Comments on Fahrenheit 451

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Fahrenheit 451 # 6

*Please choose one passage from the novel that is significant to you. Why is this passage meaningful? Please type it into one of your entries and comment on what you think about the passage.

My favorite passage was on page 83, where Faber explains why a book is important to Montag.
“Number one: Do you know why books such as this are so important? Because they have quality. And what does the word quality mean? To me it means texture. This book has pores. It has features. This book can go under the microscope. You’d find life under the glass, streaming past in infinite profusion. The more pores, the more truthfully recorded details of life per square inch you can get on a sheet of paper, the more ‘literary’ Fresh detail.”

This passage was the most significant out of any passages in this book because this was the reason why I was reading books to learn and nothing more could be added to the meaning of “significance” of books. This whole conversation between Faber and Montag was so honest, pure, and sincere that my jaw dropped as I read this passage. There is life under the microscope. The book itself may look boring and helpless but if you look deep inside, if you look close enough, you will find the “life” within the book. As I was reading this passage over and over again, I felt weird in some way because it revealed not only the significance of reading books, but the meaning it bared as well. I was touched by the word ‘quality’ because learning literature was not about reading endless letters printed on pieces of papers but it was all about analyzing the meaning and finding the moral lesson in between the lines. By reading books, people could experience the things that they have never even heard of. When you read books, you could find yourself wandering around in any place that you could not even imagine of. This is what I loved about this passage. It taught me the real meaning of quality of books and the importance of literature.

Fahrenheit 451 # 5

*What is the climax of this novel? What happens? How do the events of this novel make you feel?

The climax of this story was when Guy Montag killed Captain Beatty because this was the point of no return. Guy Montag’s wife Mildred betrays him and puts in the alarm because she knew that Guy had books hidden in their house. This was one of the reasons that I hated Mildred. Anyhow, Montag had to burn his house by himself as he was told but he denied to do so and turned toward Beatty and killed him. He could not go back and revive Beatty’s life, the point of no return. The only thing he could do was regret. I was tremendously excited and nervous at the same time because when Guy listened to Faber, there was a tense moment as he was standing at the crossroads. However, when he had made up his mind, Guy did not know what he was doing himself. I thought that this part was very interesting because he was blinded by his anger and his revengeful thoughts that he went way beyond his limit. It was the point where he could not control himself and just let his body depend on the mere thought he had in his mind at that very moment—to revenge.

This novel made me feel sympathetic because of Beatty’s unfortunate death. I could have never guessed that Montag could kill Beatty because he was so naïve. He started having complex thoughts in his head after meeting the seventeen-year-old girl, Clarisse. I felt sympathy in Montag because he was weeping after what he had done to Beatty. It wasn’t much of his fault because he had lost the control to stop himself from committing a murder but it was partially his fault because it was him who had murdered Beatty. I felt sad in this particular scene because of the unexpected betrayal of Guy’s wife and the sudden murder scene of Beatty. This really showed the characteristics of a dystopian novel and I felt very gloomy about the events that had happened in this story.

Fahrenheit 451 # 4

*Entry of my choice: Did this novel inspire you in any way?

This novel was extremely special based on the moral and many diverse arguments that it had constructed. Usually the books have some kind of a love story but this book had a unique storyline that caught my attention. Personally, this novel relates to what I have felt and thought in the past. When I was in elementary school, I used to love literature. It was my favorite subject. However, there was a one moment where I just went, “What’s the point in learning this?” There, I started to struggle with this question inside my head. I was like Captain Beatty in the past. I didn’t see the magnitude of it and could not figure out how literature could change my life. However, as time wore on, I started to realize that literature was the fragrance of nature and that it was the foundation of all customs. It helped me to express my thoughts in vivid words and also helped me to make my assertions firmer and clearer. Now that I have discovered the true meaning behind the curtains, I got to become the “junior” Guy Montag. I thought that this was possible because like Montag, I was convinced by the potential power of books over time and I am falling in love with literature these days. It is a pleasure to read—not burn them—during my free time and whenever I want to find some place peace and quiet, I dive into the book and find myself wondering around in the middle of an exciting adventure. I have never found literature so amusing in my whole life but as I got to know how literature affected my lifestyle, I became more curious about more things. This novel reminded me how this world would look like if this wonderful literature was out of our sight.

