Alexie, Sherman, “Superman and Me: The Joy of Reading and Writing.” Los Angeles Times, 19 April 1998. Sherman Alexie shared how his childhood of reading helped him become a better reader and a leader for others. He first read a Superman comic and then went on to bigger and better books. Alexie explains that in his Native American reservation it’s okay for children not to excel in school.
Fahrenheit 451 is set in a horrible, yet very possible, dystopian world. The setting is very undesirable because everyone thinks that books are bad so they have prohibited all of them. Everyone has this Belief because over time it has been convinced that books only bring sorrow. Most people have forgot about books and their importance, but the people who haven’t forgotten try to sneak books into their homes only to then have their homes burned, sometimes with them in it. Books are valuable, worth the time and effort, and in Montags’ world books are considered dangerous.
Although he learned a lot due to books, he believes that each book teaches you a lesson. He believes that all bad books usually have a greater lesson to teach you than the good books. Books also thought him what he can and can’t do while writing. While reading books he learned “Good writing, on the other hand, teaches the learning writer about style, graceful narration, plot development, the
Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, is a uniquely shocking and provocative novel about a dystopian society set in a future where reading is outlawed, thinking is considered a sin, technology is at its prime, and human interaction is scarce. Through his main protagonist, Guy Montag, Bradbury brings attention to the dangers of a controlled society, and the problems that can arise from censorship. As a fireman, it is Guy's job to destroy books, and start fires rather than put them out. After meeting a series of unusual characters, a spark is ignited in Montag and he develops a desire for knowledge and a want to protect the books. Bradbury's novel teaches its readers how too much censorship and control can lead to further damage and the repetition of history’s mistakes through the use of symbolism, imagery, and motif.
Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, is a novel about a futuristic society where books are banned and firemen burn books rather than put out fires. The main character Montag is a fireman who lives with his wife Mildred. Montag ends up stealing books which is against the law especially because he is a fireman; and Mildred is against anything that has to do with books. Society wants everyone to be happy but there 's an alarming mechanical hound in this novel that kills people and is asymbol of fear. Bradbury’s novel shows how a society overcomes the eradication of books through the use of symbolism, motif, and imagery.
The only reading I cared to do or could do was from sports magazines.” (Graff 216). This is his first piece of evidence of his “hidden intellectualism”. Graff states this because he is trying to convey his idea that he would’ve been interested in school reading if it were based around sports or other interests he may have had. Graff also argues that “intellectualism is good, and that schools ought to encourage learners to read, think critically and write about their fields of personal interests like fashion, music, or cars” (217).
In Ray Bradbury’s dystopian Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag experiences a paradigm shift as he transforms from a disoriented fireman to a learner who wants to gain knowledge through literature. Montag struggles with his newfound fascination with what was once trivial items because of his inability to ask questions under the bonds of conformity. However, the society prohibits people from reading for fear that they would express individuality and perhaps even rebel once they gain knowledge. Through the use of characterization and diction, the Bradbury demonstrates Montag’s desire for individuality and the society’s command of conformity in order to build a suspenseful mood, which keeps the reader’s interest. First, through the use of characterization,
“Only the very weak-minded refuse to be influenced by literature and poetry,“ - Cassandra Clare. In the novel Fahrenheit 451, the author, Ray Bradbury, constructs a futuristic American society in which books are no longer allowed. This creates an ignorant and conformist population, which displays the effects that come from lack of literature. The novel follows the life of Guy Montag who is a fireman. In the novel, the task carried out by firemen is to burn books, not put out fires.
She stated “I hate exercise…I work out and want to die…I knew I was in love with The Hunger Games when I did not want to get off the treadmill” (138). Her involvement with the text helped Gay to overlook the negative aspect being at the gym, making her a creditable source to encourage the audiences to realize literature can be used as a tool to surpass obstacles. Although Cox Gurdon, a young children book reviewer stated: “Young Adult Fiction has taken too dark a turn,” but Gay appeals to ethos by claiming, teens read book to escape dark aspect of reality (qtd Gay145). She quoted Sherman Alexie an American poet, who is a passionate writer who believes that, “There are millions of teens who read because they are sad and lonely and enraged,” to prove her argument against Gurdon (145). She successfully shapes her argument about kids reading book to escape reality, by telling the reader the reason she read The Hunger Game was because she likes the way the author placed people in their world.
Flashback to my junior year. I sat quietly in my AP Lang class as my teacher, Mrs. Fisher, announced that the reading competition between the language arts classes called for the book count for September. She stood at the board, marker in hand, staring out expectantly at her large class. Hands shot up across the classroom, and my own nervous hand rose up to join them. Mrs. Fisher happily chalked up the small fortune of books that our class had read.
How Powerful is Knowledge? As once said by Francis Bacon, “knowledge is power”. In Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, Montag finds out the power that comes with knowledge. Montag receives knowledge, which causes him to question everything he knows, from his happiness to everyone around him. He realizes that virtually the entire population is ignorant and just think that books are a kind of poison.
As a child, Graff talks about how he shared a hatred for books, but rather a passion for sports. Reading sports magazines was the only thing you’d catch him reading as he became hooked. In the education system, schoolwork isolated you from others whereas in sports, you can reach out to anybody and have conversation. He believed because of high interest in sports, he was a typical anti-intellectual, but he came to the
Disliking Books by Gerald Graff outlines his growth towards liking books. Graff has received his BA in English from the University of Chicago and his PhD in English and American literature from Stanford University and is currently working as a professor of English and Eduation in the University of Illinois. Graff begins his work with recounting how, as a child, he has an aversion to books regarding history and literature for he cannot find their application to his life. Moreover, students who cultivated these skills are looked down upon and being a Jew, this would put him in danger of being beaten. Observing another side of his argument, he references Lives on the Boundary, in which the author implies that the working class found knowledge as saving grace, however, Graff takes for granted his education as part of the middle class.
Her full use of strong language diminishes pieces of literature’s worth and questions their true significance. She claims this in a critical tone by stating, “Like most parents who have, against all odds, preserved a lively and still evolving passion for good books, I find myself, each September, increasingly appalled by the dismal lists of texts that my sons are doomed to waste a school year reading”(Prose, 176). She uses words like dismal to describe the book choices students would have to read according to the curriculum of the educational system. By using words like dismal, she expresses her feeling of disappointment towards the curriculum. She
Neil Gaiman once wrote, “some books exist between covers that are perfectly people-shaped” (Gaiman xvi). The idea that books can be defined as the sharing of thoughts and information between people reveals a deeper meaning in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. In Fahrenheit 451, the protagonist faces a society in which books are censored and, thus, burned. This, according to his definition, means that if books become banned, certain connections between people will, too, be destroyed. Ray Bradbury reveals the theme (the importance of books) through the protagonist’s dynamic character, which comes as a result from his conflicts with society.
