Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that can help answer the question.
Query: Who is the main character of Fahrenheit 451?
Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian novel by American writer Ray Bradbury, first published in 1953. It is regarded as one of his best works. The novel presents a future American society where books are outlawed and "firemen" burn any that are found. The book's tagline explains the title: "Fahrenheit 451 – the temperature at which book paper catches fire, and burns..." The lead character, Guy Montag, is a fireman who becomes disillusioned with his role of censoring literature and destroying knowledge, eventually quitting his job and committing himself to the preservation of literary and cultural writings.
In the third edition of "The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction", author and critic John Clute writes of "Inter Ice Age 4": "It is a complex story set in a near-future Japan threatened by the melting polar ice caps. The protagonist, Professor Katsumi, has been in charge of developing a computer/information system capable of predicting human behavior. Fatally for him, this system predicts his compulsive refusal to go along with his associates and his government in the creation of genetically engineered children, adapted for life in the rising seas. Most of the novel, narrated by Katsumi, deals with a philosophical confrontation between his deeply alienated refusal of the future and the computer's knowing representations of that refusal and the alternatives to it. The resulting psychodramas include a mysterious murder and the enlistment of his unborn child into the ranks of the mutated water-breathers."
Atticus Finch is a fictional character in Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of 1960, "To Kill a Mockingbird". A preliminary version of the character also appears in the novel "Go Set a Watchman", written in the mid 1950s but not published until 2015. Atticus is a lawyer and resident of the fictional Maycomb County, Alabama, and the father of Jeremy "Jem" Finch and Jean Louise "Scout" Finch. Lee based the character on her own father, Amasa Coleman Lee, an Alabama lawyer, who, like Atticus, represented black defendants in a highly publicized criminal trial. "Book Magazine"s list of "The 100 Best Characters in Fiction Since 1900" names Finch as the seventh best fictional character of 20th-century literature. In 2003 the American Film Institute voted Atticus Finch, as portrayed in an Academy Award-winning performance by Gregory Peck in the 1962 film adaptation, as the greatest hero of all American cinema. In the 2018 Broadway stage play adapted by Aaron Sorkin, Finch is portrayed by Jeff Daniels.
To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was immediately successful, winning the Pulitzer Prize, and has become a classic of modern American literature. The plot and characters are loosely based on Lee's observations of her family, her neighbors and an event that occurred near her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, in 1936, when she was 10 years old. The story is told by the six-year-old Jean Louise Finch.
The novel is renowned for its warmth and humor, despite dealing with the serious issues of rape and racial inequality. The narrator's father, Atticus Finch, has served as a moral hero for many readers and as a model of integrity for lawyers. Historian, J Crespino explains, "In the twentieth century, "To Kill a Mockingbird" is probably the most widely read book dealing with race in America, and its protagonist, Atticus Finch, the most enduring fictional image of racial heroism."
Leviathan is a 2009 novel written by Scott Westerfeld and illustrated by Keith Thompson. First of a trilogy set in alternative version of World War I, it has Central Powers (known in-universe as "Clankers") using mechanized war machines opposed by Entente Powers (as "Darwinists") who fabricate living creatures genetically. The central protagonists are Aleksander, son of Archduke Franz Ferdinand; and Deryn, a Scottish girl with dreams of joining the British Air Service with her brother. The sequels are "Behemoth" and "Goliath". The first two chapters of this book were released with "Bogus to Bubbly: Insider's Guide to the World of Uglies".
"The Man Who Wrote Frankenstein" was praised by the critic Camille Paglia, who wrote in "Salon" that "Lauritsen assembles an overwhelming case that Mary Shelley, as a badly educated teenager, could not possibly have written the soaring prose of 'Frankenstein' ... and that the so-called manuscript in her hand is simply one example of the clerical work she did for many writers as a copyist." Paglia compared Lauritsen's work to that of the critic Leslie Fiedler, concluding that, "This is a funny, wonderful, revelatory book that I hope will inspire ambitious graduate students and young faculty to strike blows for truth in our mired profession, paralyzed by convention and fear."
The Man Who Wrote Frankenstein is a 2007 book written and published by John Lauritsen, in which the author argues that the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, not his wife Mary Shelley, is the real author of "Frankenstein" (1818), that the novel "has consistently been underrated and misinterpreted", and that its dominant theme is "male love". Lauritsen maintains that handwriting cannot be used to determine the actual author of "Frankenstein". His work received positive reviews in gay publications. However, some commentators in other publications rejected Lauritsen's views and supported the conventional view that "Frankenstein" was written by Mary Shelley.
