I hadn't read Fahrenheit 451 since I wrote the original LitPlan for it about 20 years ago, but I picked it up again not long ago to write a new edition of the LitPlan. Whether it's because I'm 20 years older or times have changed so much in 20 years, I am stunned and dismayed at how much our society has become like Montag's. It's actually making me a little bit sick to read it.

We're not burning books yet and firemen's hoses aren't filled with kerosene, but there are too many Mildreds in our world...plugged in and tuned out to reality. And our reality TV shows are too much like "the relatives." Folks don't often converse with each other over topics of substance--just shallow pop culture. Clarisse spoke of how many of her school friends were shooting and killing each other, and suicide is of epidemic proportions in her world.

If Fahrenheit 451 is in your curriculum as an option to study, you should study it with your students. Don't miss the opportunity to discuss so many important aspects of Montag's world and ours.