talmud) →( Saint augustine, city of fire ) burned in eternal
flame →Many references about fire ( allusion )
 3. Appearance vs reality → Reality: what is real in the dystopian world in F451 (what is
actually happening) → eg: the existence of an oppressive/authoritarian govt represented
by the firemen, especially Beatty → eg: death of the old woman (the
consequences/punishment) of reading, owning books) → brought to the asylum → eg:
reality of impending war in the background → eg: reality of brainwashing (schools,
technology parlour walls: they see these violent programs and think it is their reality →
eg: death → eg: reality of addiction of eg pills, parlour walls eg: hope → ideology of old
woman → die for a reason
→ Appearance: beauty, happiness, entertainment (appear to be entertaining but they
are actually brainwashing), appearance that war is inconsequential (war is fast, instant),
firemen (they appear to be doing good, but they are actually destroying the core values
of life) → illusion of happiness
4. Technology → it is a tool used by the government, it is brainwashing (is it positive or
negative?)
- AI to the parlour walls → they can interact with the viewers
- Seashells
- MH → controlled by the oppressive authorities →subtle control → eg: TV
(Mildred memorising a script)
- MRT (Denham's dentifrice)
- Exploitation to the mass viewers (the countdown) → persuasive use of
technology as a tool to intimidate, spy, capture rebels or fugitives
- The power that technology holds over the populace
5. Oppression → who what where when how MH: surveillance
- Oppression is to stymie thinking, happiness,
- Beatty does not oppress, he is a tool used by the govt
- Invisible, but very present
- Where is oppression? → public and private → overt and covert
- How are they oppressed? → by the everpresent but invisible govt, technology,
censorship, banning, killing, silence (old woman), violence, manipulation
- Opression through technology →mech hound → survelliance during the chase
against Montag →
TECHNOLOGY AND MASS MEDIA
Types of technology:
→ machines to cleanse people
→ mechanical hound
→ parlour walls
→ artificial intelligence

What technology does:

→ dehumanises
→ substitutes
→ brainwashes

The negative aspect of technology: (TS)

Individuals are dependent on technology to such an extent that there is no room to expand
their vision or think by themselves

Technology destroys interpersonal relationships

Technology provides a mindless nature of programs

Technology is so powerful that it can easily cause one to be disconnected, ultimately creating
a numb, cold and detached society

● i. Hearth and Salamander (disturbing/negative aspects of technology)

“Slid down into your stomach like a black cobra down an echoing well looking for all the old
water… drink of the darkness… suck out all the poisons accumulated with the years?
→ (1)“black cobra” → animal imagery → underscores how invasive technology is as it goes
deep inside an individual’s body to cleanse and brainwash them, forcefully instilling change in
the citizens →(2)“darkness”, “old water” and “posions” → represent the state/unpleasant
misery that Mildred experienced → govt uses technology (machines) to remove all unhappiness
in people → ensure conformity in people

“Pumped all of the blood from the body and replaced it with fresh blood and serum”
→ blood is vital to the body → machine removes old blood and replaces it with new blood →
govt uses advanced technology to manipulate people to erase all the bad memories so that the
people will not remember anything XR to “What about last night?” OR “Forgot”→live under an
illusion that they are contented with the govt → sense of conformity, loss of individuality

“Nights when things got dull, which was every night… set the ticking combinations of the
olfactory system of the Hound and let loose rats in the firehouse areaway, … betting to see
which of the cats or chickens or rats the Hound would seize first.” → (1) MH is easily abused by
people of power → firemen use the MH to ease their boredom → (2) domestic animals →
society is numb to violence that firemen would kill domestic animals for entertainment/leisure →
this emphasises how life is nothing more than a game, something that is expendable → (3) the
verb “betting” highlights their complete disregard for life and the excitement/adrenaline they felt
when witnessing the death of innocent animals → sadistic nature

