Summary of "451º Fahrenheit", Ray Bradbury. History of creation, main character

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

We offer you a summary of "451 Fahrenheit" - a famous novel, which had several adaptations. In the preface to his work, the author R. Bradbury tells the story of its creation. After reading this article, you will find out how the author came up with the idea of writing a novel, what is its main character. We will also provide a summary of Fahrenheit 451.

History of the creation of the work

In the 1930s, the author of the novel lived in Los Angeles, where he often watched films. In front of each of them, newsreels were traditionally shown in which the Nazis blasphemously burned books at the stake. These frames touched Bradbury so much that they caused tears, and then resulted in a whole novel. It should be noted that Ray Bradbury often visited the public library during the Great Depression. During this difficult time, books were the writer's best friends.

In the preface, the author announces that he is the main character, Guy Montag. The writer invites us to go along with him a short way through the pages of the work. It is very interesting to get acquainted with the novel "451 Fahrenheit". Reviews about the work are the most positive, many people re-read it again and again, discovering new facets of the hero's character, comprehending the plot. Therefore, you can safely start reading.

Main character

Bradbury writes that people living in the near future can hardly be called people. All of them live in the television world, and their "relatives" are the heroes of the series. These people think in stereotypes. The main character, however, manages to go beyond these limits. Clarissa from Fahrenheit 451 helped him with this.

Analysis of the work shows that the main character used to be a simple firefighter who lived an ordinary, unremarkable life. He did not think about the meaning of his existence. The fireman burned books because that was his job. But then Ray Bradbury writes that one day everything changed. He met and befriended a girl named Clarissa. She loved to think about life, walk, enjoy the beauties of nature. In addition, this heroine of the novel "451 Fahrenheit" was able to think independently.

The quotes given by this woman, her vision of the world - all this gradually changes the inner world of the protagonist. He was surprised, for example, when she said: "Do you know what fallen leaves smell like? Cinnamon!" Montag secretly starts bringing homebooks instead of burning them. He thinks about life, about his work. The death of Clarissa, as well as the meeting with the woman who died because she refused to leave the house, increase the internal discord of the protagonist.

As the plot of the novel develops, life loses its meaning for Guy. The society surrounding him, including his wife, begins to inspire disgust. It all ends with the fact that the hero leaves the city. Whom he meets and what he acquires - you will learn about this by reading the summary of the work.

Summary of Fahrenheit 451

The events of this novel take place in the near future (we can say that already in the present, since R. Bradbury finished his novel 60 years ago). The work says that the nuclear war has recently ended, but patrol bombers still fly over the American city. The government has decided to rein in the people: they are forbidden to think much, they can only work and have fun.

The life of people after the atomic war

Slowly, the inhabitants of this fictional world are being turned into zombies. They cease to communicate, walk the streets, begin to hate their own children. Watching TV becomes fashionable. So-called living rooms appear, in which all the walls are huge TVs. Also, the inhabitants of the city have fun by driving jet cars at great speed. Any book in the country is prohibited. Reading them is considered free-thinking. Former firefighters turn into a special squad whose main concern is to come home to the intruder and burnbooks along with his house.

Communication with Clarissa

One day the main character comes home from work. On the street, he meets Clarissa, an eccentric neighbor. This woman says strange things about the rustle of leaves, the beauty of the stars, etc. Despite this, Montag likes her. Gradually, he begins to listen to what Clarissa says, to look at things differently.

Clarissa asks the hero one simple question: "Are you happy?" This question takes him by surprise. The hero begins to look at his life in a new way. He is not the only one leading such an existence, but millions of Americans. Guy soon realizes that this thoughtless existence cannot be called happy. He feels emptiness, lack of humanity, warmth.

Mildred case, Montag's marriage

One day, an accident happens to Montag's wife. Returning home, the main character finds his wife unconscious. The woman poisoned herself with sleeping pills, but not as a result of a desire to part with her life, but simply by swallowing pills automatically. Everything is soon resolved safely. An ambulance quickly arrives on the call of the protagonist. Doctors carry out blood transfusion using the latest equipment. After receiving their $50 due, they move on to the next challenge.

Montag and Mildred have been married for a long time. Their marriage has long turned into a fiction. Mildred is against children, which is why they don't have any. Each of the spouses exists on its own. Mildred is addicted to TV shows that replace her real life.

Death of a woman who refused to leave home

After a while, the main character learns that his neighbor was hit to death by a car, after which her family left. A squad of firefighters, including Montag, are called in to burn books in a house whose owner has refused to leave. As a result, it was burned along with the house. Before her death, this woman quoted books. The protagonist of the novel Fahrenheit 451 secretly takes one of them. This book is now kept at his home.

Beatty's visit

After all these events, Montag began to think about his work. He told his wife to call work and report that he was ill. But unexpectedly, Beatty, Montag's boss, came to visit them. He suspected the protagonist of keeping books. Beatty began to tell me that there was nothing interesting about them, that it was only harmful.

Montag leaves home

Montag, after the boss left, showed his wife his books, which he managed to collect. Mildred began to panic and asked her husband to get rid of them. Then the main character took the Bible with him and left home. Guy went to Faber, an old man whom he once found reading in the park, but did not betray the firemen. Then Faber left his address to the main character. Montag decided to come to him, because he did not know with whom to talk and where to go. Faber listened to Guy and persuaded him to take the side of the rebels - to save books. He also gave the main character a small receiver. Guy put it in his ear, and the old mancould hear everything around Montag and talk to him.

How Montag gave himself away

The protagonist of Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" returned home. At that time, friends came to his wife. They watched TV, but Guy offered to chat. The protagonist began to lose his temper from the stupidity of his wife's girlfriends. As a result, he took out a book of poems from a hiding place, began to read it. Faber asked Guy not to do this, but he couldn't stop. Mildred tried to make it look like a firefighters joke, but the friends went home and called the police.

Guy's Riot

Following Ray Bradbury writes that, without suspecting anything, Montag went to work. He brought Beatty one of the books and said he stole it, which he regrets very much. The boss praised the main character, telling him that everyone did this once. There was a call, after which everyone got into the car. It turned out that firefighters arrived at Montag's house. Lowering her eyes, Mildred left in a taxi. The boss gave the main character a flamethrower and invited him to burn his own books. Guy burned Beatty, hit two colleagues. He then burned the mechanical dog, tuned to the scent of the protagonist, as well.

Meeting with book defenders

The work written by Bradbury ("Fahrenheit 451") is already coming to an end. Montag decides to run away from this city. During his escape, he is nearly hit by a car. The pursuit of the main character is shown on TV. Despite all the difficulties, Montag still escapes from the city, and then throws himself into the river. Guy longfloats. In the end, he gets to the shore, sees the fire. Tramps sitting near this fire call the main character, turn on a small TV. It shows how the pursuit of Guy ends. Deciding that it would take a long time to look for the criminal in the water, the police chose a guy walking along the street. She passed him off as Guy and destroyed him. The tramps admit that they are rebels who decided to protect the books. Each of these old men has in his head a famous book or several chapters from it. In the future, they hope to recreate these works. Montag also learns that the war has begun again.

The end of the novel

The Wanderers set off with Guy in the morning. They want to get away from the city, but they cannot get far - the bombers flew into the city and destroyed it. The rogues manage to survive. All covered in blood and dust, they are on their way again. Each of them carries his own book in his head, as well as the desire to change this world.

This is the summary of Fahrenheit 451. This work was included in the golden fund of world literature, and its author (pictured above) is considered one of the best writers of the 20th century.