Fahrenheit 451 Theme Handout

Fahrenheit 451 Theme handout

Elise Wexelblatt, Grace Tang, Serena Troung, Shashank Reddy, Olivia Jounge, Elena Polasko

Theme: Individual self-expression is important.

Timeline:

• Montag is solely focused on his job and won’t listen to anyone else
• Montag meets Clarisse and sees how she expresses herself
• Montag begins to see how pointless and meaningless his life is
• He feels trapped in society and wants someone to listen to him
• Montag meets Faber and learns what expression is
• Montag begins to express himself and rebel against the government
• He finds people who will listen and he begins to express himself

Quotes:

• “He wore his happiness like a mask and the girl had run off across the lawn with the mask and there was no way of going to knock on her door and ask for it back.” (Bradbury 9)
• “We must all be alike. Not everyone free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal.” (Bradbury 55)
• “I just want someone to hear what I have to say. And maybe if i talk long enough, it’ll make sense.” (Bradbury 78)
• “He would be Montag-plus-Faber, fire plus water, and then, one day, after everything had mixed and simmered and worked away in silence, there would be neither fire nor water, but wine.” (Bradbury 99)
• “Yes, thought Montag, that’s the one I’ll save for noon.” (Bradbury 158)

How is this theme important to our understanding of the story?

This theme is important because we can see how certain individuals will risk it all to express themselves in a broken society where expression is blocked.

How does this theme connect to modern-day society?

In modern-day society, we have easy access to expressing ourselves, and that expression is an important part of our daily lives.