significant science fiction tome — W r i t i n g

FARENHEIT 451: Short Paper Possibilities
Here are some broad possibilities for how to focus a short essay on
Bradbury’s novel and/or the film:
1) Themes and Issues: what themes or issues do you think Bradbury
is introducing and asking readers to think about? What would be
on your list? What do you think this novel is about? Could you
cite passages from the novel that you think illustrate the themes
or issues you see coming up in this novel? See if you can “make a
trail of breadcrumbs” (trail of passages) for one or two of the
themes or issues you see at work in the novel. You might
write an essay that focuses on either one or more of these
themes and which traces them through the novel through key
passages from it. You could also add in your critical thinking
response to the novel and its message(s)
2) You can do the same process as above, but instead you can focus
on the film. Instead of using text passages for evidence of your
point of view, you would describe scenes or aspects of the film,
the ways in which the director and/or actors played out the issues
and themes in the film.
3) You could write a paper that analyzes how the film compares to
the novel. Since there is a sixteen year period between the
novel’s publication and the film’s release, what do you make of how
the film portrayed the book? What do you see that is well done
in the film, or what do you see as flaws in it when you compare it
to the book?
4) You could write an essay in which you celebrate FARENHEIT 451
or you critically tear it apart (negatively). If you were doing a
review of the book for an audience, what would you point out
about it that makes it worth reading? How would you convince
anyone to read the book? Or, if the opposite is true, what
specifically would you complain/critique about it? What would you
point to in the book to argue against reading it?
5) Looking towards the last part of the novel, could you make a list
of what books are chosen in the last few chapters by the “Book
People” as worthy of reciting and “being/becoming?” Then, take a
look at this list: what does it mean? What is Bradbury trying to
convey by choosing these particular books? Why would they be
books that the future world of Farenheit 451 would want to hold
onto? Why would our world want to?
6) Would you want to live in a world like the one in F451? Why or
why not? Could you live in a world without books? In a world
where all information taught to you and your children was decided
upon by government or a central societal authority? Are we
already there, do you think, with our love/addiction of/to
technology? Have we already moved past a world with books?
Do you read? Why or why not? What’s your position on this
key issue in F451? How does Bradbury fully portray this issue
in the novel?
7) If you lived in the world of F451, would you decide to be a
Fireman or part of the group in power, an ordinary citizen, or one
of the “Book People?” Why or why not? How does this novel
speak to you? If you chose to be one of the “Book People,” and I
asked you to limit yourself to a choice of five books or films (any
discipline: humanities, science, math, social sciences, religion, pulp
fiction, sci-fi, children’s literature, etc.), what would be the five
texts you would choose to be if you chose to become one of the
“Book People?” Be sure you can explain why you made these
choices?
8) Finally, FARENHEIT 451 is thought of as a significant science
fiction tome—can you determine why it’s considered an important
book? What would you point to in the novel to illustrate this
for your audience? And what about its influence on books or films
that have come after it? What texts do you see F451’s influence
in? And why is the book still read and discussed all these years
later? Did Bradbury predict our society in his futuristic look at
it in F451?
You can choose any of these approaches, tailor them to your thought
process, or you can come up with an original approach of your own.