The series is loosely divided into four arcs, chronicling the introduction and reveal of each "A". Set in the suburbs of Philadelphia, the series follows the lives of four teenage girls nicknamed "the Pretty little Liars" or simply "the Liars", whose clique falls apart after the disappearance of their Queen bee leader, "Alison DiLaurentis". A year after her disappearance, the girls begin receiving threatening messages from an anonymous character named "A," who threatens to expose their secrets, including long-hidden ones they thought only Alison knew. Shortly after the messages begin, Alison's body is discovered buried in her yard. The books progress with the four girls trying to figure out the identity of "A" and facing many dangerous obstacles and twists as they do so.
The novel, set in 1983, revolves around a game programmer and his family. His claim to fame is a fictional Atari computer game called "Hacker Snack". Step Fletcher, a devout Mormon, moves his pregnant wife DeAnne and their three children (Stevie, Robbie and Elizabeth, respectively seven, four and two years old) from Indiana to Steuben, North Carolina so he can start a new job as a technical writer. Fletcher must deal with several unpleasant situations. His manager, Dicky Northranger, is a greedy, petty and manipulative man who does everything he can to undermine Step's position, while the owner of the company, Ray Keene, asks him to cross-check whatever technical job Dicky does as it seems he is not very comfortable about Dicky's competence.
"The Fermi Paradox Is Our Business Model" is a science fiction short story by Charlie Jane Anders. It was first published in the online magazine Tor.com August 11, 2010.
Halo: Silentium is a military science fiction novel by Greg Bear, based on the "Halo" series of video games. The book was released in March 2013 and is the twelfth "Halo" book (the eleventh novel) and the last book in the trilogy of novels focusing on the Forerunners, called "The Forerunner Saga". "Silentium" was released in hardcover, e-book, and audiobook following 2012's "Halo: The Thursday War", the second book in the separate "Kilo-Five" trilogy. "Silentium" concludes the efforts of the Ur-Didact and the Librarian to stop the Flood from destroying the universe. The book reached number eight on the New York Times Bestseller List for Hardcover Fiction.
Ben Mears, a successful writer who grew up in the (fictional) town of Jerusalem’s Lot, Maine (known to locals as "Salem's Lot" or "The Lot"), has returned home following the death of his wife. Ben plans to write a book about the “Marsten House”, an abandoned mansion that gave him nightmares after a traumatic (and possibly supernatural) childhood experience. Once in town, he meets local high school teacher Matt Burke and strikes up a romantic relationship with Susan Norton, a young college graduate.
The series was written by Erin Hunter, a pseudonym used by authors Cherith Baldry, Kate Cary, Tui Sutherland, and series editor Victoria Holmes. The pseudonym is used so that the individual novels in the series would not be shelved in different places in libraries. Victoria Holmes chose the name Erin because she liked the name, and Hunter because it matched the theme of feral cats. It also ensured that the books were shelved near those of Brian Jacques, an author that the writers, collectively known as "the Erins", liked.
The Pinballs is a 1976 young adult novel by American author Betsy Byars. The story is about three foster children, Carlie, Harvey and Thomas J., who have been taken in by the Masons, a couple who have cared for many other foster children in the past and also have some personal problems. Carlie compares the children to pinballs, controlled by external forces and at the mercy of fate. It won the 1977 Josette Frank Award, the 1980 William Allen White Children's Book Award, and the 1980 California Young Reader Medal.
Eric Northman is a fictional character in "The Southern Vampire Mysteries," a series of thirteen books written by "New York Times" bestselling author Charlaine Harris. He is a vampire, slightly over one thousand years old, and is first introduced in the first novel, "Dead Until Dark" and appears in all subsequent novels. Since the book series is told from the first person perspective of Sookie Stackhouse, what readers perceive of his character is influenced by what Sookie comprehends. HBO's television series "True Blood" is based on this book series and the character of Eric Northman is portrayed somewhat differently. A list of "True Blood" characters has a detailed description of Eric's character from the TV show.
