Saturday, July 19, 2008
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Fahrenheit 451. The temperature at which books catch fire.
Guy Montag spends his life in happy oblivion. There's no reason not to thanks to the American way of living. Reality TV, fast cars, propaganda, sleeping pills/drugs. Everything to keep you oblivious right at your fingertips.
Then Guy meets Clarisse. A seventeen-year-old girl who turns his life upside down by talking to him. She looks at the stars she tastes the rain. What is this strange girl who makes him think about life? With just a few innocent actions she causes Guy to question everything.
Written more than fifty years ago this book is set in a disturbingly familiar setting. You guessed it. Bradbury manages to hit what society was coming to right on the head. In the future no one reads anymore. Because people don't read the government decides to take one step further and burn objectionable books. The Bible, Thoreau, Poe, Hamlet...all burned by the fireman. No outcry is made because only a few are left that love books.
This isn't your average dystopian about cencorship, but something that hits much closer to home. That one day reading and analytical thinking will be cast aside. Killing and violence are taken in stride because television and radios have desensitized the public.
What is to be feared more? The governments censorship or the people not caring?
It creeped me out how close to reality this book comes. If it doesn't creep you out then you're probably pro-violence and anti-knowledge. ;) If your new to dystopians then this would be a great one to pick up. Both a good read and thought provoking.
Fahrenheit 451. The temperature at which books catch fire.
Guy Montag spends his life in happy oblivion. There's no reason not to thanks to the American way of living. Reality TV, fast cars, propaganda, sleeping pills/drugs. Everything to keep you oblivious right at your fingertips.
Then Guy meets Clarisse. A seventeen-year-old girl who turns his life upside down by talking to him. She looks at the stars she tastes the rain. What is this strange girl who makes him think about life? With just a few innocent actions she causes Guy to question everything.
Written more than fifty years ago this book is set in a disturbingly familiar setting. You guessed it. Bradbury manages to hit what society was coming to right on the head. In the future no one reads anymore. Because people don't read the government decides to take one step further and burn objectionable books. The Bible, Thoreau, Poe, Hamlet...all burned by the fireman. No outcry is made because only a few are left that love books.
This isn't your average dystopian about cencorship, but something that hits much closer to home. That one day reading and analytical thinking will be cast aside. Killing and violence are taken in stride because television and radios have desensitized the public.
What is to be feared more? The governments censorship or the people not caring?
It creeped me out how close to reality this book comes. If it doesn't creep you out then you're probably pro-violence and anti-knowledge. ;) If your new to dystopians then this would be a great one to pick up. Both a good read and thought provoking.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
1 comments:
"If it doesn't creep you out then you're probably pro-violence and killing."
I would have said anti-knowledge and anti-creation.
Post a Comment