“Gripped in gentling paws while a four-inch hollow steel needle plunged down from the
proboscis of the Hound to inject massive jolts of morphine or procaine.” → “gripped” and
“gentling” are juxtaposed to each other → use of vivid verbs “plunged” and “massive jolts” →
juxtaposition of the menacing MH and the helpless small animals further corroborates how
disturbing it is that technology is being abused in order to provide the dehumanised firemen with
inhumane instant gratification

“That’s my family.” → context: when Montag asked Mildred to turn the parlour off
→ Mildred uses the parlour walls for mindless entertainment so frequently to the point taht she
proudly declares “...” → the diction of “family” brings to mind that one has very close and firm
ties with → Mildred’s dehumanisation of family by describing these non-existent television
characters as her ‘family’ underlines society’s lack of human emotion → despite Montag and
Mildred being husband and wife → their rls is supposed to be one overflowing with love and
affection → IRONY because irl their rls is cold and distant as a result of Mildred’s unhealthy
obsession with her parlour → she completely ignores the fact that Montag is constantly there for
her → Mildred replaces her real family with a fictional one

“They mailed me the part this morning… ran her finger under a line on the script” → obsession
with the TV → perfect automation who doesn’t think or feel → simply absorbs what the
oppressive govt feeds her → brainwashing effect (conformity) (have control over the populace)
→ Mildred’s obsession with upgrading parlour walls and happy endings? → illusion of happiness

“Technology, mass exploitation, and minority pressure carried the trick, thank God.” → what the
govt strongly believes (said by Beatty)

● ii. Sieve and Sand

“Denham’s Dentrifice.”

“... tapping their feet to the rhythm of Denham’s Dentrifice, … mouths had been faintly twitching
the words Dentrifice Dentrifice Dentrifice.” → the people are unable to escape the influence of
technology, they are pounded into submission → describe the way they react to the
advertisement → instinctive → as if they are programmed to do so → hypnotic

“... they did not run, there was no place to run” → they are trapped → technology is so powerful
that they are forced to conform → it is like a battle (technology VS the sanity of people) →
technology won → brainwashing is successful

“It rushes you on so quickly to its own conclusions your mind hasn’t time to protest, ‘What
nonsense!’ → context: F talking to M abt technology → the type of entertainment shown on the
parlour walls (XR to the gruesome and disturbing content that Mildred watches) → rushed pace
of adrenaline when watching the parlour walls → lacking leisure time to digest information →
visuals from parlour walls occupy the minds of the people to keep them from the truth (govt uses
this method to hdie the people from the truth) → rush of images → no time to process and think
or digest → conformity → media is invasive and controlling → this is how insidious the TV
programmes are → they shape your thoughts and actions (XR to Mildred after watching her
mindless entertainment) → Mildred quote “my ‘family’ is people. They tell me things: I laugh,
they laugh! And the colours!” → visual stimulation, aural stimulation → deluded, delusional,
superficial

“... a woman smiled and drank orange juice simultaneously… same woman revealed the
contracting journey of the refreshing beverage on its way to her delighted stomach!”

“... plunged into a line-green sea where blue fish ate red and yellow fish.”

“Three White Cartoon Clowns chopped off each other’s limbs to the accompaniment of
immense incoming tides of laughter.”

“... the room whipped out of town to the jet cars wildly circling in an arena, bashing and
backing up and bashing each other again… saw a number of bodies fly in the air.”

“Montag reached inside the parlour wall and pulled the main switch… images drained away, as
if the water had been let from a gigantic crystal bowl of hysterical fish.”
“The three women turned slowly and looked with unconcealed irritation and then dislike at
Montag.” → describe their reactions when Montag unplugged the switch → unpack words like
“unconcealed irritation” → also talk about the how the images on the screen were described as
hysterical fish and mention its significance

“Let’s be cheery, you turn the ‘family’ on, now. Go ahead. Let’s laugh and be happy, now, stop
crying, we’ll have a party!” → context: the women were sad and angry after Montag read the
poem to them → Mildred’s immediate solution was to turn on the parlour walls → source of
happiness for them → technology is the answer or key to their happiness

● iii. Burning Bright

“... slammed into Montag and threw him ten feet back against the bole of the tree”

“Felt it scrabble and seize his leg and stab the needle… injection which was now working
through the flesh of his leg.”

