Fahrenheit 451 Pre-Reading

​...discussed potential inventions that we need, but haven't been invented yet. Let's refresh!

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​...investigated important inventions, advances in technology, thinking, medicine, religion, and basically life itself! (Yesterday's task) Let's refresh!

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​...been told we're going to be reading Fahrenheit 451. (Which is true)

​...talk about "dystopian" societies.

​...unpack the theme speculative fiction.

​...reflect upon potential warnings in older texts and film

To begin: on your desk, write what you think the "dystopian" genre is.

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​You can write individual words, examples, movies, etc.

An imaginary place or state in which the condition of life is extremely bad, as from deprivation, oppression, or terror.

• ​Freedoms are restricted

• ​Citizens are under constant surveillance

• ​People have a fear of the outside world

• ​A figurehead or concept is worshipped in the society

• ​The natural world (as we know it) is banished and destroyed

Take 2 minutes to write down any other examples of dystopias that you can think of. Go!​

• ​feels trapped and is struggling to escape

• ​questions the existing social and political systems

• ​Helps the reader recognize the negative aspects of the dystopian world

• ​Believes something is terribly wrong with the world in which he or she lives

• ​Generally there is a class system (not always simple to conceptualize)

• ​People are often referred to as numbers rather than by name

• ​People are cloned so there are several of the same people; they are in uniform and lose individuality.

• ​People are required to "not excel" but rather to lose their competence.

​If you were to write a book that had an underlying theme that "warned" the future about the current state of the world, what things would you try to warn the future about?

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(What things in our world, if we're not careful, could potentially lead to the downfall of our world?)

​When an author writes a book as a warning, it falls under the genre of speculative fiction. (It's also Science Fiction)

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​This book is a reminder that what we have is valuable, and sometimes we take what we value for granted.

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​Our author, Ray Bradbury was writing about his present, which is our past. He was warning us about thigns; some of those things are obvious, and some of them, half a century later, are a bit harder to see.

​You have been told that books will no longer be allowed to exist.  In fact, all printed material will be illegal, and you can be punished for reading, possessing or even looking at any print matter. You still have access to books. What is the most meaningful or important book you have ever read?  What did you learn from that book that you could not have learned anywhere else? Would you like to live in a world without books? What might motivate a society to rid itself of some books or even all books?

Write​ the most meaningful or important book you have ever read and share with your partner.

What might motivate a society to rid itself of some books or even all books?

​...on Schoology