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Summary: we shall this day light such a candle...
Review: Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England as I trust shall never be put out. -Hugh Latimer Guy Montag is a Fireman, but in the future envisioned by Ray Bradbury, firemen don't put out fires, they start them. Firemen are responsible for burning books; all of which are banned, so that the people of this dystopia will not be troubled by difficult thoughts. Instead of reading, they watch endless soap operas on large screen TV's and the government provides for all their needs. Guy has had some qualms about his job, but he's never really thought through exactly what it is he's doing. But then, in short order, he meets an odd young neighborhood girl named Clarisse McClellan, his wife nearly kills herself with sleeping pills and, finally, when the firemen are called to an old woman's house, she refuses to leave: Montag placed his hand on the woman's elbow. "You can come with me," "No," she said. "Thank you, anyway." "I'm counting to ten," said Beatty. "One. Two." "Please," said Montag. "Go on," said the woman. "Three. Four." "Here." Montag pulled at the woman. The woman relied quietly, "I want to stay here." "Five. Six." "You can stop counting," she said. She opened the fingers of one hand slightly and in the palm of the hand was a single slender object. An ordinary kitchen match. And before they can light the fire, she lights it herself and Guy is forced to consider what it is about books that would make a person do such a thing. As he tells his wife: Last night I thought about all the kerosene I've used in the past ten years. And I though about books. And for the first time I realized that a man was behind each one of the books. A man had to think them up. A man had to take a long time to put them down on paper. And I'd never thought of that before. As it turns out, the old woman has, like Hugh Latimore, lit a fire that will change the world, because Guy joins the nascent resistance to the book-burning government. He remembers meeting an old man named Faber in a park some time earlier and the hunch he had that the man had a book. Indeed, when Guy tracks him down, it turns out that Faber was a professor and he explains to Guy why books are of value: Number one, ... quality of information. Number two: leisure to digest it. And number three: the right to carry out actions based on what we learn from the interaction of the first two. Each bolstering the other's confidence, Guy and Faber set out to resist the system and, ultimately, Guy escapes to the wilderness beyond the city, where wandering bands of men are preserving great texts in memory, against the day when the knowledge is needed and learning is again valued. While not quite in a league with Orwell or Koestler, Bradbury's classic tale is an important treatment of the central themes of the century (of every century). His vision of a society where people have traded freedom for security had a particular resonance during the Cold War, but it should continue to be read as a cautionary tale. We head to the new millennium in the midst of the most spectacular flowering of Freedom that the world has ever known, but there is a continual tension in the species, between those who value that freedom, whatever its costs, and those who would choose the security offered by a controlled society and those who are afraid of uncomfortable ideas. freedom has the upper hand, but the struggle continues... GRADE: A-
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Summary: A Classic Book That Holds Up Today
Review: As much a cliché as it is to say, I think this book is even more relevant today then when originally written. I think Montag's wife's obsession with the "real people" she watches is such an uncanny parallel to the reality based shows that are so popular now that it's almost creepy. The fact that it was written so long ago only adds to the impact. There is also the similarity of the viewing walls and the 56 inch high definition T.V.s of today. It's a little like a horoscope though, the reader can read more into it then is there. Ray Bradbury's past future is dreary and bleak and no one cares for anyone else. I tend to be more of an optimist, I think there are still enough people in the world that care to prevent the kind of events that happen in this book to occur any time in the near future. I don't believe the main focus of this book (as most people think) is censorship at all but rather a love letter to books and the joy of reading. Mr Bradbury writes about the joys of reading as though he were describing a flesh and blood lover. He clearly despises censorship and complacency but he gives more of his passion to the love of the written word. I think the "not happy, but hopeful" ending shows his faith in man. This is literally a classic piece of fiction and it's impressive how much Ray Bradbury says in such a short novel. It's easy to read on several different levels. There's almost no excuse not to read this book.
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Summary: Thirst for knowledge in a dehydrated land
Review: In this day and age, with the internet, and TV, the printed word is becoming endangered. Ray Bradbury takes this to the next level in his masterpice in which books are illegal, and original thinking is considered odd. This book showes what can happen to our society if we let go of the written word.
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Summary: Fahrenheit 451 is a masterpiece
Review: If you have not read this book yet, you are missing out. This book by Ray Bradbury exposes you to why books are very important. A must read.
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Summary: Fahrenheit 451 is a masterpiece
Review: Ray Bradbury did well done job. this book exposes you to why books are so valuable. Reading is a gift from God. If you have not read it yet, you must because you are missing out on a terrific story.
