Books I Should Have Already Read #1
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray BradburyAs I went to the Baldwin School of PR it makes perfect sense that I did not get this book assigned in high school. Like any other good high school, Baldwin disdains actual thought in favor of compliance, but they have the private school dollars to make it happen!
I had seen the classic 1966 movie in college and was surprised to see the movie mostly follow the book's plot.
Oh, a quick aside, since most of books that will be reviewed as a part of this series are classics, please keep in mind that there are people who have done much better studies/reviews of these books. Don't expect English papers here.
I am always surprised that any book that somehow deals with the future is automatically labeled science fiction. There is very little sci-fi stuff here, particularly when we read it 50-plus years past its publication. Wouldn't have academia realized by now that Bradbury's focus was the issue itself and not the presence of "robotic bank tellers" (ATMs) and interactive television (I guess you can put TIVO here).
The book is pretty low on physical description, which I often find weird when describing a future world. However, other classic dystopia novels (ex. 1984, Brave New World) also follow the same succinct descriptions. Bradbury does whip out the prose when he talks about sensations and experiences, particularly the destruction of books by fire. Even in this future land, everything is very non-technical, with most of the the high-tech devices bearing animal names. There is a eerie scene at the beginning of the book where a stomach pump is described in purely animal ways (i.e. the snake that sucks the green poison out of you).
Montag (the protagonist) doesn't really come off the page, but he does change as a character. He goes from complete book burning fireman to book lover. Considering the brevity of the book I think his change of colors came a little too quick, but he did meet some alluring characters. Also, as books were prohibited then their allure intensified. Maybe he had just held off too much.
I don't think we read this book because it is vivid or run. We read it because its message has only gotten stronger. A character in the book mentions how the ban on books began with just a few edits here and there. If a vocal minority (I'm looking at you family values people) just snip out a book or two then why not just ban the whole thing? School districts ban The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn because one of the lead characters in it is called "Nigger Jim." Of course, it doesn't matter that Huck cares for Jim and considers him an equal traveling companion. We kill the whole thing for one issue. Bradbury has a nice afterword (in my edition, which is not the same as the one pictured above) in the book where he talks about this very same thing. He refers to people trying to censure his writing by saying, "All you umpires, back to the bleachers. Referees, hit the shower. It's my game. I pitch, I hit, I catch. I run the bases. At sunset I've won or lost. At sunrise, I'm out again, giving it the old try."
Ray Bradbury is sick tight!
Peace!
I had seen the classic 1966 movie in college and was surprised to see the movie mostly follow the book's plot.
Oh, a quick aside, since most of books that will be reviewed as a part of this series are classics, please keep in mind that there are people who have done much better studies/reviews of these books. Don't expect English papers here.
I am always surprised that any book that somehow deals with the future is automatically labeled science fiction. There is very little sci-fi stuff here, particularly when we read it 50-plus years past its publication. Wouldn't have academia realized by now that Bradbury's focus was the issue itself and not the presence of "robotic bank tellers" (ATMs) and interactive television (I guess you can put TIVO here).
The book is pretty low on physical description, which I often find weird when describing a future world. However, other classic dystopia novels (ex. 1984, Brave New World) also follow the same succinct descriptions. Bradbury does whip out the prose when he talks about sensations and experiences, particularly the destruction of books by fire. Even in this future land, everything is very non-technical, with most of the the high-tech devices bearing animal names. There is a eerie scene at the beginning of the book where a stomach pump is described in purely animal ways (i.e. the snake that sucks the green poison out of you).
Montag (the protagonist) doesn't really come off the page, but he does change as a character. He goes from complete book burning fireman to book lover. Considering the brevity of the book I think his change of colors came a little too quick, but he did meet some alluring characters. Also, as books were prohibited then their allure intensified. Maybe he had just held off too much.
I don't think we read this book because it is vivid or run. We read it because its message has only gotten stronger. A character in the book mentions how the ban on books began with just a few edits here and there. If a vocal minority (I'm looking at you family values people) just snip out a book or two then why not just ban the whole thing? School districts ban The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn because one of the lead characters in it is called "Nigger Jim." Of course, it doesn't matter that Huck cares for Jim and considers him an equal traveling companion. We kill the whole thing for one issue. Bradbury has a nice afterword (in my edition, which is not the same as the one pictured above) in the book where he talks about this very same thing. He refers to people trying to censure his writing by saying, "All you umpires, back to the bleachers. Referees, hit the shower. It's my game. I pitch, I hit, I catch. I run the bases. At sunset I've won or lost. At sunrise, I'm out again, giving it the old try."
Ray Bradbury is sick tight!
Peace!
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