We offer you a brief summary of "451 Fahrenheit" - a famous novel by which there were several adaptations. In the preface to his work, the author R. Bradbury tells the story of its creation. After reading this article, you will learn how the author came up with the idea of writing a novel, what is its main character. We will also outline a summary of "451 Fahrenheit."
History of the work
In the 1930s, the author of the novel lived in Los Angeles, where he often watched films. Newsreels were traditionally shown in front of each of them, 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. At this difficult time, books were the writer’s best friends.
In the preface, the author reports that he is the main character, Guy Montag. The writer suggests that we go along with him a small path 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 reread it again and again, revealing new facets of the character of the hero, comprehending the plot. Therefore, you can safely start reading.
The main character
Bradbury writes that people living in the near future can hardly be called people. They all 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 this framework. Clarissa from 451 Fahrenheit helped him in this.
An analysis of the work shows that the main character used to be a simple fireman who lived an ordinary, unremarkable life. He did not think about the meaning of his existence. A fireman was burning books, as that was his job. But then Ray Bradbury writes that once everything changed. He met and made friends with 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 that this woman gives, 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 the fallen leaves smell like? Cinnamon!” Montag secretly begins to bring books home instead of burning them. He thinks about life, about his work. The death of Clarissa, as well as a meeting with a woman who died due to refusal to leave the house, reinforce the internal discord of the protagonist.
In the course of how the plot of the novel develops, life loses meaning for Guy. The society surrounding him, including his spouse, begins to inspire disgust. It all ends with the hero leaving the city. Whom he meets and what he gains - you will learn about this by reading the summary of the work.
Summary of "451 Fahrenheit"
The events of this novel take place in the near future (we can say that it is already in the present, since R. Bradbury finished his novel 60 years ago). The work says that the atomic war has recently ended, but patrol bombers still fly over the American city. The government decided to curb people: they are forbidden to think much, you can only work and have fun.
Life after atomic war
Gradually, the inhabitants of this fictional world turn into zombies. They stop communicating, walk the streets, begin to hate their own children. Watching TV is becoming fashionable. So-called living rooms appear, in which all the walls are huge TVs. Also, residents are amused by the fact that they drive jet cars at great speed. Any books in the country are prohibited. Their reading is considered freethinking. Former firefighters turn into a special detachment, the main concern of which is to come home to the intruder and burn books with his house.
Communication with Clarissa
Once the main character returns 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 stars, etc. Despite this, she likes Montague. 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. It is not he who leads 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.
The Case of Mildred, Montague Matrimony
Once an accident occurs with the wife of Montague. Returning home, the protagonist finds his wife unconscious. The woman was poisoned with sleeping pills, but not as a result of a desire to lose her life, but simply mechanically swallowing pills. Everything will soon be resolved safely. Ambulance quickly arrives at the call of the protagonist. Doctors carry out a blood transfusion using the latest equipment. Having received their $ 50, they are sent to the next call.
The marriage of Montag and Mildred has been going on for a long time. Their marriage has long turned into a fiction. Mildred is against the children, so they don’t have them. Each spouse exists on its own. Mildred is passionate about television series that replace her with real life.
Death of a woman who refused to leave the house
After a while, the main character learns that his neighbor was hit by a car to death, after which her family left. A detachment of firefighters, including Montague, was called in to burn books in a house whose hostess refused to leave him. As a result, she was burned along with the house. Before dying, this woman quoted books. Secretly takes one of them the protagonist of the novel "451 Fahrenheit." This book is now stored in his house.
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, the chief of Montag, came to visit them. He suspected the main character in keeping books. Beatty began to tell that there was nothing interesting in them, that it was only harmful.
Montag leaves home
Montag after leaving the boss showed his wife his books, which he managed to collect. Mildred began to panic and ask 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 a park, but did not betray to firefighters. Then Faber left the main character his address. 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 man could thus hear everything that was happening around Montag and talk with him.
How Montagh betrayed himself
The protagonist of Bradbury's 451 Fahrenheit returned home. At this time, friends came to his wife. They watched TV, but Guy offered to chat. The main character began to lose his temper with the stupidity of his wife's girlfriends. As a result, he took out a book with verses from a cache, began to read it. Faber asked Guy not to do this, but he could not stop. Mildred tried to imagine this situation as a joke of firefighters, but her friends went home and called the police.
Riot Guy
Then Ray Bradbury writes that, without suspecting anything, Montag went to work. He brought Beatty one of the books and said that he had stolen it, which he regretted very much. The boss praised the protagonist, telling him that everyone had done this once. A call followed, after which everyone sat in the car. It turned out that firefighters arrived at Montag's house. Looking down, Mildred left for a taxi. The boss gave the protagonist a flamethrower and invited him to burn his own books. Guy burned Beatty, hit two colleagues. Then he burned a mechanical dog tuned to the smell of the protagonist.
Meeting with Book Advocates
The work, the author of which is Bradbury ("451 Fahrenheit"), is already approaching the finale. Montag decides to run away from this city. During the escape he was nearly hit by a car. The pursuit of the main character is shown on TV. Despite all the difficulties, Montag still breaks out of the city, and then rushes into the river. Guy swims for a long time. In the end, he gets to the shore, sees a bonfire. The tramps sitting near this fire, the name of the main character, turn on a small TV. It shows how the pursuit of Guy ends. Deciding that it was a long time to look for a criminal in the water, the police chose a guy walking along the street. She passed him off as Guy and destroyed him. Vagabonds admit that they are rebels who have decided to defend books. Each of these old men holds in their head a well-known book or several chapters from it. In the future, they hope to recreate these works. Montag learns that the war has begun again.
The finale of the novel
Wanderers together with Guy set off in the morning. They want to go away from the city, but they can’t get far - the bombers flew into the city and destroyed it. The tramps manage to survive. All in blood and dust, they again move on the road. Each of them carries in his head his own book, as well as the desire to change this world.
This is a 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.