Fahrenheit 451
I really like following up long epics with shorter books. And since I've been meaning to re-read Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 for several years now, it seemed like the perfect book to dive into after the Mistborn
trilogy. It actually did end up being perfect, sine the Book People at
the end reminded me more than a little of Sanderson's Keepers of
Knowledge, and I love finding little literary connections like that.
I first read Fahrenheit 451 in high school as part of our unit on dystopia (which also included 1984 and Brave New World). I remembered the basic plot and themes, since you tend to when you've spent a long time with a single book, but a lot of the details had escaped me.
There is one scene, though, that has stuck with me through the years. One that became so vivid in my mind, I'd nearly forgotten which book is came from. When Montag is on the run from the cops, he has to cross a wide street. This is at a time when the speed limit, even on suburban streets, is over 90 mph, so pedestrians die all the time. The scene is so well written and suspenseful that I still remember it in high detail. As soon as I got to it in the book I started squirming a little, knowing exactly what was coming.
The other thing that struck me about this book is that, despite being written over 50 years ago, it depicts a world that isn't so different from the one we live in. The war is always raging in the background, but doesn't really affect anyone. Even when men are shipping off to fight, their wives are reassured that they'll be back within a week. We've been at war for so long now, in such an invisible way, that this really struck home.
An argument could also be made that entertainment in general has degraded significantly in quality, and that this is largely the fault of the consumer. Though I think that for every mindless reality show on Bravo or TLC, we're getting some pretty compelling and thought-provoking series on FX and HBO and even, surprisingly, Netflix. So all hope is not lost yet, so long as keep engaging critically with the media we produce.
I think that's the main takeaway from this book. America sank into a dystopia because people got tired of thinking critically and engaging with the world around them. Happiness became the goal in life, constant happiness all of the time. People forgot about their need for sadness and anger when presented with the ability to be constantly content. It's a bit like drug addiction that way.
This time through, my favorite scene in the book was when Montag started reciting poetry and his wife's friend, without understanding why, burst into tears. We need moments like that as much as anything else, because that's what keeps us alive.
I first read Fahrenheit 451 in high school as part of our unit on dystopia (which also included 1984 and Brave New World). I remembered the basic plot and themes, since you tend to when you've spent a long time with a single book, but a lot of the details had escaped me.
There is one scene, though, that has stuck with me through the years. One that became so vivid in my mind, I'd nearly forgotten which book is came from. When Montag is on the run from the cops, he has to cross a wide street. This is at a time when the speed limit, even on suburban streets, is over 90 mph, so pedestrians die all the time. The scene is so well written and suspenseful that I still remember it in high detail. As soon as I got to it in the book I started squirming a little, knowing exactly what was coming.
The other thing that struck me about this book is that, despite being written over 50 years ago, it depicts a world that isn't so different from the one we live in. The war is always raging in the background, but doesn't really affect anyone. Even when men are shipping off to fight, their wives are reassured that they'll be back within a week. We've been at war for so long now, in such an invisible way, that this really struck home.
An argument could also be made that entertainment in general has degraded significantly in quality, and that this is largely the fault of the consumer. Though I think that for every mindless reality show on Bravo or TLC, we're getting some pretty compelling and thought-provoking series on FX and HBO and even, surprisingly, Netflix. So all hope is not lost yet, so long as keep engaging critically with the media we produce.
I think that's the main takeaway from this book. America sank into a dystopia because people got tired of thinking critically and engaging with the world around them. Happiness became the goal in life, constant happiness all of the time. People forgot about their need for sadness and anger when presented with the ability to be constantly content. It's a bit like drug addiction that way.
This time through, my favorite scene in the book was when Montag started reciting poetry and his wife's friend, without understanding why, burst into tears. We need moments like that as much as anything else, because that's what keeps us alive.
Comments
Post a Comment