The Old Man and the Sea: Why do we still read this book? What is so timeless about its message and characters? What can we learn from reading this novel?

The main reason we still read this book is because of the message it has and its characters. Though the book is sad in parts, it can actually be uplifting because it sends a very optimistic message to the readers. It simply says that you shouldn’t give up and quit, especially if something is worth fighting for. It also gives the message that every day is a new day and a second chance to start over. Luck can’t define a person, and if you don’t have any, go out and make your own. Each day brings a new sun and a new chance to accomplish something. Santiago is the main character and he lives out this message and these morals every day. Though his story ends a little sadly because the sharks eat his fish, what really matters is what he did, not what he brought back. The trophy isn’t what matters, it’s the accomplishment. If I win a soccer game and get a trophy, it’s not the trophy that really counts, it’s what I did. The trophy just symbolizes the accomplishment, just like the Marlin symbolizes Santiago’s accomplishment.  Many people get discouraged, and this book is saying that it’s alright, and that life is hard sometimes and you just have to keep moving on forward. This book tells people something they need to hear. These messages that the book projects is why readers still read this book today. I also think that the characters is this book, namely Santiago is what causes people to want to read this book and why we need to read it. Santiago has a great attitude, like I mentioned, and is very optimistic in nature and slow to anger. He ignores the rude fishermen and even though he hasn’t caught a fish in days and days, he still insists that he go out again and continues to move on, optimistic and hopeful (Hemingway 11-13)Santiago is also extremely brave and courageous in the sight of defeat. He strategizes and fights for his fish, and fights the sharks too, though he sees defeat in his future. He doesn’t give up and even says he’ll fight until he dies. (Hemingway pg. 115) This courage that Santiago displays is so amazing and so unique and honorable. I believe that is why we still read this book today.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.

The Old man and the Sea: How does this novel reflect the history, behavior and social issues of the time period and setting? What is this book's symbolic and thematic significance?

The Old Man and the Sea takes place in Cuba during the 1940’s. I think that the book reflects the time of it’s setting very well.  In the references Santiago makes, we can tell that he kept up with the times, and was especially aware of American baseball. He mentions Joe DiMaggio a lot (Hemingway  pg. 21-24), and, according to some research I did, he was a very popular and successful player in the 1940’s.  DiMaggio won three MVP awards, and had a 56 game hitting streak, and in the game streak, he had 91 hits in 223 at bats, averaging .409. ("Yankees") Santiago mentions DiMaggio’s fellow Yankee players too: Lou Gehrig, Tony Lazzeri, Red Ruffing and Lefty Gomer. Santiago also talks of Dick Sisler, who, in one article I read, was called the “Cuban League Ledged” and played with Habana during the 1945-46 and 1953-54 seasons ("CubanBéisbol."). Historically, the story was very accurate in it’s mention of famous people at the time. The book reflects the setting and time in other ways too. As the story goes on, you notice how important fishing is to Santiago. He lives on the coast, so fishing was one of the main ways that he gained money, and sometimes the only way. Where you live influences and dictates what your job is, and that was one of the social issues of the times. Santiago lives near the Gulf of Mexico, and fishing was a very popular and expanding job at that time, too.

I think the Symbolic and Thematic significance is that  you should keep trying, never quit, and never give up hope. Santiago could have given up, but he didn’t, and he made it back in one piece and surprised everyone for his bravery and daring.

"Yankees." - The Official Site of Joe DiMaggio. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 June 2012. <http://www.joedimaggio.com/the-ballplayer/yankees/>.

"CubanBéisbol." CubanBéisbol: Dick Sisler Was Cuban League Legend. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 June 2012. <http://cubanbeisbol.blogspot.com/2010/11/dick-sisler-was-cuban-league-legend.html>.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.

The Old Man and the Sea: Who is the "hero" in this book and what are some of his/her traits? What does he/she accomplish, and how is he/she portrayed? Does the hero represent an abstract idea such as goodness, truth, courage or evil?

The hero in this book is Santiago. Santiago is a really well-formed and extensive character, and throughout the story, a lot of his traits are revealed. From the start Heming way describes him as having “confident loving eyes”.(Hemingway pg.13) and you can see by how he interacts with Manolin that he is a very caring and fatherly figure. He has a great attitude and is mature and wise in his age, you can see this by how he reacts to being made fun of for being so unlucky. He doesn’t get angry or start a fight. (Hemingway pg.11) He doesn’t mind, and he is still confident in himself. He is a very optimistic person, and has self-worth. Hemingway describes him, saying, “His hope and his confidence had never gone. But now they were freshening as when the breeze rises.” (Hemingway pg. 13) He is an overall humble and respectable person. But the trait that stands out most is his determination to continue trying even though he might fail again. He shows courage in sight of defeat when fighting off sharks and struggling against the fish.

Santiago accomplishes one of his greatest feats in this book. He catches an eighteen foot long Marlin, bigger than his boat, and strong as an ox. He also single handedly fights off hordes of sharks, and lives to tell the tale. He breaks his streak of not catching any fish, and he bravely fights even though he knows he’s going to fail. Santiago is an amazing character full of bravery and courage.

People portray Santiago differently throughout the book, and some people even change their portrayal on him as the story goes on. Manolin, Santiago’s closest friend and as close to him as a son, sees him as a fatherly figure, and an honorable and caring man. He takes care of Santiago and loves him. Other fishermen see Santiago as a failure, and some feel pity and sadness for him. After Santiago comes back with the skeleton of the Marlin, the fishermen have a new sense of respect for Santiago. They know that it was an extremely difficult feat, and a daring fight. In the end, Santiago gains respect.

I think Santiago represents the abstract idea of determination. He doesn’t give up, even when he sees failure in his future. He has a passion in him that doesn’t cease, and though he is old, he fights like he is forever young, never quitting, and never giving up. The determination that he has is amazing, and is an honorable trait that he represents.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.

The Old Man and the Sea: What universal themes does this book address? What does the author understand about human nature?

Hemingway uses this book The Old Man and the Sea  to address the universal themes of determination, and courage in the sight of defeat. He also expresses the importance of personal pride and hope throughout the book.