“Police Alert. Wanted: Fugitive in city. Has committed murder and crimes against the state.
Name: Guy Montag. Occupation: Firema. Last seen…”

“The beetle was rushing. The beetle was roaring. The beetle raised its speed. The beetle was
whining. The beetle was in high thunder. The beetle came skimming. The beetle came in a
single whistling trajectory, fired from an invisible rifle… was up to 130(mph) at least… jittered his
eyelids and flushed the sour sweat out all over his body.” → car is weaponisd

“ — nose so sensitive the Mechanical Hound can remember and identify ten thousand odor
indexes on ten thousand men without resetting!” → artificial intelligence → shows how advance
technology is

ROLE OF WOMEN
→ clarisse, old woman, mildred, mrs phelps and bowles
→ clarisse and old woman: microcosm of the macrocosm (non conformists, inspired montag)
→ mildred and mrs phelps and bowles → representation of society → conformists (shallow view
of the world, obsession with frivolous entertainment)
→ compare the appearances of clarisse and mildred → the difference!!!

Clarisse: → a catalyst
“Faintest breath of apricots and strawberries”
“Fragile milk crystal with a soft and constant light in it”
“Gentle hunger that touched over everything with tireless curiosity”
“Candle of illumination...rediscovery”
“I like to smell things and look at things”
“Sitting around, talking”
"... let the rain fall in my mouth."
“Shaking a walnut tree… sitting on the lawn knitting a blue sweater… bouquet of flowers…
autumn leaves neatly pinned”
“Are you happy?” → self-realisation
“Do you ever read any of the books you burn?”
“I’m not afraid of you at all.”
“You’re just a man, after all…”
“I’m afraid of children my own age. They kill each other.”
“I like to watch people… look at them and listen… want to figure out…”

Old woman: → martyr, willing to die for her beliefs

"The woman knelt among the books."
"They crashed the front door and grabbed at a woman, though she was not running; she was
not trying to escape."
"I want to stay here.”
“Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England,
as I trust shall never be put out.”
“Go on.”

Mildred: → conformist, desensitised by the oppressive authorities through the sadistic

entertainment → she is under the illusion of happiness → she fears the government (unlike
clarisse who is unafraid to question authority figures)
“I’m not happy… “I am.” Mildred’s mouth beamed. “And proud of it.””
“...ran forward, seized the book and ran toward the kitchen incinerator.”
“Her foot touched one and she saw this and pulled her foot away.”
“backed away as if she were suddenly confronted by a pack of mice”
“That’s my family.”
“my ‘family’ is people”
“... horrified. “He might come and burn… ‘family.’ That’s awful! Think of our investment.”
“Some were missing and he knew that she had started on her own slow process of dispersing
the dynamite in her house.”
“Was it my wife turned in the alarm? Beatty nodded.”
“Poor Millie… I think of her hands but I don’t see them doing anything at all. They just hang
there at her sides or they lie there on her lap or there’s a cigarette in them, but that’s all.”
“... saw her leaning toward the great shimmering walls of colour and motion where the family
talked and talked and talked to her… leaning into the wall as if all the hunger of looking would
find the secret of her sleepless unease there.”
“Ran her fingers under a line on the script.”
"Poor family, poor family, oh, everything gone, everything, everything gone now..."
"let's be cheery, you turn the 'family' on, now... Let's laugh and be happy, now, stop crying,
we'll have a party!"
- Appearance of Mildred (compared to clarisse)
→ “Hair burnt by chemicals to a brittle straw”
→ “Eyes with a kind of cataract unseen”
→ “Reddened pouting lips”
→ “Body as thin as a praying mantis from dieting”
→ “Flesh like white bacon”
→ “A widely empty face”
→ “Starved and eating of itself”

