Fahrenheit 451 – Web Quest V. Cloos

Objective: The purpose of this webquest is to examine the history of censorship

Task: Explore various websites on censorship. You must utilize these websites. Wikipedia is not a viable alternative. Answer the questions that accompany each website on lined paper, or you may type your response in a word document; just make sure you label each section.

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?ModuleId=10005852

http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/bookburn.htm

I. The Burning of Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley (Great Britian)

1.  Why were both men burned at the stake?

2.  Why was Latimer confident that the people were doing the right thing?

3.  Just as Bradbury wants to remind people to think for themselves, why is it important to remind people of Latimer and Ridley?

4.  What were Ridley’s last words and how do they connect to Fahrenheit 451? Don’t just write down the quote, but see if you can figure out what the quote means and how it connects to the burning of books. Good Luck!

5.  Clearly Queen Mary abuses her power, what message is she sending the people about conformity?

II. Nazi Book Burning (Germany and Europe)

“Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen": "Where they burn books, they will also ultimately burn people." Heinrich Heine

  1. What is significant about the date May 10, 1933? (Don’t simply put they burned books on this day – read the entire article)
  2. Look at the various pictures. How do you think these images inspired Bradbury to write Fahrenheit 451?
  3. What is the ideology behind book burning? In other words, why do the authorities burn books?
  4. Since many German leaders thought the content of various books was degenerate, what was the German ideology? What did they hope to accomplish by burning books?
  5. What effect do you think the burning of books had on the authors whose works were burned?

III. McCarthyism and Blacklisting in Hollywood (1950’s United States)

http://www.ushistory.org/us/53a.asp

1.  Who is Joe McCarthy? Provide some background.

2.  What is McCarthyism? Describe a few of McCarthy tactics when seeking to pursue Communists in the USA?

3.  What is the significance of Hollywood and Blacklisting?

4.  Why do you think McCarthy was able to keep up his witch hunt even though various political leaders were against him and his tactics?