Santiago has gone 84 days without catching a single fish and has even been named a “salao” because his luck is believed to be completely gone. Because he is a good and experienced fisherman, this bad luck streak is very surprising. Normally, if someone has had that much bad luck, it would knock them off their feet and make it very hard for them to get back up again and keep trying. Some wouldn’t even continue to try. But Santiago doesn’t give up. He even plans to go “far out” to increase his chances of catching fish, and continues to get up every day and go out and try. (Hemingway pg.14) This is one area where his determination really shines. Santiago also has a lot of hope, and he comments to Manolin, “Tomorrow is going to be a good day with this current.” (Hemingway pg. 14) He hopes each day that he will catch something. And this hope and determination is what makes him get up each day and try.

Santiago’s determination and pride are seen a lot in his struggle reeling in the Marlin, and his battle against the sharks. Though the Marlin is huge beyond measure, Santiago continues to try. It is his own pride in himself that pushes him to try and reel in the Marlin. Despite its size, Santiago holds out, battling his own injuries and pain to accomplish his goal. Santiago believes in himself. You also see Santiago’s determination when he is battling the sharks. Even though they are overwhelming and almost completely overcome him, Santiago fights. This part of the book is where we see the main example of courage in the sight of defeat. Though the Marlin is huge, Santiago still has a chance to catch it, but when the sharks come in overwhelming masses, that is when readers know that there is no way Santiago can beat them all off and keep the Marlin from being destroyed. Santiago knows it too. So, in sight of defeat, Santiago  says something that shows how much courage he really has, “Fight them. I’ll fight them until I die.” (Hemingway pg.115) He fails to save his fish, but he shows true courage even though he knows he is going to fail.

Hemingway understands that sometimes we, as humans, suffer.  Things don’t work out the way we plan, and sometimes bad things happen to us. But then it is our time to show courage in that. To show courage in defeat. To “go down fighting” because that is the honorable thing to do. He believes that even though we endure hardships, we should never give up. We should keep getting up each day and “fishing”. We should never quit.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.

The Old Man and the Sea: What are the causes, gains, and losses of the conflict dealt with in this book?

The main conflict in this book lies in the struggle between The Old Man and the marlin he so desperately wants to catch. The Old Man wants to: A) catch the Marlin, and B) bring him home in order to redeem his bad luck streak and get money.  But many things get in his way: his own mortality, sharks, and the strength and will of the marlin try to keep him from these goals.  In the end though, this struggle has a much deeper meaning then just an old man going fishing. It’s almost an impossible feat that the Old Man accomplishes, and he has to overcome many things to achieve his goal. He had to have amazing courage and bravery to overcome the struggle, and it had many gains and losses.

There are several things that cause this conflict with the Old Man. The Old Man wants to catch the marlin, and he does, but in the end, he loses it. He achieves one goal, but then fails to achieve the other. But what caused this conflict? What made it so hard for the Old Man to catch the Marlin and safely bring it home? One thing was his own Mortality. Santiago is only a man, and he feels pain and hunger like everyone else. He had to bare the weight of the fish on his back, he cuts his hands on the line, (Hemingway pg.56), and his old hand cramps up, making it hard for him to do things (Hemingway pg.58). That pain that he feels makes it hard for him to do what he wants, and that contributes to the hardships he has to endure. The fact that he is alone and doesn’t have the boy to help him also contributes to the conflict. He often remarks, “I wish I had the boy.” In the story. (Hemingway) The sharks also contribute to the conflict, and hinder Santiago from accomplishing his goals. They get in his way and eat at the Marlin, tiring Santiago and tearing his prize fish to shreds. (Hemingway pg. 107-119) The will and strength of the Marlin also make it hard for Santiago. The Marlin has a determination he has never seen in a fish, and never gives up. He pulls Santiago for days and days without tiring, prolonging Santiago’s pain.

Santiago does have gains in this conflict. In the end, he DOES CATCH the Marlin, so he does achieve one of his goals. He gains a sense of respect for the Marlin. Santiago also, despite the fact that he doesn’t bring the Marlin home, does break his streak of not catching a fish for 84 days. Even though Santiago comes home empty handed, he gains the respect and the awe from the other fishermen and even some tourists. He brings home an eighteen foot long Marlin skeleton, which is an amazing catch. The proprietor even says to Manolin when talking of the Marlin, “There has never been such a fish,” (Hemingway pg. 123). The fishermen know that Santiago caught something that great, and even though he doesn’t have it in the flesh, they are still amazed at his daring and courage. He also gains a sense of inner strength. He CAUGHT IT, and did something no one else could have done.

Santiago loses some things. The main thing he loses is his fish. The sharks come and eat it away, destroying his trophy that he worked so hard to get. He loses some of his self-worth too, and is devastated that he couldn’t fight off all the sharks and that his unluckiness has followed him. He is crushed at the loss, but he blames it on himself saying, “I went out too far.” (Hemingway pg.120) he loses his fish and loses some esteem, but his gains outweigh his losses.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.

The Old Man and the Sea: What does the writing reveal about the author's values and attitudes? From what perspective does he/she write?

The whole perspective of the story is in Santiago, the old fisherman’s, point of view. A lot of Hemingway’s own values can be seen in this story, and in the way his characters interact with each other. One value that Hemingway expresses in this novel  is  giving respect to others.   This story expresses the fact that younger people should give their elders respect, and later, that even opponents should respect each other. This is seen very clearly in the relationship between Santiago and Manolin, the young boy Santiago teaches to fish. Manolin, from the start, has a great respect for Santiago, and even honors the old man despite his terrible misfortune and poor living conditions. Manolin still trusts Santiago’s word and listens to him when he speaks. He helps the old man, checks up on him and brings him food. (Hemingway pg.17-21) You can tell that Manolin respects him a lot. Manolin also shows respect to his boss, and his parents. Though Manolin would rather fish with Santiago, he does what his parents ask and goes to work for another fisherman. This shows his utmost respect, even though he is doing something he doesn’t want too. Santiago also shows respect to the Marlin, which is something many would find peculiar. He often refers to the fish as his brother, and even thinks he is unworthy to be eaten. Santiago does this because he knows the marlin matches him in strength and is a worthy opponent. Hemingway also  had one of his characters display a good kind of attitude in the story, and Hemingway values this attitude too. Santiago, the old fisherman, is very unlucky, and even when the rest of the fishermen at the Terrace make fun of him, Santiago does not get angry at them. (Hemingway pg. 11) Normally, someone would stand up for themselves, or get in a fight, but Santiago takes it in quiet and silence, submitting to it, though he doesn’t have too.  This attitude of being slow to anger is something most people dream of accomplishing. Another kind of attitude is seen in the story. Though Santiago is very discouraged, he already insists that he go out the next day, this time, even farther.(Hemingway pg. 14) He doesn’t quit, even though he feels very defeated and unlucky. This attitude of determination is another very admirable one.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.