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Summary: Farenheit 451
Review: The book Farenheit 451 is a fabulous book. I think that it is like the book Z for Zachariah in the fact that they are both in the future. Also the people in the books are, at first, leading boring, uneventful lives. Then suddenly their lives change drastically. They are also alike in the fact that the main character in each book makes a dangerous escape. They are dislike because Montag's life changes mostly because of outside influence that he could have stopped. Anne's change couldn't have been stopped by something that she could do. the only problem that I have with Farenheit 451 is that it doesn't have a sequel. I like the the style of writing that Ray Bradbury uses.
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Summary: Bradbury's classic fable of fascist future...
Review: IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH! proclaimed George Orwell's Thought-Police governed dictatorhip of 1 9 8 4. In FAHRENHEIT 451 Ray Bradbury describes how intellectual ignorance is politically and educationally promoted until it becomes the essence of private and public life...ruthlessly enforced by THE STATE. Guy Montag is Bradbury's protagonist. He is a "fireman" of a Gestapo-like police force whose duty is to burn books...and if necessary, their readers. The hero of the tale is a spunky, precocious teenager named Clarisse. Her subtle insolence and genuine love of knowledge... most learned vicariously by READING...and life prods Montag into spiritual-intellectual rebirth. Montag, the book-burner, transforms into a rebel-reader and finally an outlaw dedicated to the overthrow of 4 5 1 fascism. Captain Beatty is commander of the 451 police force. He defends...like Dostoyevsky's Grand Inquisitor..the meretricious appeal of "ignorance as bliss". State "Happiness Boys" fund and encourage stultifying mediocrity that dehumanzes citizens by keeping them distracted with government-distributed drugs and zones for approved exercises in violence and distruction. At the center of this Bread-and-Circuses Culture of Death, however, is suppression of thought that makes invention and individuality possible. Bradbury's novel operates on many levels. On basic levels it demonstrates the banality of evil that self-absorption in rank ignorance breeds. On higher levels the novel functions as an allegory demonstrating DECONSTRUCTION of human beings as relational creatures (Montag's wife betrays him for a TV set and momentary "glory" on an Ophra Winfrey-like television show). Ultimately FAHRENHEIT 451 is an anti-fairy tale. It is a fable of future fascism at our door-step with PC as smiling doorman welcoming conformity at the expense of excellence. Many readers scoffed at the passing of 1984 without devolution into Orwellian dictatorship. Can similar readers identify the ubiquitous mark of 4 5 1 pervading our culture, academia and politics now?
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Summary: Don't Censor Me Just Because I'm Beautiful!
Review: Everyone who reads this book (but especially Americans) should be outraged. Bradbury takes an ugly stick and beats the present day American philosophy down with it. We are a society based on instant gratification. Our slogan is "Right here, Right now. It's your Right!" (How many magazines about fashion, cars, and the ever expanding number of ways to cook chicken can we read before our curiousity is deadened?). This is the type of thinking that Bradbury criticized. What especially frightened me was the concept of MAKING everyone equal. Paradoxally, this is the dumbing down of America, so that no one could be made to feel dumb. It is in settling for society's values without critical judgement that we give up our freedom. Thank you, Mr. Bradbury, for putting it much more eloquently and forcefully than I ever could. Now everyone out there reading this ... BUY the book, READ the book, then tell me if you aren't outraged at the lack of neuron firings in the heads of our society.
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Summary: Fahrenheit 451
Review: I chose this book because I have read Ray's books before and enoyed them. The title seemed interesting, so I took it. His style of writing can be confusing, so you must concentrate while reading. I gave this book a "thumbs up" because it had an unexpected ending.
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Summary: Why Burn Your Books?
Review: This wonderfully written science Fiction book is a thought provoking and has two very good qualities. First of all, with Fahrenheit 451 you must read between the lines to find out what Bradbury is really saying. Not only is Bradbury writing a wonderfully twisted novel, but, to me, he is also saying that people are afraid of new or interesting ideas and, since books are full of them, these people will burn the books to put an end to ideas that may cause trouble for "society." Of course, as with all of Bradbury's books, it is open to interpretation because of its weird and different look at life and some of life's hard facts. Bradbury's characters have been created with a depth that creates a realistic quality. This depth makes you want to know them, yet, in a way, you feel that you already do. We follow Guy Montag through his insanity knowing he is not insane, it's the rest of his world that is nuts. We grieve when his friend Clarisse McClellan dies because she is more in touch with reality than anyone else is. In all, this great book wraps you up in its story of everyday life in the future, with all its twists and turns. In other words, don't burn this one.
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