Unrest in the House of Montag: Fahrenheit 451 and the Origins of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl

Fahrenheit 451 is a critique of many things: of McCarthyism, of ideology, of paranoia, fear, conformity, and so on. However, its outdated attitudes and gender politics are far too deeply-embedded within its narrative and characters that we cannot begin to approach it as a feminist critique of gender ideology. This paper, hopefully, should have illustrated why.
Bibliography:
Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2012. Print.
Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. New York: W.W. Norton, 1963. 21, 110. Print.
Hooks, Bell. Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center. 2nd ed. London: Pluto, 2000. 46. Print.
Ritchie, Rachel. “’Beauty Isn’t All a Matter of Looking Glamorous’: Attitudes to Glamour and Beauty in 1950s Women’s Magazines.” Women’s History Review (2014): 723–43. Print.
(POSTSCRIPT: This paper was originally published in fulfillment of the course requirements for a university literature course two years ago. My personal politics have only veered further left since then, and I may or may not further modify this paper to reflect my changed perspectives. For the most part I think it holds up.)