Fahrenheit 451: Montag turns to books to rescue him; instead they help demolish his life -- he loses his wife, job and home; he kills a man and is forced to be a nomad. Does he gain any benefits from books? If so, what are they?

“I’m going to do something, I don’t even know what yet, but I’m going to do something big.”—Montag (Bradbury pg. 62)

“There must be something in books, thing’s we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing” –Montag (Bradbury pg. 48)

This question was something that really made me think. It was the single, most nagging question that got me when I was reading this book. In the end, after reading the entire novel, I realized that Montag lost EVERYTHING. Everything that ever mattered to him was gone, physically gone. Completely. And it was his entire fault. He did it all himself. He CAUSED himself to lose everything by bending into curiosity. It came to the point when I asked myself, “What DIDN’T he loose? What did he even GAIN from reading those books that was worth this? Yes. He achieved his goal. He stole books. He read them. But he lost everything. What did he gain from such a horrible end?”  And the answer simply is Truth. He no longer was living a lie. Before, he just did what everyone else did. He went to work. He came home. He went to sleep. He did it all again. In and out he did that, with no meaning, no purpose. He didn’t know anything about ANYTHING! He didn’t know any history, or facts, or common knowledge we know today. Life was worthless, and he had this nagging feeling that he was MISSING something. He even says, “You ever seen a burned house? It smolders for day. Well, this fire’ll last me the rest of my life. God! I’ve been trying to put it out, in my mind, all night. I’m crazy with trying,” (Bradbury pg. 48). He later says something about Beatty, “He knows all the answers. He’s right. Happiness is important. Fun is everything. And yet I kept sitting there saying to myself, I’m not happy, I’m not happy,” (Bradbury pg. 62). He then openly says why he wants to read the books to Mildred. “We’ve got to start somewhere here, figuring out why we’re in such a mess, you and I and the medicine nights, and the car, and me and my work. We’re heading right over a cliff, Millie. God, I don’t want to go over,” (Bradbury pg.64) He reads them because he wants to KNOW THE TRUTH. He wants to find out what’s missing in his life. Why a book would cause a women to kill herself. And in the end, despite everything he goes through, despite everything he loses, he finds out. He finds the truth. He finds what is missing and why everything is so messed up in the world. He no longer has to LIVE THAT LIE. He doesn’t have to PRETEND everything is okay because now he KNOWS that it isn’t. He gains, I believe, some peace of mind. He also gains a true friend, and friend who thinks like him and will protect and stand up for him: Faber. He later gains more friends that will watch his back and he doesn’t have to worry about. He finds safety with the nomads and knows that he found a place and a group of people that are REAL. That know truth from lie and that aren’t going to make him live in that veil of uncertainty anymore. Reading books replaced his fake life with a real one. They separated lie from truth for him. That is what he gains. He gains the truth, peace of mind, a friend he can really trust, and a place where he can belong.

Honors American Literature. "Fahrenheit #3: Discussion Questions through Part Two: The Sieve and the Sand." Web log post. Blogspot.com. 24 May 2011. Web. 8 June 2012. <http://montagrules.blogspot.com/2011/05/fahrenheit-3-discussion-questions.html>.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. Print.

Fahrenheit 451: Beatty tells Montag that firemen are "custodians of peace of mind" and that they stand against "those who want to make everyone unhappy with conflicting theory and thought." How well are the firemen accomplishing these objectives? Are conflicting ideas the only source of unhappiness in their society? What other sources might there be?

 I got this blog topic from a Fahrenheit  451 fan’s  blog discussion post.

The fireman are good at the jobs they do, and because of that, they are bad.  They burn peoples books and houses to erase all “problems” in the world, but in the process, they are destroying the past. It’s really clear that the people in Fahrenheit 451 are very ignorant to the world around them and know next to nothing about the past.  Why? Books are history, and without them, who could tell truth from lie and true past from story? You clearly see the ignorance of people in the text. When Montag asks about fireman’s past, they show him a set of rules and a “history” of where firemen originated (Bradbury pg 33). It is clearly false, and when Montag asks if firemen ever at one time put out fires, they laughed in his face (Bradbury pg. 33). Even Montag himself is ignorant, mainly because he hasn’t read, like the majority of the people in the society he lives in! But the main reason why the firemen can never complete their goal of standing against, “those who want to make everyone unhappy with conflicting theory and thought” is because it is impossible. It is impossible to make everyone happy. There will always be conflicts and opposing ideas no matter how much you try to pound it out of a society. The fireman literally CAN’T stop people from having conflicting theory’s and thought. There will always be different sides to everything. And, conflicting ideas aren’t the only source of unhappiness in the story. It is clear, mainly because of all the mentions of suicide that the society is far more disturbed and the conflict goes deeper than a few ideas. I think that the lack of purpose in life is what causes the unhappiness that the people in the story feel. The people in the society live to be entertained and stomp out anyone who goes against the rules or has any source of books. What is the point? Their lives are truly meaningless. They live in a zombie-fied fog and everyone is suspicious of everyone! Your neighbor watches you and you watch your neighbor. No one WANTS to live like that! But there is no way that the firemen can make people happy by deleting unhappiness. Especially when they think that unhappiness comes with indecision and conflicting ideas. One person thinks books have quality and are good and should be read. Another thinks they are trash and are evil and should be burned. That is the “conflicting idea” they want to stop out. They want ONE idea: Books are bad. But there is no way to make everyone think that same thought. As there are individual people in the world, there is no way to stop out conflicting thoughts.

