Sunday Reading : Fahrenheit 451

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          Fahrenheit 451 is a Dystopian novel by American writer Ray Bradbury, first published in 1953.It is regarded as one of his best works.The novel presents a future American society where books are outlawed and "Fireman" burn any that are found.The books tagline explains the title : " Fahrenheit 451-the temperature at which book paper catches fire,and burns...." The lead character, Guy Montag, is a Fireman who becomes disillusioned with his role of censoring literature and destroying knowledge, eventually quitting his job and committing himself to the preservation of literary and cultural writings.

         The novel has been the subject of interpretations focusing on the historical role of book burning in suppressing dissenting ideas.In a 1956 radio interview,  Bradbury said that he wrote Fahrenheit 451 because of his concerns at the time ( during the Mccarthy era ) about the threat of book burning in the United States. In later years, he described the book as a commentary on how mass media reduces interest in reading literature.

            Fahrenheit 451 is set in an unspecified city ( Likely in the American Midwest ) in the year 1999 ( according to Ray Bradbury's Coda ) though it is written as if set in a distant future.The earliest editions make clear that it takes place no earlier than the year 1960.

          The novel is divided into three parts :

- "The Hearth and the Salamander "
- " The Sieve and the Sand "
- " Burning Bright " 

             Bradbury concerned about censorship in the United States.During a radio interview in 1956. Bradbury said :

             "I wrote this book at a time when I was worried about the way things were going in this country four years ago. Too many people were afraid of their shadows; there was a threat of book burning. Many of the books were being taken off the shelves at that time. And of course, things have changed a lot in four years. Things are going back in a very healthy direction. But at the time I wanted to do some sort of story where I could comment on what would happen to a country if we let ourselves go too far in this direction, where then all thinking stops, and the dragon swallows his tail, and we sort of vanish into a limbo and we destroy ourselves by this sort of action." 

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