Fahrenheit 451: Lesson Five

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

In the final section of the novel, the setting shifts from the city to the country.

Until now, the setting of the novel has been a non-descript futuristic city.

• Why do you think Bradbury chose not to identify the city's name?
• How would you perceive the story differently if you knew the country and city where the action was occurring?

Setting is an important element for many genres of writing, but it plays an especially critical role in science fiction because the writer's task is to build an entire world for the reader. This fictional world may closely resemble real society with only minor alterations or it could be an entirely imaginative creation with no resemblance to reality.

• What would the Star Wars series look like if it had to adhere to realistic settings?

To learn more about the construction of setting in science fiction, read Read Setting: The Key to Science Fiction, by Bruce Boston (Writing-World.com). As you read, answer the following questions in the notebook or journal that you have been keeping for this series:

• How is setting related to plot and character in science fiction?
• Why is a speculative setting more difficult to create than a mainstream setting in a novel?
• What is one advantage that a speculative setting has over a mainstream setting?
• How should the senses be used in a speculative setting?
• What is the definition of a meta-setting? How do your personal preferences as a reader affect your version of a meta-setting?

When you have finished recording your responses, you are ready to read the final portion of the novel. Pick up where you left off at the end of the previous section where Guy says "Goodbye" to Mrs. Black in his thoughts and finish the novel. When you have finished reading, answer the questions from the Fahrenheit 451 Reading Log that you printed out in the first lesson of the series, and have been using for all lessons in this series, in your notebook or journal. (You can find the Fahrenheit 451 Reading Log in Downloadable Resources in the right-hand sidebar. If you missed, or would like to review, the previous lessons, find them in that sidebar under Related Lessons.)

Then, move on to the Got It? section to explore the use of setting in the novel.