Honors American Literature. "Fahrenheit #3: Discussion Questions through Part Two: The Sieve and the Sand." Web log post. Blogspot.com. 24 May 2011. Web. 8 June 2012. <http://montagrules.blogspot.com/2011/05/fahrenheit-3-discussion-questions.html>.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. Print.

Repetition of Suicide in Fahrenheit 451

The suicide seen in this book was one serious topic that stood out to me. Suicide is not something that should be taken lightly, and it baffled me about how much it came up in Fahrenheit 451. There are five references to suicide in this book. Mildred, Montag’s wife tries to commit suicide alone in her room by taking too many pills (Bradbury pg. 10-11). Then when the medical technician’s come to drain her stomach, one says, “We get these cases nine or ten times a night. Got so many, starting a few years ago, we had this special machine built,” (Bradbury pg. 13). Later, while in the firehouse, a fellow fireman says to Montag, “Montag, a funny thing. Heard this morning. Fireman in Seattle, purposely set a Mechanical Hound to his own chemical complex and let it loose. What kind of suicide would you call that?” (Bradbury pg. 29). Then, while participating in a book burning, Montag witnesses a woman  lighting  herself, her home and books on fire, killing herself in the process (Bradbury pg. 37). After, Beatty comments, saying, “These fanatics always try suicide; the patterns familiar,” (Bradbury pg. 36) Why would there be so many suicides? And all three people who tried or succeeded in suicide were very different….and yet…they were the same.  One woman, Mildred, a TV- addicted-book-hating woman who secretly is unsatisfied with her life, the second, a fireman who used one of the fire departments most dangerous tools to kill himself, and the third, a passionate woman who couldn’t live without her books. All three people tried suicide because they were unhappy and deeply bothered by something in their life. But WHY? The repetition of suicide really stood out too me because this book was supposed to be about a world where books were eliminated so people could be “happy”. Beatty describes fireman as protectors, trying to make sure everyone is happy. Everyone ACTS sooo content….but are they really? Apparently not. The technician says that they get many cases of suicide attempts all the time, so much they had a special machine built just for that. The world Montag lives in is not a happy one. Entertainment, which is what the people live off of, is NOT enough to make someone happy with their life. It can’t satisfy. Socializing is nearly banned, and only people like Clarisse and her family find happiness, and even then they get punished and even KILLED for it. The constant references to suicide make Montag’s world look very bleak and dreary to me. I think that there is one thing that truly made these people want to kill themselves, though. I think they realized the truth. They realized, finally, that they WEREN’T satisfied with life, and they NEVER would be! The fireman, I’m sure, realized what he was actually doing and couldn’t stand killing people and burning their homes anymore, Mildred probably realized that living to watch TV was not a life she wanted, and the woman who burned herself knew that she couldn’t live in this world and get to do what actually made her HAPPY. Those people woke up from their dream state. Bradbury, uses the repetition of suicide to give readers the image that Montag’s world is a very corrupted one.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. Print.

Fahrenheit 451: Clarisse and Montag

Clarisse and Montag have a very short lasting friendship due to her young disappearance/death, but I think she is one of the most important characters in the entire novel. She is the very first character Montag meets, and she seems to have a huge impression on him from the second he meets her because she is so different from other people he has met. In fact, she is so different  she first makes him uncomfortable and he even says to her, “You think too many things,” (Bradbury pg. 6).But  she also comforts him, her face reminds him of a memory he had with his mother, a comforting candle light (Bradbury pg.5). She describes to him her life, her family, and even admits she’s been thought insane. It’s easy to tell that she is very different from the rest of the people Montag has met in his life. She asks him questions and tells him random things, never stopping to think before she speaks. She is free spirited and makes Montag feel relaxed and at ease. But it is one thing that she says that I believe changes the whole course of the book, and the course of Montag’s life. She asks Montag a simple question:  “Are you happy?” (Bradbury pg.7). Montag quickly answers with, “Am I what?” (Bradbury pg.7). He is completely baffled.  But it is this one question that Montag can’t get out of his head. It is this question that makes him realize he is not happy at all. “He wore his happiness like  a mask and the girl had run off across the lawn with the mask and there was no way of going to knock on her door and ask for it back,” (Bradbury pg. 9). Montag begins wondering how he could be happy, and why he is not. It is this soul searching that leads him to finding the truth of life, which he believes is held in books. During his next talk with Clarisse, she shows him a dandelion, saying that he’s in love if it rubs off. It doesn’t. This fact bothers Montag greatly. (Bradbury pg.19) She then asks him why he’s a fireman, and points out how he’s different from all the rest (Bradbury pg. 21). “He felt his body divide itself into a hotness and coldness, a softness and a hardness, a trembling and a not trembling, the other two halves grinding one upon the other,” (Bradbury pg. 21). At the final meeting he has with Clarisse, she describes to him the world they live in how she sees it. She talks about how corrupted the world really is and how no one appreciates anything anymore.  She’s excluded from the rest, and she claims that “People don’t talk about anything” (Bradbury pg 28). The point is, after reading this book, I realized that Clarisse had a very significant influence on Montag.  When she asked him if he was happy, she made him realize he WASN’T and that he was unaware of it the whole time.  With the dandelion, she made him become aware that the relationship he had with his wife was not a good and healthy one, and that he was faking himself. He pretended like everything with Mildred was fine, but it wasn’t.  Her comment about him not being like the other fireman opens his eyes to the job that he’s been doing his whole life! He finally realizes it’s not what he saw it as before! And finally, as the story progresses, he sees the society as Clarisse sees it, and notices how “People don’t talk about anything” when Mildred’s friends come over (Bradbury pg. 89-98), and it infuriates him. Clarisse opens his eyes. She made him come out of the fog he was living in, and this makes Montag more free. All of these realizations that Montag has because of what Clarisse said leads him on his journey to finding the truth and books.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. Print.

