English Courses/Fahrenheit 451 Study GuideCourse
- AuthorMadison Mateski
Madi Mateski has a Bachelor's in history education from Brigham Young University-Idaho and a Master's in English from Arizona State University. She taught 10th grade English for four years and now works as a writer and editor.
View bio - InstructorKerry Gray
Kerry has been a teacher and an administrator for more than twenty years. She has a Master of Education degree.
View bio
Explore the irony in ‘’Fahrenheit 451’’ by Ray Bradbury. Learn about the dramatic, verbal, and situational ironies. Examine their significance in the dystopian novel.Updated: 11/21/2023
Table of Contents
- What Irony is Present in Fahrenheit 451?
- Verbal Irony in Fahrenheit 451
- Situational Irony in Fahrenheit 451
- Lesson Summary
Frequently Asked Questions
What is ironic about the world of Fahrenheit 451?
In the world of Fahrenheit 451, firemen are enlisted to burn books instead of to save them. A fireman named Montag decides to devote his life to saving books when his duty is actually to destroy them.
What is the irony in Part 2 of Fahrenheit 451?
An example of irony from part 2 of Fahrenheit 451 is when Montag sarcastically asks his wife whether her television characters can love her. While he is hinting at a real problem, his commentary can't adequately address the issues at hand, making it an example of verbal irony.
Table of Contents
- What Irony is Present in Fahrenheit 451?
- Verbal Irony in Fahrenheit 451
- Situational Irony in Fahrenheit 451
- Lesson Summary
"Fahrenheit 451" is a dystopian novel by Ray Bradbury, first published in 1951. The story follows a fireman named Montag who lives in a futuristic America that has banned all books. Instead of saving homes from fires, this new America hires firemen to burn any and all books because they are too confusing and offensive, and because they allow individuals to learn more and gain greater wisdom than others, thereby destroying the natural equality of the government-controlled and uneducated masses.
Irony is a literary device that leads readers to expect one outcome when the plot actually takes an entirely different direction. Irony forces audiences to stop and think. There are three types of irony in literature: dramatic irony, verbal irony, and situational irony.
Irony is everywhere in ''Fahrenheit 451''. The main character named Montag, though a fireman, begins to question the processes involved in his career and even goes so far as to hide books from destruction. As a man who has been required to destroy books, Montag loses his entire livelihood and the only world he's ever known in his efforts to save books from burning, books he has never even fully read.
Dramatic Irony in Fahrenheit 451
Dramatic irony occurs when a character does or says something that, unknown to them, is actually true or destructive, or that will actually happen. The very concept of firemen hired to destroy books instead of to save them is an example of dramatic irony because these firemen assume that they are saving their communities by burning literature when in reality they are only causing harm. Montag is curious about and willing to hide them from the government, but his job as a fireman is ironic because the audience recognizes how much danger he is placing himself in. His wife, his boss, and his coworkers are all much more sensitive to the laws and signs of book-reading than the average population. As a fireman, a reader might think that Montag would have been desensitized to his interest in books, having burned so many of them on demand. Yet, he still slips copies inside his jacket to take them home, read them, and contemplate what they could possibly mean.
Clarisse, a local neighborhood girl, seems to have avoided the government's mind-controlling tactics. At one point in part I of Fahrenheit 451, she asks Montag, ''Is it true that long ago firemen put fires out instead of going to start them?...I heard once that a long time ago houses used to burn by accident and they needed firemen to stop the flames.'' Montag laughs at her supposed foolishness, but the interaction counts as another instance of dramatic irony. Even though Montag has no idea that Clarisse's miniature history lesson is accurate, the audience does.
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Verbal irony takes place when a character's speech does not accurately reflect the situation in which they find themselves either because they are not telling the truth or because they cannot respond to the circ*mstances appropriately. For example, in part I of the book, Montag's wife Millie attempts suicide. Montag calls for help, and Millie's life is saved through emergency medical intervention, but when Millie wakes up the next morning, she has no memory of the attempt. It's possible that Millie's character genuinely does not remember what happened to her. It's also possible that Millie does not know how to appropriately respond to surviving a suicide attempt and that her insistence that nothing happened is merely a reflection of her inability to process her own depression.
Another example of verbal irony is in part 2 of Fahrenheit 451 when Montag asks Millie whether her ''family'' on television has the capacity to love her: ''Does your 'family' love you, love you very much, love you with all their heart and soul, Millie?'' While the question certainly confronts the reality of Millie's preoccupation with her television screens and their inability to provide her with real human connection, the question is sarcastic and therefore does not directly address Millie's entrapment in an unreal, though pleasurable, world.
