451 Style Flashcards
Point of View
In terms of the narration, the story is told from the third person, past tense, point of view. Its primary perspective is that of the central character and protagonist, Guy Montag, recounting or contemplating events from his standpoint. In terms of authorial point of view, the story can be looked at in a number of ways, most of which interrelate. There is a sense of satire about the work, of aspects of society being exaggerated to the point where their fundamental shallowness can be seen for what it is. Perhaps the most noteworthy example of this point of view is the parlor, with its realistic, enveloping, mind-numbing, constant presentation of superficial entertainment.
When considering the parlor, it’s important to remember that “Fahrenheit 451” was first written and published in the very early days of television, at a time when radio and the movies, while still attracting large numbers of audiences, were losing populist ground to entertainment in the home, of a sort that seems to have clear parallels with home entertainment today. Here is where the novel’s satirical sensibilities take on a darker tinge, becoming more of a warning than a mere commentary. In other words, here is where the work’s authorial point of view goes beyond the merely exaggerated and into the likely. This is true not so much in terms of technology but more in terms of what the author contends is the human majority’s long-extant desire for sensory pleasure over soulful contemplation, for fitting in over being an individual, for mindless acceptance over considered, rational independence of thought and action. With “Fahrenheit 451”, the author is, in essence, warning us against ourselves and our socialized tendencies.
Setting
The novel’s setting is one of its most important elements. While the primary components of setting, time and place are never defined explicitly, they defined are in general terms - that is to say, the novel is set at some time in the future and in some large, probably American, urban center. This sense of what might be called “generic” elements functions, on one level, to create and define a sense of universality not so much around the specific events of the story but around its themes and warnings. In other words, the book is less about the particulars of what happens but more about the generalities of why, and how.
Further - setting the narrative in the future clearly and pointedly suggests that the actions and attitudes of society as a whole are, if not inevitable, at least a highly possible potential outcome of current actions and attitudes. This theory is supported by the sense that while there are some very clear evolutions in technology and philosophy, those evolutions are portrayed as extensions of present day situations. As well, how human beings vocally and verbally communicate with each other in this unspecified future is not all that different from the present - in other words, these people of the future are not all that different from us.
Finally, setting the narrative within an urban environment reinforces the work’s mostly sub-textual contention that at least part of the reason why society, in the narrative, became what it did was is the technology behind, and emerging from, urbanization. Also, something else emerging from urbanization, as contemporary studies have show, is a lack of knowledge and awareness of others in the community, not to mention the desire for such knowledge and awareness. Said lacking tend to reinforce the desire for and tendency towards mindless acceptance of the entertainment, politics, and social opportunities most readily available, the sort experienced and advocated by Mildred, her visitors, and by the vast majority of the people of the time. The fewer people and perspectives one encounters, the less likely one is to face challenges to one’s beliefs, and to have one’s views changed and/or expanded by those challenges.
Language and Meaning
There are two main elements to note about the work’s use of language, one of which might be defined as what is missing rather than what is present. Specifically, there is an engaging lack of what often handicaps novels that are either futuristic or set in other worlds, the often self-consciously clever attempts to fill the alternative world with inventive technologies, slang, or socio-moral conventions. Language used in both narration and dialogue has a timeless feel to it that includes, rather than impresses, the reader. Granted, there are terminologies and usages that exist only in the future world and not, as yet, in the contemporary world - Ear Thimbles or Ear Seashells and the Mechanical Hound are examples of terminologies and technologies outside of the contemporary norm, while usage and application of the terms “parlor” and “fireman” are also evolutions, or corruptions, of contemporary concepts. Again, however, the emphasis on the novel’s language seems to be mostly on the day to day and the already extant, reinforcing its overall point of view that what happens in this future is beginning to happen now.
The other main element of language at work here is its essential power, its economy and intensity. There is the sense that every word has been chosen carefully and deliberately, every phrase carefully and deliberately shaped so that they are all exactly the right words, quotable and packed with emotional, metaphorical, and philosophical meaning. The vast majority of the prose is what might best be described as quotable, with dialogue that, while occasionally overly expository (as in the speeches of Captain Beatty) or preachy (the speeches of Faber and Granger) is, for the most part, to the point and clearly based on or defined by character. Generally, there are very few extraneous words. Language is tight and concise, meaning is distilled and, therefore, intense and potentially very moving.
Structure
The narrative’s essential structure is linear, moving forward in what might be described as traditional narrative form - from action to reaction to action, from cause to effect to cause, from beginning (i.e., a point of innocence and/or normality) through middle (i.e., growing awareness and/or complication) to end (i.e., a point of increased knowledge and/or transformation). That narrative structure is defined by the experiences of fireman Guy Montag, with his journey of transformation forming the anchor for the novel’s narrative journey. Within that overall structure, the narrative is broken down into three parts, the first and third longer than the second and each titled with a phrase and/or image that metaphorically sums up and/or suggests each section’s individual content. Within itself, each part follows a smaller version of the narrative form described above - a beginning, a middle, and an ending, a movement from normality or suspension (as at the beginning of Part 3) through complication ending in resolution. In the instances of both the overall narrative and the narratives in the three parts, the action builds to a point of climax, or point of emotional and/or narrative intensity that draws the reader further into the action. The second part builds on the intensity of the climax in the first part, while the third part builds on the intensity of the climaxes in the first two. In other words, as things become more intense for Montag, the vicarious living through of his experiences becomes more intense for the reader.
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