Fahrenheit 451: The Mysterious Captain Beatty

Who is Captain Beatty?! One character that was really a hit-me-in-the-face kind of guy and stood out was Fire Captain Beatty. This is my own personal analysis on him. Though Montag only saw him from one side, his own, I think there was a lot more to Beatty than we saw. At first, I thought Beatty was a good guy. When we first meet him, he tries to sooth Montag when Montag complains about the Hound growling at him (Bradbury pg. 24). I thought, “Oh, he seems like a nice guy, watching out for his workers, being all friendly.” Then Montag tells Beatty about the possibility that someone gave his scent to the Hound and that it has been happening for a while now. At least far back as a few months.  Beatty then says, “You haven’t any enemies here, Guy.” (Bradbury pg. 24) He then asks Montag if he has a guilty conscience about anything (Bradbury pg. 25). As I read, I started to catch on a bit, and when I finished the book I knew.  I started to think, YES! Beatty MUST have known the whole time that Montag had stolen books!

When he comes over to Montag’s house to give him a speech, he seems so unsurprised that Montag asks about the consequences of a fireman taking a book (Bradbury pg. 59). I thought that unconcerned attitude Beatty had was very odd. He talked to Montag so nonchalant, so cool, like nothing was wrong, and he took a very long time to explain, drawing it all out. So, at this point, I was really thinking: MAYBE BEATTY IS A BAD GUY! I never thought it before. He seemed to nice and caring. But he acted funny when Montag discussed the Hound, and he was nonchalant with Montag about book steeling!

 Then, on page 101, when Montag returns and gives Beatty back the book, Montag describes him as waiting but trying to look like he wasn’t. But it was the book quoting that really confused me. He starts quoting Philip Sydney and Alexander Pope right in front of Montag (Bradbury pg.102)! It started to sound like BEATTY was TRYING to trip him up! Beatty says “Read a few lines and off you go over the cliff. Bang, you’re ready to blow up the world, chop off heads, knock down women and children, destroy authority. I know, I’ve been through it all.” He then, on page 103 starts quoting off the WAZOO and I start getting REALLY confused about who Beatty really is.

 But, after Beatty makes Montag burn his own house down and busts him bad, I KNEW. I came to the conclusion on my own. Beatty knew all along. He KNEW that Montag had stolen books WAAAAAY back, and hid them in his house (Montag already had books he stored in his vent). I don’t know how he knew, but I think it was Montag’s own edginess that tipped him off. Beatty gave Montag’s scent to the Hound as soon as he found out Montag had first stolen books, and had the Hound scare him off and on, making him even more edgy, he payed attention to Montag to see if the Hound could make Montag reveal his guilt. If Montag thought he had an enemy, Beatty thought he might give himself away. AND HE DID. When they burned the lady alive with her house, Beatty knew it would eat away at Montag. And Montag ended up giving himself away when Beatty came to talk to him. IT WAS ALL PART OF THE PLAN. But Beatty knew all along that Montag was a book thief. But why’d he wait so long to burn Montag’s home?

 Then there was the other thing. After Montag killed him he thought, “Beatty wanted to die.” And then said “How strange, strange to want to die so much that you let a man walk around armed and then instead of shutting up and staying alive you go on yelling at people and making fun of them until you get them mad, and then…” (Bradbury pg. 116) So Beatty was a bad guy. He knew Montag had stolen books, hired the Hound, dragged out Montag’s edginess by freaking him out, made him return one of his books, and then burnt his house down. But was he a good guy too? He knew so much about books and was FULL of knowledge, and Montag even described him like he wanted to die. Like he wasn’t happy with his life without books. And he waited so long to bust Montag. Did he think Montag would change his ways? Was he secretly GOOD or BAD? I guess no one will really know.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. Print.

Fahrenheit 451: How accurately does this novel reflect events in history? What responsibilities does the author believe exist between various groups in society, such as workers and bosses, men and women, blacks and whites, etc.? What people, ideas, and events probably influenced this author?

Fahrenheit 451 is science fiction story that takes place in the twenty-fourth century.  The placement of the story’s plot it supposedly a futuristic United States, so it is really unknown how much has happened in between the year we live in now, and the year Fahrenheit 451 takes place. How accurately does this novel reflect events in history? Well, today we know there are many advancements in technology. In Fahrenheit 451, you know that there is an increased amount of technology there too. Things that haven’t been invented in our day and age yet. It talks about “Wall-to wall” circuits, or TV’s that cover the walls that are in a home (Bradbury pg. 17-18), which are similar to todays IMAX theaters, which cover the walls too.  It also mentions very fast moving cars (Bradbury pg. 6), which are an enhancement in engines that could be achieved in able time from engineers in our age. The technology in this world, even today, is always advancing, and in Fahrenheit 451, it is consistent with that certain trend. So, historically, even though we don’t know how much time and events have passed in between are day and age and the age that Guy Montag lives in, Fahrenheit is consistent with events in our history. Fahrenheit is also similar to events in our history because it talks about censorship, and book burning, where the government restricts what people can read and if they can AT ALL. In Germany during the holocaust there were book burnings and the government burned things that were written by certain authors.

Bradbury describes relationships between husbands and wives (Montag and Mildred), Bosses and Employees (Montag and Beatty), and Elderly and Youth (Montag and Faber). In the relationship between Montag and Mildred, you can see that Bradbury believes couples should care for each other and the husband should be the one to support his wife. Montag is the worker of the house, and Mildred stays home and cares for it. You can also tell that Montag cares for Mildred, but he’d a little unsure how she feels for him. In the Boss and Employee relationship, Bradbury clearly believes that the employee should respect his boss. At first, Montag does respect Beatty. He does his job and he taks Beatty’s advice and orders.  (I mean, of course there is that incident later on….but still) In the Elderly and Youth relationship with Montag and Faber, you can tell that Montag respects and listens to Faber. Faber knows what he is talking about, and he gives good advice. Montag doesn’t question Faber’s ideas, he trusts him.

I think that maybe Bradbury’s own experiences influenced him. I also thought that some major event in history, like book burnings that he heard about could have caused him to write this book.  But I wanted to hear from him what inspired him to write this book. I watched a youtube video of him talking about his inspiration at the Comic-con convention, and it was realy cool. Bradbury said that it was the German’s book burning in Berlin that inspired him to write Fahrenheit 451. He said in the video that he loved books so much and he couldn’t think about how bad it would be if that happened to us. This event, and his own personal feeling on the topic  is what inspired him.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. Print.