Fahrenheit 451 # 3

*Are there any current situations in the world that relate to the novel? What are they, and how do they relate? Does the novel shed any light on how current situations could be solved or “fixed”?

There are millions of current situations in the world that relate to the novel. As the media developed and expanded, people started to get used to the media. They surf internet, watch televisions, listen to the radio, or play video games and so on. It has become a crucial part of our culture and life. However, often times, they tend to be the major sources of problems such as immoral and disrespectful comments on articles or inappropriate language uses. These problems can be extended as far as political problems as well. People debate and argue about political issues online and post them up so that everybody else could see. These things happen daily and just like in the novel, some are obsessed about televisions or other things. We, teenagers, commonly get “addicted” to those things as well. We get absorbed into the world of media and refuse to see the world as an actual world. This is how the current situations in the world today relate to this novel.

Our real life is not much different from the book because we choose to rely on media instead of relying on literature. Some of us think that there is no point in learning literature because it only complicates things and makes everything verbal and abstract. In the book, Captain Beatty was explaining to Guy how all the firemen went through an ambivalent moment but soon decided to live a simple life. People sometimes don’t want to study literature and do what Beatty did but by reading this book, we shouldn’t even complain about having literature as our culture at all. This novel, Fahrenheit 451, suggests that literature is important and that it should be maintained because it brings us life, happiness, and passion. One day, literature will be forgotten within our simplicity but we ought to live with hope and rebuild the society of refinement.

Fahrenheit 451 # 2

*Who are the main characters in the novel? Do you like them? Why or why not? What is special about them? What do they reveal about the universal human experience?

Most of the characters in this novel were round characters. They seemed simple but were capable to change and were complex. Here are the reasons why I liked them or disliked them and what they revealed about the universal human experience.

Guy Montag was the protagonist in this story. He did not know the purpose of his life in the beginning of this book other than burning books for his pleasure with no reason whatsoever. Only because of the fact that he was a fireman, he thought that burning books was his duty. However, as he meets Clarisse and converse with her, he starts to seek a meaningful way to live. I liked him because even though he was easily swayed, he desired to change the status quo and hoped to discover the new world that he had never been to. He basically knew absolutely nothing about literature but secretly wanted to find the humanity in him. I thought that he was very special because often times, he didn’t really know what he was doing but in his actions. However, I could find his will to rebel against his status quo—being a fireman—and live a completely different life. He wanted to explore the nature and dig into the world of literature. He was actually longing for knowledge. Despite the fact that his wife has betrayed him, he read books even when he was hiding from the firemen, running away not to get arrested.

Guy Montag has revealed many things about universal human experience. He represented the significance of one’s own desire. If one wants something really bad, they ought to success in achieving that. When he killed Beatty, I knew that he was thinking about rebelling against the firemen—thinking about his goal. Guy Montag has shown that anybody could fall in love with literature because of a strong and firm desire to do so. Now that literature really became a big part of his life, he wanted to build a new civilization. This is not a simple thing to do but Montag had already made up his mind because of his courage, to start a new life.

