“A Modest Proposal” & Angela's Ashes Compared In the memoir of Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt in chapter VII he reads to a nearly blind man named Mr. Timoney, Jonathan Swift’s masterpiece “A Modest Proposal.” It is ironic due to the fact that the memoir as a whole can relate to the the passage of “A Modest Proposal.” Both of these works can compare and in the aspects of Irish poverty, yet they contrast very much due to the fact that one of the authors actually lived through it and the other just discusses things about it. Both authors use narration, tones, and imagery in their writing to convey their ideas and shape their work.
“You can’t ever have my books!” yelled a woman before she set herself on fire. This beautifully crafted statement demonstrates how well of a dystopian novel Ray Bradbury was able to compose. In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Bradbury extensively utilizes imagery and juxtaposition to help create his vision of a dystopian society. Bradbury uses imagery throughout to such an extent that the reader can perfectly imagine what his vision was. When Bradbury also employs the use of juxtaposition in conjunction with imagery, he shows just how different the world he envisioned with Fahrenheit 451 is from the world that exists today.
The social commentary is in almost every dystopian title a person can come across. Moreover, one of the best examples is Fahrenheit 451. Fahrenheit 451 is in a way a reflection of Ray Bradbury’s childhood. The social commentary Ray puts into Fahrenheit 451 all comes from memories of his past time, it is a warning of the effects of censorship. Throughout Ray’s childhood, he has seen some of the worst possible censorship.
In reality, many people live without an absolute knowledge of the world and often times, they are comfortable with this ignorance. Likewise, Plato introduces the idea of this unawareness through The Allegory of the Cave, a short story in his published book, The Republic: Book VII. In his book, he narrates the story of a few prisoners who are held captive in a dark cave, where the only light that shines through is from a fire that burns behind them. He further explains that the prisoners are completely bound and unable to move their body or head. Moreover, he reveals that the captives grew up with no outside communication and consequently, the way of life in the cave was all they knew.
Most works of social criticism are fictional worlds. These works can be completely different from each other, but they all have one thing in common: they each symbolize the faults in society. This “genre” is very popular, especially for educational purposes, because readers must analyze the work to find its meaning. Works like Fahrenheit 451 and The Purge are both good examples of social criticism. They represent corrupt governments and an easily influenced society.
A hardship that many people have to endure is poverty. The characters in the short stories, Angela’s Ashes, by Frank Mccourt and The Street, by Ann Petry, both experience living in impoverished conditions. In the story The Street, Petry shows the life of a single mother who lives through the struggles of being poor. In another story portraying poverty, Angela’s Ashes, the author uses kids to paint the image of indigence. These kids are burdened with the task of caring for themselves.
As it has in many other great stories, ego has never come to a good end. In his short story, “The Most Dangerous Game” RIchard Connell poses from diversified predicamental conflicts from which Sanger Rainsford must survive using using his various possessed character traits. In “The Most Dangerous Game” Rainsford displays a variety of character traits through different conflicts, one of which he exhibits ignorance, while in another his morality by showing his humanity towards another being. Rainsford, not yet aware of what awaits him is dauntless with his ignorant opinion towards a hunter and a huntee. Rainsford claims that, “Don’t talk rot, Whitney, said Rainsford.
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.
Fahrenheit 451, a book created by the mind of Ray Bradbury, was made to show the challenges of the Utopian lifestyle, but it is also a fantastic example of the Hero’s Journey. "We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal. Each man the image of every other; then all are happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves against.” -Bradbury
But in this society the government bring people were they are told because of a crime. The three main topics were book burning, equality, and government bringing people somewhere for no reason or crime. In the dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and modern day society, books exist yet they are treated differently. Quotes are used and authors are mentioned in Fahrenheit
In life, the world one lives in is always assumed to be the reality, without anyone questioning its credibility. As Iris Murdoch once said, “[People] live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion. The great task in life is to find reality. ”(Iris Murdoch Quotes). In The Allegory of the Cave by Plato, prisoners are trapped in a cave and chained so that they are to face a wall and only see the shadows of objects that pass behind them.
INTRODUCTION “What’s it going to be then, eh?” It is hard to improve upon Anthony Burgess’ classic opening line to his masterpiece. With this bold, taunting question, A Clockwork Orange’s protagonist, 15-year old Alex, opens the door for our descent into a terrifyingly grim world where ultra-violence and apathy pervade a shocking totalitarian society. The book is partly written in a Russian-influenced argot called nadsat which serves to minimize the horror of the violence depicted. It revolves around a devastatingly simple premise; when state authorities seek to reform young criminals like Alex, Burgess asks- what’s the cost?
Ray Bradbury, the author of Fahrenheit 451, presents a society in which humans suffer from depression, fear, and loss of empathy which are the result of censorship of free thought and knowledge. Humans suffer from loss of empathy due to their lack of human interaction. People live in fear of the government as the dystopian society deprives the people of knowledge. Depression is evidenced by suicidal tendencies caused by hollow lives. Bradbury uses the loss of empathy in order to demonstrate the effects that censorship of free thought and knowledge have upon the individual and society.
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.
