Unit 10

Week 1

4/7/14 F451 Vocabulary 1-3

1. Stolid (adj) not easily stirred or moved mentally; unemotional; impassive.

2. Refracted (v) deflected from a straight path

3. Imperceptibly (adj) impossible to detect by ordinary senses

Background

• Science fiction novella set in a future version of the United States

• Published in 1953, a time of great prosperity for a large group of Americans

• WWII had brought the country out of the depression.

• Manufacturing and production increased.

• Two things produced that changed the face of America- the automobile and television

Influence of Television• As more people entered the middle class, they

were able to afford televisions• Before WWII, only 7,000-8,000 TV sets had been

made.• Production halted during the war and resumed in

August 1945.• In 1946, only .5% of U.S. house holds had a TV• By 1954 55% of Americans had TV• By 1962 TVs could be found in 90% of U.S.

households.

• Men worked during the day and women stayed at home and were a captive audience for the TV programs broadcast during the day.

• Children were also a desirable audience.

• Television changed the way people interacted.

• Rather than talking to neighbors as a form of entertainment, people began to stay at home and watch TV

Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is a type of DYSTOPIC novel. That means it is about a future that is bleak, dark and dreary.

The novel focuses on two central themes:

1.CENSORSHIP

2.IGNORANCE OF KNOWLEDGE

Ray BradburyA noted science fiction author, became concerned about the dangers he felt television and automobiles presented to a stable society. Fahrenheit 451 is the book that came out of Bradbury’s vision of the future.

CENSORSHIP:is the suppression of speech or deletion of communicative material which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient to the government or media organizations as determined by a censor.(Wikipedia)

Why would something be censored?What are the dangers of censorship?

IGNORANCE OF KNOWLEDGE:

Bradbury focuses on the importance of learning and how it impacts our ability to make decisions. He believes that without the ability to think about what we’re doing, we’ll be led to do wrong.

F451 Web Quest

4/8/2014 F451 Quick Write #1

“If they give you ruled paper, write the other way”- Jimenez, F451

What if someone refused to write on the lines?

YOU refuse to write on the lines! Turn your paper and write one paragraph in response to:

What if music was illegal?

Vocabulary Quiz Next

F451 Vocab Quiz 1-3

1. Provide a synonym for the word stolid..

2. Use the word refracted in a sentence.

3. Use the word imperceptibly in a sentence.

F451 Vocab 4-6

4. Pulverized (v) to reduce to powder

5. Melancholy (n) sadness; gloominess

6. Capillary (adj) fine; small in diameter

In class assignments:

• Finish F451 Web Quest

• Censored Authors Group Project

• Presentations will be next class period.

4/9/2014 F451 Quick Write #2

• What if we could interact with characters on television shows?

Vocabulary Quiz Next

F451 Vocab Quiz 4-6

4. Use the word pulverized in a sentence.

5. Provide a synonym for the word melancholy.

6. Use the word capillary in a sentence.

F451 Vocab 7-9

7. Multifaceted (adj) having many aspects or phases

8. Ballistics (n) the study of the dynamics of projectiles

9. Erected (v) to set up; to build; established

Censorship Presentations

It is the 24th century. Books are considered dangerous and illegal. Nobody is allowed to own them. Most people are happy being plugged into their technology, where they do not have to think too hard. All books that are found are burned.

Guy Montag is a fireman. It is not his job to put out fires. It is his job to start them.

If a house is suspected to have books in it, Guy and the other firemen properly dispose of them.

Most often, the whole house must be destroyed. Sometimes the people in the house choose to die with their books.

The problem is, Guy is not so comfortable with the whole burning books thing.

He wonders why they must be burned.

What power do they have?

Why would somebody choose to die for their books?

It wouldn’t hurt just to take one and read it, right?

Unfortunately for Guy, he live in a society where censorship is king; a society where you don’t know if you can trust your friends, or even your wife; a society in which criminals are tracked by relentless mechanical hounds that never fail to bring down their victims….

Guy used to uphold and enforce the law. Bringing home a book will cause a chain of events that not even he could have anticipated…

THEMES

• Progress can actually be dangerous or harmful.

• The thinking man or woman will always be at odds with society.

• Reason can be used as a weapon to defend wrong as well as right. People should make their own choices and be careful about accepting what they hear.

Symbols = FIRE

• Fire can be life-saving; after all, people need warmth to survive.

• According to Greek myth, Prometheus stole fire from the gods for his new creation, man, allowing people enlightenment and knowledge.

Symbols = FIRE

• Fire can also destroy.

• The Prometheus myth contains the warning that if people try to know too much-to steal too much of the god’s fire- they will pay the price. Prometheus himself was severely punished for his theft on behalf of humankind.

Symbols

.

•The phoenix is a bird that destroys itself in a fire and then rises again from its own ashes.

•The salamander was once thought to be generated by fire.

F451 Articles

• Read each article, then write TWO paragraphs explaining why reading Fahrenheit 451 will be important to you.

• Then, make sure you have your web quest completed and turned into me.

4/11/2014 F451 Quick Write #3

• "I'm antisocial, they say. I don't mix. It's so strange. I'm very social indeed. It all depends on what you mean by social, doesn't it?"

Vocab Quiz Next

F451 Vocab Quiz 7-8

7. Use the word multifaceted in a sentence.

8. What does the word ballistics mean?

9. Provide a synonym for the word erected.

F451 Vocab 10-12

10. Proclivities (n) natural or habitual inclination or tendencies

11. Odious (adj) Arousing strong dislike or displeasure

12. Ravenous (adj) Extremely hungry; greedy for gratification

Figurative Language Worksheet