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Situational irony can be described as an individual facing outcomes that are the opposite of their original intentions. For example, situational irony in Fahrenheit 451 includes the moment when Montag recognizes that in burning so many books, he has actually been destroying pieces of the human experience instead of protecting humanity. Montag states, ''It took some man a lifetime maybe to put some of his thoughts down, looking around at the world and life, and then I came along in two minutes and boom! It's all over.''
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Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury was first published in 1951. It tells the story of Guy Montag, a fireman who is enlisted by the futuristic US government to burn books instead of stopping fires. Irony is present all throughout the novel. Irony is a literary device that makes people think by having the outcomes of a story be completely different than the characters or the audience expected. For example, the entirety of Fahrenheit 451 is ironic in the sense that firemen are hired to destroy property instead of to protect it.
Dramatic irony occurs when characters expect one thing, but the audience is aware that the characters are incorrect. An example of dramatic irony in Fahrenheit 451 is when Montag laughs at Clarisse for thinking that firemen once put out fires instead of causing them. However, the audience knows that Clarisse is correct despite Montag's mockery. Verbal irony occurs when characters express an idea that is either ignorant or knowingly incorrect. For example, Montag sarcastically asks his wife whether or not her television characters can love her. While his comment certainly addresses a very real problem, its sarcasm is unable to adequately confront the circ*mstances at hand. Finally, situational irony occurs when characters' choices result in outcomes that are completely opposite to what they initially intended. Midway through the novel, Montag recognizes that his book-burning has caused immense harm to humanity instead of helping society, which was never his original intent.
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Video Transcript
What is Irony?
Until his death in 2010, Britain's largest dog was a Great Dane measuring 7'3'' tall on his hind legs and weighing 238 pounds. He was named 'Tiny.' Tiny's name is a real-life example of irony. Irony is when the opposite of the expected happens. Authors frequently use irony to make a point. Let's look at examples of three types of irony in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.
Dramatic Irony with Firemen
When we think of firemen in our world, we think of heroes. Firemen risk their lives to protect their communities during car crashes, floods, and fires. Things are different in Montag's world. In his dystopian community, people are afraid of firemen because firemen are the ones that set fires to the homes of rule breakers. When Montag meets his teenage neighbor, Clarisse, she asks, 'Is it true that long ago firemen put fires out instead of going to start them?. . .I heard once that a long time ago houses used to burn by accident and they needed firemen to stop the flames.'
Montag just laughs at her because he comes from a long line of firemen. According to his teaching, houses have been fireproof since Benjamin Franklin opened the first fire station to censor British books. This is an example of dramatic irony because the audience is aware of the truth when the character isn't. Clarisse is right, but Montag finds her theories laughable.
Verbal Irony with Mildred
Montag's wife, Mildred, who is a cold and frivolous woman, refers to the characters in her television show as her family. When Montag comes to her upset about having to kill the woman with her books the night before, Millie has no time or sympathy for her husband. When she finds out that Montag has been hiding books in their home, all she thinks about is losing her television entertainment. '. . . if Captain Beatty knew about those books - He might come and burn the house and the `family.' That's awful!'
In an example of verbal irony, Montag sarcastically asks her, 'Does your `family' love you, love you very much, love you with all their heart and soul, Millie?' Verbal irony is when a character knowingly says something that means something else for the purpose of making a point.
Situational Irony with Obsession
A good example of situational irony is when Montag, who has spent his entire career burning books and enjoying the flames, switches directions. Situational irony is when the opposite of what one would expect to happen occurs. Suddenly, Montag realizes that his victims have something that he has lost along the way. 'It took some man a lifetime maybe to put some of his thoughts down, looking around at the world and life, and then I came along in two minutes and boom! It's all over.'
Over a short period of time, Montag moves from judge, jury, and executioner of those who break the laws on censorship, to a perpetrator of that crime. Still, he is surprised when he realizes that Beatty, the Captain, is forcing him to burn down his own house as his wife flees the scene.
Lesson Summary
Irony is when the opposite of what is expected happens. In this novel, we see examples of three types of irony.
- Dramatic irony occurs when the audience is aware of something that the character is not, like when Montag laughs at Clarisse for thinking that firemen used to help people by putting out accidental fires.
- Verbal irony is when words mean the opposite of what they say, and is often expressed in sarcasm. Montag uses verbal irony when he asks Mildred if her family, meaning television characters, loves her.
- Situational irony is when an action is contrary to what is expected. Montag happily burns books and enjoys watching the fires. Later, he becomes obsessed with books and ends up having to burn down his own home.
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