Ray Bradbury on Fahrenheit 451 Inspiration. Perf. Ray Bradbury. Youtube. Faroukabad, 30 July 2007. Web. 6 June 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aKItfLeso4>.

Fahrenheit 451: What techniques does the author use to engage the audience and make the story effective? Give examples to support your analysis (mystery, humor, symbolism, suspense, etc.).

I loved this book. It was one of the most griping stories I have ever read. It had a message, and it told a story that can’t be forgotten. But it wasn’t just the plot of the story that I enjoyed the most. It was the literary techniques that made it the most interesting.

Bradbury used descriptive language, lots of suspense, and irony to make this story engage readers and make it effective.

Bradbury is a very descriptive writer and therefore, his characters are very descriptive when describing things. He uses his talent to make the story more interesting. For example, on page 8 he describes Clarisse, “She had a very thin face like the dial of a small clock seen faintly in a dark room in the middle of the night when you waken to see the time and see the clock telling you the hour and the minute and the second, with a white silence and a glowing, all certainty and knowing what it has to tell of the night passing swiftly on toward further darknesses, but moving also toward the sun.” (Bradbury pg. 8) He compares her face to the dial of a clock and gives the reader a better idea of her character.This kind of descriptive language makes the reader think, and it makes the book feel more developed.  He also describes more gruesome things, like the incineration of Beatty on page 113. “There was a hiss like a great mouthful of spittle banging a red-hot stove, a bubbling and frothing as if salt had been poured over a monstrous black snail to cause a terrible liquefaction and a boiling over of yellow foam.” (Bradbury pg. 113) He gets the readers imagination pumping and makes them see this image in their mind. He goes into great detail here to make this act of Montag's more macabre, and longer.

Bradbury also uses suspense to make his story more intense. The majority of this suspense revolves around Guy Montag. The real suspense begins when he steals the book from the house he burned and hides it in his own home.  (Bradbury pg 35) This gets readers really interested because by breaking the law, he's putting his very life in danger.  Suspense starts to escalate when Beatty comes to Montag's house and talks to him, and Montag asks what would happen if a fireman (himself) had a book. (Bradbury pg. 50-60) Then you KNOW that Beatty KNOWS Montag has one! And this makes the stakes higher because Beatty could come and burn Montag’s house down! Then the suspense skyrockets when Montag goes back to work and Beatty starts talking funny to him, saying he’s ‘got him going.’ (Bradbury pg.103)   When the alarm rings and Montag finds himself in front of his own house, readers are on the edge of their seats! (Bradbury pg. 106) And in the moment that Montag attacks Beatty, all the suspense EXPLODES! Bradbury spreads out the suspense throughout the story to keep readers interested and on edge.

A third thing Bradbury uses is irony. There is one major display of irony that Bradbury uses between the antagonist and the protagonist. Towards the middle of the novel Beatty is giving a speech to Montag about why books are burned. He choppily describes it, saying, “Colored people don’t like Little Black Sambo. Burn it. White people don’t feel good about Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Burn it. Someone’s written a book on tobacco and cancer of the lungs? The cigarette people are weeping? Burn the book. Serenity, Montag. Peace, Montag. Take your fight outside. Better yet, into the incinerator.”  (Bradbury pg. 57) He goes on about burning the things that cause problems in the society, completely appalling Montag. Later, after Montag kills Beatty (by BURNING him) he thinks, “Beatty, you’re not a problem now. You always said, don’t face a problem, burn it. Well, now I’ve done both. Goodbye Captain.” (Bradbury pg. 115) This blunt statement of Montag's shocks readers.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. Print.

Fahrenheit 451: Why do we still read this book? What is so timeless about its message and characters? What can we learn from reading this novel?

Fahrenheit 451 is one of the oddest books I have ever read. And yet….I loved it. One of the reasons I believe we still read this book is because it reminds us. It is a warning and a reminder of what we should not allow the future to look like. Faber, when talking to Montag, describes the people of the world he currently lives in like this, “They are so confident that they will run on forever. But they won’t run on. They don’t know that this is all one huge big blazing meteor that makes a pretty fire in space, but that someday it’ll have to hit.” (Bradbury pg 100) Now I don’t know about you, but I think that is pretty scary. That describes the world of Fahrenheit 451. The future without books and a future full of ignorance and an obsession with entertainment.  The society of Fahrenheit 451 attempted to get rid of books so they could make everyone equal, at least in appearance. Beatty says, “Who knows who might be the target of a well-read man?” (Bradbury 56) They feared knowledge. They feared intelligence and anyone who could rise up against another person. They feared “offending” others. So they just destroyed anything that might offend anyone. “Burn all, burn everything. Fire is bright and fire is clean.” (Bradbury pg 57) But we can’t let our world become like that.

The struggle Montag has to go through is as timeless as anything. One man, a minority out of a whole, on a search for the truth of “Why?”. He wanted to find out why books were outlawed. Why people feared them. And he did. And what conclusion did he come to? Everyone lived in a fog of fake happiness. No one was really happy, but they only thought they were. Faber and Montag both say separate things that complete the message of the book. When Faber is talking to Montag about the Fire Captain he says, “But remember that the Captain belongs to the most dangerous enemy to truth and freedom, the solid unmoving cattle of the majority. Oh, God, the terrible tyranny of the majority. We all have our harps to play. And it’s up to you now to know with which ear you’ll listen.” (Bradbury pg 104) A different time, Montag talks to his wife when he’s discussing his doubts about his job and what the point is of burning books and she tells him to leave her alone. He says, “Let you alone? That’s all very well, but how can I leave my self alone? We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?”  (Bradbury pg 48) Though both discuss different things, Faber and Montag both describe the need to be different and stand up for something in your life. Don’t be part of the majority, because sometimes the majority is blind, and sometimes they are wrong. You need to be BOTHERED let things that are wrong BOTHER you. Don’t sit there and let it eat away at you. DO something about it. Don’t be part of the majority! That is a message that Faber and Montag give to the readers.That is what we can learn from this book! Don’t settle for ‘happiness’ settle only for HAPPYNESS. True happiness that is real. Don’t be afraid to ask why things occur. BE BOTHERED!

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. Print.