Mrs Phelps and Bowles: → shallow view, immature

“Why do people want to hurt people? Not enough hurt in the world, you got to tease people
with stuff like that!”
“I voted last election, same as everyone… President Noble. I think he’s one of the nicest
looking men ever became president.” → juxtapose the appearances and names of the two
presidents (they do not actually consider whether they will be a good leader, only looks at
appearances)
“Kind of small and homely and he didn’t shave too close or comb his hair very well.” →
referring to hubert hoag (presidential candidate)
“They’d just as soon kick as kiss me. Thank God, I can kick back!” (talking about children)
“I’ve always said, poetry and tears, poetry and suicide and crying and awful feelings, poetry
and sickness”
“he saw their Cheshire cat smiles burning through the walls of the house, and now they were
screaming at each other above the din.”
“Caesareans or not, children are ruinous; you’re out of your mind”
“No tears, nothing like that. It’s our third marriage each and we’re independent. Be
independent, we always said. He said, if I get killed off, you just go right ahead and don’t cry,
but get married again, and don’t think of me.” → it’s a cycle repeating itself → no true love or
emotions for their husbands or kids
“I plunk the children in school nine days out of ten. I put up with them when they come home
three days a month; it’s not bad at all. You heave them into the ‘parlor’ and turn the switch. It’s
like washing clothes; stuff laundry in and slam the lid.” → children are objectified, deemed as a
chore
ROLE OF MEN
→ montag, beatty, faber
Montag → symbol of hope for the next generation
Beatty → representation of the oppressive government, instills power and control in the people
→ microcosm of the macrocosm
Faber → non-conformist, able to break social constructs and assists Montag in the pursuit of
freedom

Montag + Beatty → fireman

“ stand against the small tide of those who want to make everyone unhappy with conflicting
theory and thought “
“Burn all, burn everything. Fire is bright and fire is clean.”

Montag → contrast before and after

Before:
“It was a pleasure to burn”
“Fiery smile still gripped by his face muscles… never went away, that smile, it never ever went
away, as long as he remembered.”
“Hung his black beetle-coloured helmet and shined it… hung his flameproof jacket neatly; …
showered luxuriously
After
“Is it because we’re having so much fun at home we’ve forgotten the world?”
““Last night I thought about all that kerosene I’ve used in the past ten years… And for the first
time I realised that a man was behind each one of the books. A man had to think them up. And
I’d never even thought that thought before.””
“What for! Why!”
“Montag began walking… found that the others had fallen in behind him… moved aside to let
Granger pass… looked at him and nodded him on. Montag went ahead.”
“We never burned right…”

Beatty:
“He slapped her face with amazing objectivity.”
"Burn all, burn everything. Fire is bright and fire is clean."
“We’re due back at the House. Besides, these fanatics always try suicide; the pattern’s
familiar.”
“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.”
“What traitors books can be! you think they’re backing you up, and they turn on you. Others
can use them, too”
“But remember that the Captain belongs to the most dangerous enemy to truth and freedom”
“Montag, you’re a burden. And fire will lift you off my shoulders, clean, quick, sure; nothing to
rot later. Antibiotic, aesthetic, practical.”
“Hand it over, Guy,”
“Oh, no! You weren’t fooled by that little idiot’s routine, now, were you? Flowers, butterflies,
leaves, sunsets, oh, hell! It’s all in her file. I’ll be damned. I’ve hit the bull’s-eye”

Faber
"Play it as a joke, cover up, pretend you aren't mad at all..."
“Not good night. I’ll be with you the rest of the night, a vinegar gnat tickling your ear when you
need me. But good night and good luck, anyway
“That day in the park when we sat together, I knew that some day you might drop by, with fire
or friendship, it was hard to guess. I’ve had this little item ready for months. “
“As you can see, my parlour is nothing but four plaster walls."
"It grows you any shape it wishes! It is an environment as real as the world. It becomes and is
the truth."