Theme: Farhenheit 451

Theme: Individual self-expression is important.

Timeline:

• At first Montag is just a pawn in the game and doesn’t question the system.
• “What incredible power of identification the girl had; she was like the eager watcher of a marionette show, anticipating each flicker of an eyelid, each gesture of his hand, each flick of a finger, the moment before it began,”(Bradbury 11/9).
• “We are living in a time when flowers are trying to live on flowers, instead of growing on good rain and black loam.”(Bradbury 83/79).
• “Yet somehow we think we can grow, feeding on flowers and fireworks, without completing the cycle back to reality,”(Bradbury 83/79).
• When Montag kills Beatty he becomes his own person.
• “‘Everyone must leave something behind when he dies…’”(156/149).

The theme is important to our understanding of the story because it shows how Montag is a dynamic character and how he changes his views on the government and his thoughts and actions while trying to do the right thing.

Our theme connects to modern day society because we are allowed to express ourselves freely and generally do as we choose. Unlike in Fahrenheit 451, where everything is censored, most of society today is attempting to dissuade censorship. We try to avoid censorship in general and we don’t enforce as strict of rules as they do in Fahrenheit, however there are some things that the government still does not allow for our well being. It is important for us to be aware of this theme because we need to pay attention to what the government is doing and how we act towards important issues.

Chris Allgor

Olivia Seiller   

Rama Mehendale

Sean Sullivan

Spencer Hathaway