Fahrenheit 451: How does this novel reflect the history, behavior and social issues of the time period and setting? What is this book's symbolic and thematic significance?

Fahrenheit 451 is set in the future. Overall, it is a foreshadowing, and a menacing outlook on what might come. Our society strives to make everyone equal,  but Fahrenheit 451 describes the point where that goal to equality becomes the downfall of humanity in the form of destroying truth and books that hold truth.  In Bradbury's futuristic world, Books are burned along with the owners, or the owners are sent to asylums, firemen start fires rather than put them out, the youth of the generation are crazy, out-of-control adrenaline addicted junkies who see life only as a giant game board with real people as pieces, the adults of the world are anti-social TV watching addicts with no feelings and fake “families” that live in the TV and the walls, and atomic wars rage without anyone giving a single thought about it. Everyone in Montag’s world is living in a careless fog where entertainment has taken over and nothing else matters.

Guy Montag really realizes how corrupted his world is when he talks and overhears his wife Mildred’s friends discussing things with eachother. He finds out how anti-social the women are when he tries striking up a real conversation with them and they flinch at the thought. (Bradbury pg. 92) He hears them talking of how terrible children are and hears their carelessness, he hears how they base their presidential votes on looks, he hears about their ignorance of the war and their carelessness for their fighting husbands and their ignorance to anything about books (Bradbury 89-94). He says to Faber, “Did you hear them, did you hear these monsters talking about monsters? Oh God how they jabber about people and their own children and themselves and the way they talk about their husbands and the way they talk about war, dammit, I stand here and I can’t believe it!” (Bradbury pg. 94) It is clear that the society they live in is very scarred. The people of Montag's world are only concerned in begin entertained, and purposfully ignore problems and conflicts outside their own little towns.

Even Clarisse talks to him of the social issues of the time they live in.  She says things like,  “Social to me means talking to you about things like this. Or talking about how strange the world is. Being with people is nice. But I don’t think it’s social to get a bunch of people together and then not let them talk, do you?” (Bradbury pg. 27) She describes how people don’t TALK about anything. They don’t communicate to each other. Even her family is considered suspicious because they spend time talking to each other. It is a world where comunication is rare, and even Montag, when he first meets Clarisse is very wary of her because she tries to have a conversation with him. (Bradbury pg. 4)

This book’s world and society symbolize a future without books and a world full of ignorance, and you can see by how the characters act and what they do that this symbolic world is not one we want to be a part of. This book’s thematic significance shows what the absence of truth would look like. No one in the book’s society knows truth from lie, and they all believe they are happy when they really are not. No one searches for truth.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. Print.

Fahrenheit 451: Who is the "hero" in this book and what are some of his/her traits? What does he/she accomplish, and how is he/she portrayed? Does the hero represent an abstract idea such as goodness, truth, courage or evil?

The hero in this book is the main character, Guy Montag. Montag is a very curious and careful man, and from the start, different from the rest. A lot of Montag’s character is revealed when he is talking to Clarisse. He’s a good listener and Clarisse spikes his curiosity even more, for example, when she describes to him how she enjoys opening her mouth when it rains, he is extremely surprised, but after she leaves, he tilts his head back and tries it too. (Bradbury pg. 21) Clarisse  even remarks, “You’re not like the others. I’ve seen a few; I know. When I talk, you look at me. When I said something about the moon, you looked at the moon, last night. The others would never do that.” (Bradbury pg. 21)  He is a very thoughtful man, and has a sensitivety about him. He also is a searcher for a deeper meaning in life. He says, “We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you’ve been really bothered? About something important, about something real?” (Bradbury pg. 49) Montag is also inperfect. He is realy rash and is filled with a passion that sometimes cripples his goals. He can be destructive, like when he rashly kills Beatty. (Bradbury pg. 113) He gets confused and overwelmed with tough situations and sometimes doesn't know how to get out of them.

  Different people portray him in different ways. Clarisse portrays him as different from the rest of the people she’s talked to, and you can tell that she enjoys his company because he’s willing to listen to her. His wife Mildred thinks he’s odd and too outgoing. You can tell sometimes that she is embarrassed by him, especially when her friends are over. (Bradbury pg. 92-98) She might even be afraid of him, especially when he shows her all his books and asks her to read them with him  (Bradbury pg. 62-65). The Fire Chief, Beatty, at first sees no harm in him being curious, but soon after he knows Montag has a book in his possession, and sees him as a major threat. Overall, he’s a go-getter. A do-er. If he feels like something is wrong, he’ll go out and fix it.

Montag’s goal is to read books and find out the truth about why he feels like something is missing with his life and why everything is like it is. He accomplishes his goal, though it has downfalls. He finally gets his hands on books and even gets to memorizing them. He finds out the truth that he really isn’t happy at all, though he thought he was all along. He finds out that the world is corrupted and that books are banned because it is believed that everyone can remain “happy” that way.  He digs deeper into books and into the meaning of life than is considered safe for him, and he has to face the consequences afterwards, which include loosing his job, loosing his wife, and loosing his home.

I think Montag represents truth. He represents the want for happiness in our lives and the search for why things are like they are. He wants to find TRUE happiness. Not the happiness everyone else thinks they have.  Montag goes on his own search, breaking laws, and doing anything to find out the truth of his own life and I think that is why he represents the abstract idea truth.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. Print.

Fahrenheit 451: What universal themes does this book address? What does the author understand about human nature?

I really think that one of the themes this book explores is that it is better to know the truth and be unhappy than to live a lie and be “happy”.  If you live a lie and are happy, the truth is, you aren’t really happy at all. It is better to know the truth and know in your soul that you are living and not “living”. Guy Montag is the character that represents this theme, I think. At one point in the book, Montag compares himself to the Hound. After Beatty says, “It doesn’t think anything we don’t want it to think.” Montag says, “That’s sad, because all we put into it is hunting and finding and killing. What a shame if that’s all it can ever know.” ( Bradbury pg 25) Montag unknowingly admits that he feels the same way, though he doesn’t  outrightly say it. He feels like he doesn’t know something, like something is missing in his life, like he’s not realy living like he wants to. Later Montag even says, “We have everything we need to be happy, but we aren’t happy. Something’s missing,” (Bradbury  pg. 78). He then begins searching for the truth of his life, and he believes that he can find this truth in books. Faber encourages this and says that books have pores and says, “The more pores, the more truthfully recorded details of life…” (Bradbury pg. 79).

