During the period of time when Patrick Henry delivered his “Speech to the Second Virginia Convention,” the relations between the British crown and the colonists were strained. The British government heavily taxed and oppressed the colonists, who were protesting against this unjust treatment. By embellishing his speech with allusions and rhetorical questions, Henry conveys his message that urges decisiveness regarding independence from Great Britain and also warns against possible deception and betrayal. At the start of the speech, Henry alludes to Greek mythology, asserting that the colonists “are apt to shut [their] eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms [them] into beasts” (Henry 2). The
Part 1 Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451’s protagonist, Guy Montag, is what can be best described as a reverse-fireman. In his reality, Montag starts fires rather than preventing them. It’s all he knows, in fact, he takes great personal pleasure in starting the fires, and describes those pleasures in depth.
Dystopian Affairs Ray Bradbury’s depiction of a dystopia is interpreted through Guy Montag and his escape from society as well as Captain Beatty and his desire to get rid of books when they explore the technology and its advances in his novel, Fahrenheit 451. Born in a time of despair from the ongoing World War II, Bradbury fell in love with books as well as horror from a young age, and he enjoyed the sense of adventure it created (“Ray”). Bradbury uses “Fahrenheit 451 [as a reflection of his] lifelong love of books and his defense of the imagination against the menace of technology and government manipulation” (“Ray”), and bases his plots, characters, and themes on his past experiences and memories. World War II is a time period when literature was suddenly disappearing and technology became greatly significant. Realizing the troubles technology will create, Bradbury wrote stories based on dystopian affairs, including his most powerful novel, Fahrenheit 451.
Webster’s Dictionary defines character as, “the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual”, these qualities can range from a simple opinion, to an action, to a character’s lifestyle. While Guy Montag from Fahrenheit 451 and Wade from Ready Player One are both uniquely distinct, they share many qualities that unites them as one. The first similarity of the two characters is that they both come from a world where modern technology consumes everyone’s daily lives, and both Wade and Montag must realize that a virtual reality, whilst perfect in sense, is not the truth. Montag realizes this after Clarisse asks him if he is truly happy, his immediate answer is a defensive yes, but after his wife tries to commit suicide, and Montag starts to think about his situation, he realizes that his response to Clarisse was a lie.
Society chooses to believe a fake reality rather than facing the real problems going on. This false reality prevents society from being aware of the government's choices and intentions. The story Fahrenheit 451 is a perfect example of this because in the story it portrays the loss of human connection, censorship, and emotion. For example, in the story Montag loved his wife Millie but, after she was gone he realized he did not love her, even though they were married for ten years. In the society Montag lives in, everyone is “happy” and no one ever knows why they, they just know it is the right thing.
Readers of Fahrenheit 451 are exposed to the theme, totalitarian society since from the time guy Montag tell us about some of the rules implicit by the government. The conversation that Montag had with Clarisse changed everything. The way that he saw the world before and after. At the beginning of my passage, Montag says to Clarisse "You are an odd one," referring her as different from the others, by virtue of that saw the-theld different, different from what the government wanted them to see. Clarisse also mentions that she does not watch the "parlour walls" neither the billboards as other would do, instead she observes the grass, rose-gardens, and cows.
In the fictional novel "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury, the two character Montag and Clarisse, lived in the future where the government is corrupted. As time evolve and the world is changing, the sense of logic become twisted in this society. The world in "Fahrenheit 451" is a place where the idea of "firemen put fires out" appeared to be "long ago" (Bradbury 25). Firemen in this society no longer put out fire, but instead going to start them. The action of a firemen spraying "kerosene" over burning fire is described as an "amazing conductor playing all the symphonies" suggest that this society is twisted (Bradbury 2).
Beam Bradbury sees the world through Fahrenheit 451 by depicting society's carelessness with the issues developing inside itself, running from an absence of political mindfulness, the viciousness on the planet, to the reliance on innovation. These issues are in Fahrenheit 451, as well as are found in the real world today. Issues he, great, anticipated to be valid about what's to come. Montag is a firefighter, in many social orders individuals of that calling put out flames to spare lives; albeit, here the firefighters make the flames at times prompting killing individuals. Consuming books in people groups homes.
Books come with a variety of information whether helpful or entertaining. Many times books teach readers along with those who seek to gain knowledge. Ralph Waldo Emerson stated, "Books are the best of things, well used; abused, among the worst. " The basic meaning behind his wise words include the idea that books bring knowledge and keep history along with important information such as science, culture, art, and other ideals being the cornerstone for generations now and to come to learn from the past.
Annotated Works Cited Eller, Edward E. " An overview of Fahrenheit 451. " Literature Resource Center. Detroit: Gale, 2014.
Identical to Fahrenheit 451, the society today is in a great deal of trouble with technology overpowering books. In recent years, reading has drastically declined due to people wanting to watch TV instead. CBS News explains, “Only 47 percent of American adults read "literature" (poems, plays, narrative fiction) in 2002, a drop of 7 points from a decade earlier. Those reading any book at all in 2002 fell to 57 percent, down from 61 percent... The likely culprits, according to the report: television, movies and the Internet” (Shetty) .
In Fahrenheit 451, we can see that through characters thoughts, dialogue, and reactions in certain situations can reveal a lot about them. For instance, Mildred, Montag’s wife, lives in what is suppose to be a utopian society where everyone is happy and content, but Mildred is very unhappy with her life, as we can see when she attempts suicide. Mildred tries to convince herself that she is happy with her boring life which just consists of watching television all day and she denies the fact that she attempted to commit suicide. When Guy Montag is talking to Mildred about her television obsession he says, “Will you turn the parlour off?” and Mildred responded by saying,"That's my family" revealing the detachment from reality she has.
In The Son of Man, a work of art, the artist incorporates symbols that greatly confuse the viewers. This masterpiece represents a man with many deep thoughts and if the apple is uncovered, then people would see the real him. The background, objects, colors and shapes confuses the audience until they unravel the meaning. Once the viewer comprehends the meaning behind the symbols, it brings fulfillment and pleasure to them. Similarly, in Fahrenheit 451, a science fiction and dystopian novel about censorship and defiance, Ray Bradbury utilizes explicit imagery and symbols to depict abstract ideas in order to render a chance for readers to interpret the text in a certain way and to enrichen the meaning of the text.
Both Ray Bradbury and E.B. White’s given excepts analyze the purpose of direction in life through descriptions of the natural world. For example, the motif of smells is evident in both excerpts to connect the ideas of direction, observation, and searching to physical images and things. In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury writes “There must have been a billion leaves on the land; he waded in them, a dry river smelling of hot cloves and warm dust” (144). Meanwhile, in Stuart Little, the repairman describes, “I have sat at peace on the freight platforms of railroad junctions in the north, in the warm hours and with the warm smells”. “Warm smells” carries the connotation of being attractive to the senses.
Ancient forms of human communication include cave drawings, smoke signals, symbols, and carrier pigeons. During the late 1800’s, communication became more advanced with the invention of the typewriter and the telephone. Roughly one hundred years later, a military project resulted in what we know today as the internet. With a little innovation, the internet made social interactions between people easier than ever, although, the convenience may come at a cost. Some theories suggest that heavy reliance on social media for human interaction will weaken communication skills, hinder meaningful social interactions, and negatively impact personal relationships.