Mildred Montag is Guy’s creepy wife who attempts to commit suicides for several times. She is neither a protagonist nor an antagonist in this novel because while she is Montag’s one and only wife, she betrays her husband simply by telling on him to the fire station that he had books hidden in his house. I did not really like this character but instead, I pitied her for her fragile self-control and her hopelessness. Her true feelings were completely buried deep inside her heart and she just could not handle her stress. Moreover, she does not even try to admit her suicide attempts. Unlike her husband Guy, she is ignorant, straightforward, cold, and distant. Watching televisions is all she does every day. She is special in a way because she seems like she has been through many hardships and pains that she had to endure on her own strength. She doesn’t care about what is happening in her real life but cares about the relationships in the soap operas on televisions. She refuses to accept her reality, the truth but instead, falls into the wrong pitfall. Her betrayal was an unexpected reaction. It shocked me as I read through each line in the book because she showed no emotion whatsoever. I mean, how could she deceive her one and only family? Mildred Montag was portraying the anguish of reality that she didn’t want to feel. By looking at Mildred, I could realize that there were countless people in this world who lived in agonies but hid their feelings deep inside themselves so that no one could ever touch or see. I was both irate and woeful at the same time because on one hand I felt sorry for Guy but on the other hand, I felt sympathy for Mildred herself. Thus Mildred was an ambivalent character.

Captain Beatty, the chief firemen, is the antagonist in this novel. He gets killed in a very sympathetic way. He strongly opposed literature although he knew a lot about it. This tells me that he once had fallen in love with the books at one point in his life but because of his tragedies, he is confused. When he was telling Montag about the books, he told him how his firemen were hesitant about censoring in the past. He tried to convince Montag that books were full of complex, useless information and they deserved to be burned in the hot fire. I actually liked this character because he was full of surprises. He is also a very complex character because at one point, he seemed to feel passionate about the books and this universe, but then at another point, he seemed to loathe books the most out of everything else in this entire world. However, in the story, it turned out that he chose to hate them because he sought for a carefree and simple life. He did not want to think about all the complicated issues but yearned for an uncomplicated or rather an effortless life; and this is what makes him so special. He reveals many people’s desires, which is to live a simple and easy life. Nevertheless, life is not like that and this cruel world will not let us live that simple life. We have to keep trying and seeking for what we truly want and what we truly long for.

Fahrenheit 451 # 1

Q:What is the major theme of this novel? Why is this theme important to a teenager living in 2008?

The major theme of this novel is that absence of literature will lead to an ignorance of human’s intelligence and emotion that will eventually destroy this society with obstinacy. Without books, this world will lack with communication and people living in that world will neither be able to reveal themselves nor illustrate their opinions. Thus, people will become more introverted and less people will believe in one another. This novel is representing the importance of literature and its indirect contributions to our daily lives.

When I was reading this book, I was surprised by how literature could affect our society. The significance of books, the existence of the littlest things around us, and even our curiosity could make huge differences in our cultures and our conceptions. However, many teenagers tend to think that literature will not benefit their lives in the future or change the way they live. As a teenager, I personally have thought that there was absolutely no point in learning literature. Nonetheless, I was wrong because there were uncountable numbers of reasons why literature was significant to my life and the world that I live in. In the book, the main character, Guy Montag is the one who faces an enormous dilemma where he has to choose his side between ‘the firemen’ and ‘the book people’. He is symbolizing the teenagers living in this world today because at first, he did not even think about how books could deepen our thoughts but only believed in the conception that books only made things complicated. However, later on, he becomes curious and spends more time on his own and thinks fervently about why all the people were obsessed about reading books as he meets a seventeen-year-old girl who is odd and abstract. Just like Guy Montag, I think the teenagers should know how important literature could change the way we think and how it could broaden and deepen our experience.

In addition, the people in the ‘firemen’ society do not enjoy nature, think independently, or have meaningful conversations but watch wall-size televisions all day long and listen to the “Seashell Radio” sets. This illustrates that literature not only has effects on the way we think but also the media. Media has a massive influence on teenagers. They follow the flow and view the world the way the media views the world. This book suggests that without literature, there will be no dramas, no cartoons, no news, and no movies. This is because everything is based on the natural phenomenon and that is a part of literature. Hence, to understand this world, teenagers should learn literature and read this book—Fahrenheit 451.