This book also explores the power of knowledge.  This theme is especially expressed between Beatty and Montag. Beatty uses his knowledge of books to prove to Montag that he has the upper hand. He describes this by telling Montag about his dream where he and Montag fought using lines from books they had read (Bradbury pg 103). This knowledge that Beatty has is enough to discourage Montag, which shows that knowledge can be a very powerful tool in the wrong hands. Beatty also demonstrates the “power of knowledge” when he describes why books are banned. People want sameness and knowledge makes people different. It’s powerful . People fear it. (Bradbury pg 51-59). Montag also uses the knowledge he gains from reading books and realize the truth.

One major thing that is revealed about human nature in this book is that we as humans want truth. “People want to be happy,” as Beatty says on page 59, but what we really need to be happy is the truth. We want to know whats really going on. We don’t want to live a lie and go through life completely unaware, like Montag did before he started reading and discovering that there was more to life than what he knew. Montag is a man who wants truth, and he GOES OUT to find it.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. Print.

Fahrenheit 451: : What are the causes, gains, and losses of the conflict dealt with in this book?

The main conflict in this book is that Guy Montag wants to find truth by stealing and reading books, but this is against the law and could cost him his life.  He had to face many obstacles: from his fire chief, to his own fear, to his neighbors, to his unsympathetic wife, and even though his crime at first is just stealing books, he has a much deeper want than just that.

There could be several named causes of the conflict in this story, but I believe the real start of this conflict was Guy Montag’s own curiosity. Montag used to never question why life was the way it was. Why literature was outlawed and why people spent more time inside with their TV “families” than with their own real family. He never used to question why he burnt books and even sometimes the people who owned them, or why socializing was an extinct practice and observing the world around you too much could be considered a crime. He just floated through life thinking he was truly happy until he met Clarisse who by asking him, “ Are you happy?” (Bradbury pg. 7)  caused him to realize “He was not happy” ( Bradbury pg. 9) at all. I also think his own want to find out why things were the way they were and his want to discover the truth of his life were also what drove him.

Montag did gain a lot of things while overcoming this conflict. He gains the knowledge that his life and the world he lives in is far from perfect and severely corrupted.  It shocks him from his dreamy sleep. Before he started reading, “He wore his happiness like a mask” (Bradbury pg.9) but then he begins to realize that he isn’t happy at all. The signs are all there. From the raging suicide (Bradbury pg 13), to the ignorance of his own co-workers (Bradbury pg 32), the out casting of a girl who sees through the fog (Bradbury pg 21), and to the corrupted mind of his fire chief (Bradbury pg. 55-59), Montag realizes because he never searched for the truth, he never saw that it was right in front of him, and the truth of the matter was that he was being lied to and allowed to live in an ignorant state. But Faber helps him realize it wasn’t really the books he needed, but the truth that was inside them (Bradbury pg 78). This conflict that Montag endures wakes him up. It makes him see that just because you have  everything you think you need to be happy doesn’t mean you really are happy. Even though Montag gets his spirit crushed by it all and his house and collection burned, he knows what he needs to be happy is the ability to tell truth from lie. So in gains knowledge, truth, and the ability to be happy.

With every conflict there are losses too. Montag does successfully read and collect some books, and he gets snapped into reality and realizes the truth, but he loses major things in the process. One thing he loses is his job as a fireman. He gets confronted by the fire chief and actually ends up losing  his house because the fireman make him burn it to the ground along with some of his books (Bradbury  pg.110). He also loses his wife Mildred, and she runs away and drives off, leaving him utterly alone (Bradbury  pg.108). Every conflict has his losses, and Montag ends up loosing everything that used to matter in his life. His home, his books, and his wife: all gone because of his decision to steal and hide books.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. Print.

Fahrenheit 451: What does the writing reveal about the author's values and attitudes? From what perspective does he/she write?

Throughout my own literary experiences I have gained a great deal of knowledge on the connection between a writer and his/her book. Because I read a lot, I’ve really been able to catch things and have developed the theory that all writers, intentional or not, reveal and leave a little bit of themselves in their literary works. When writing, they also seem to  leave behind their own morals and values and even sometimes their deepest thoughts. I believe this is true for Ray Bradbury, the author of Fahrenheit 451.                                                                                                           

  This story is written in third person, which I really like because it gives the books a sense of closeness and mystery at the same time. IN the book, you don’t always know what is inside Guy Montag’s head, so it keeps his mind mysterious, but it gives you a sense of closeness because Montag speaks what he is thinking most times and third person point of view allows the author to describe Montag better and give the reader a better sense of his character.  The very beginning, for example,   is one way Bradbury uses third person point of view to his advantage. “The blood pounded in his head” (Bradbury pg. 1), “his eyes all orange flame” (Bradbury pg 1) , “Montag grinned the fierce grin of all men singed and driven back by flame” (Bradbury pg 2): all three of these lines describe Montag in a way Montag wouldn’t describe himself. It allows the author to give more detail on the character outside the character’s own thoughts                                                                                                                                                   


I believe that Bradbury’s  two characters, Montag and Clarisse, reveal the most about his values and attitudes. Some of the things Clarisse says are especially important, I believe, to Bradbury himself. Clarisse spends a lot of time talking, but I think the main thing she gets out is the appreciation of things, which I believe is something Bradbury himself believes in.  She talks about going on a car ride with her uncle and actually stopping and taking time to appreciate everything because so many people in her “world” go too fast to even look (Bradbury pg 6). This message can be taken by the readers as a heading to do the same, and take time to appreciate things.  He also uses Montag to reveal his values and attitudes. Montag says, “We need not to be let alone. WE need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, something real?” (Bradbury pg 49).  This line that Montag says reveals Bradbury’s own thoughts about how we as people should open our minds and be bothered by things so that we can find the courage to do something about it. In fact, this is a theme in the book. Bradbury also uses Montag again to represent our human nature to want to find out the truth of things and to be free of lies.

 Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. Print.