F451

Allusions and Quotations from Fahrenheit 451

Source: http://www.heliweb.de/telic/bradcom.htm

The text of Fahrenheit 451 abounds in quotations from and allusions to great books from authors of many countries. They are "frequently used as a device to portray the frightening emptiness of society in Fahrenheit 451.

Motto: Juan Ramón Jiménez : Spanish poet (1881-1958); the motto sets the tone for unorthodox, non-conformist or even rebellious behaviour in the course of the novel.

PART ONE:

p. 5/p. 8: Guy Montag (page references are to the Cornelsen edition by Dieter Vater; cf. bibliography below): the protagonist's Christian name may refer to Guy Fawkes and his famous gun powder plot in order to kill King James I in 1605 ("Remember, remember the fifth of November"), whereas his family name seems to suggest a new beginning. Cf. also the comment on Faber to be found on p. 72 below.

Clarisse McClellan: her Christian name is based on the Latin adjective clarus, which means "clearly". It may be understod as a speaking name referring both to her outward appearance and to her character.

p. 9: Millay, Edna St. Vincent: American writer (1892-1950);

Whitman, Walt : perhaps the most important American poet of the late 19th century (1819-1892); above all, he was influenced by the transcendentalists, particularly by Ralph Waldo Emerson. He wanted to show how man might achieve for himself the greatest possible freedom within the limits of natural law.

Faulkner, William: famous novelist and short story writer of the American South (1897-1962) and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950.

The pattern to destroy the works of these writers directly reflects the McCarthy era, in which socalled Un-American books were burned in order to 'protect' the U.S.A. against Communism. For Bradbury, there exist also some parallels to Hitler's torching books in 1934 and to the Salem witch hunts in 1680, during which his "ten-times-great grandmother Mary Bradbury was tried but escaped...