"Pretty Little Liars" is a TV series which premiered on ABC Family on June 8, 2010. Developed by I. Marlene King, the series is based on the "Pretty Little Liars" book series by Sara Shepard. The series follows the lives of four girls, Aria Montgomery, Hanna Marin, Emily Fields, and Spencer Hastings, whose clique falls apart after the disappearance of their leader, Alison DiLaurentis. One year later, the estranged friends are reunited as they begin receiving messages from a mysterious figure named "A" who threatens to expose their deepest secrets, including ones they thought only Alison knew.
Pretty Little Liars is the first book in the "Pretty Little Liars" series by Sara Shepard. It tells the story of four girls - Hanna, Aria, Emily and Spencer - after the disappearance of their clique leader, Alison. The book was written for the book packaging company Alloy Entertainment, the idea originally developed as a TV series.
Frisch's second novel, "An Answer from the Silence" ("Antwort aus der Stille"), appeared in 1937. The book returned to the theme of a "manly act", but now placed it in the context of a middle class lifestyle. The author quickly became critical of the book, burning the original manuscript in 1937 and refusing to let it be included in a compilation of his works published in the 1970s. Frisch had the word "author" deleted from the "profession/occupation" field in his passport. Supported by a stipend from his friend Werner Coninx, he had in 1936 enrolled at the ETH Zurich ("Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule") to study architecture, his father's profession. His resolve to disown his second published novel was undermined when it won him the 1938 Conrad Ferdinand Meyer Prize, which included an award of 3,000 Swiss francs. At this time Frisch was living on an annual stipend from his friend of 4,000 francs.
According to Clive Barker, as the writing of the "Hellraiser" script took place during the height of the "A Nightmare on Elm Street", "Friday the 13th" and "Halloween" film series, his intended portrayal of Pinhead as an articulate and intelligent character was initially not well received by the producers: some suggested that Pinhead should act more like Freddy Krueger and crack jokes, while others suggested that he be a silent character like Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers. Barker insisted that Pinhead's personality be more evocative of Christopher Lee's portrayal of Count Dracula: "Part of the chill of Dracula surely lies in the fact that he is very clearly and articulately aware of what he is doing – you feel that this is a penetrating intelligence – and I don't find dumb things terribly scary – I find intelligence scary, particularly twisted intelligence; it's one of the reasons why Hannibal Lecter is scary, isn't it? It's because you always feel that he's going to be three jumps ahead of you."
Sir Thursday is a young adult fantasy novel written by Australian author Garth Nix. It is the fourth book in The Keys to the Kingdom series, and was released in March 2006. Sir Thursday continues from the preceding book, following the adventures of Arthur Penhaligon as he attempts to retrieve the Fourth key of the Kingdom, and claim mastership of The Great Maze. As with the other books in the series, the theme of 'seven' is prevalent, along with the themes of sin and virtue. The book received generally favourable critical response, but was criticised for a slow pace, among other issues.
Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. (April 12, 1947 – October 1, 2013) was an American novelist best known for his technically detailed espionage and military-science storylines set during and after the Cold War. Seventeen of his novels were bestsellers, and more than 100 million copies of his books are in print. His name was also used on movie scripts written by ghostwriters, nonfiction books on military subjects, and video games. He was a part-owner of the Baltimore Orioles and vice-chairman of their community activities and public affairs committees.
The title of the film refers to Ray Bradbury's novel "Fahrenheit 451" and the September 11 attacks of 2001. The "Fahrenheit 451" reference is emphasized by the film's tagline ""The temperature where freedom burns"" (compare with "Fahrenheit 451's" tagline, ""The temperature at which books burn""). Moore has stated that the title came from the subject of an e-mail he received from a fan shortly after September 11.
"Fahrenheit 451" developed out of a series of ideas Bradbury had visited in previously written stories. For many years, he tended to single out "The Pedestrian" in interviews and lectures as sort of a proto-"Fahrenheit 451". In the Preface of his 2006 anthology "Match to Flame: The Fictional Paths to Fahrenheit 451" he states that this is an oversimplification. The full genealogy of "Fahrenheit 451" given in "Match to Flame" is involved. The following covers the most salient aspects.
The player's goal is to help Guy Montag, the main character from the novel, to evade the authorities and make contact with an underground movement. Bradbury contributed to the game, by writing the prologue and responses of the game's intelligent computer "Ray".
The Off-Broadway theatre The American Place Theatre presented a one man show adaptation of "Fahrenheit 451" as a part of their 2008–2009 Literature to Life season.