Welcome to the Fahrenheit 451 Unit Website
Created by Alex Bell, Adina Mann, Ari Kravetz, and Jeanne Zeller
CI 403 E2, Fall 2012, University of Illinois
Essential question: How does literature serve as a vehicle for social change?
This unit on Fahrenheit 451 focuses on voice in a dystopian society which is a subset of the question which guides the whole unit, that being, "How does literature serve as a vehicle for social change?" This is especially relevant to Fahrenheit 451 because social change is precisely what is being limited and controlled through the destruction of literature and the obsessive pursuit of technology as a replacement.
In a society where technology is such an important aspect of our lives, Bradbury shows an exaggeration, or maybe not, of where our society may end up if we do not learn how to unplug and learn to be independent without relying on technology.
Fahrenheit 451 also focuses on the still important concept of censorship, especially as it relates to people and books. Bradbury begs the question of the government's ability to decide what is okay for a society to see and think, and what is not okay. Additionally, book censorship is a big issue that has continued to make headlines even today.
Connecting to George Orwell's 1984, Bradbury's dystopia also begs to discuss how surveillance plays a role in our daily lives. How our actions are monitored when we do not realize it, and even how Facebook and Google can maintain a history of our searches to determine what advertisements are best for us. Even Amazon.com now saves credit card numbers to make check out faster. Bradbury's world is not too far from our own and we must learn to question the role that the government and the internet/technology have come to play in our daily lives.
This unit focuses on Fahrenheit 451 while at the same time bringing in a variety of other sources. Short stories, articles, movie clips, and news reports are just some of the other sources that help in portraying the themes of Fahrenheit 451 as timeless and important to our daily lives.
This unit on Fahrenheit 451 focuses on voice in a dystopian society which is a subset of the question which guides the whole unit, that being, "How does literature serve as a vehicle for social change?" This is especially relevant to Fahrenheit 451 because social change is precisely what is being limited and controlled through the destruction of literature and the obsessive pursuit of technology as a replacement.
In a society where technology is such an important aspect of our lives, Bradbury shows an exaggeration, or maybe not, of where our society may end up if we do not learn how to unplug and learn to be independent without relying on technology.
Fahrenheit 451 also focuses on the still important concept of censorship, especially as it relates to people and books. Bradbury begs the question of the government's ability to decide what is okay for a society to see and think, and what is not okay. Additionally, book censorship is a big issue that has continued to make headlines even today.
Connecting to George Orwell's 1984, Bradbury's dystopia also begs to discuss how surveillance plays a role in our daily lives. How our actions are monitored when we do not realize it, and even how Facebook and Google can maintain a history of our searches to determine what advertisements are best for us. Even Amazon.com now saves credit card numbers to make check out faster. Bradbury's world is not too far from our own and we must learn to question the role that the government and the internet/technology have come to play in our daily lives.
This unit focuses on Fahrenheit 451 while at the same time bringing in a variety of other sources. Short stories, articles, movie clips, and news reports are just some of the other sources that help in portraying the themes of Fahrenheit 451 as timeless and important to our daily lives.