Fahrenheit 451

Symbol: Vampirism in Fahrenheit 451

I think Montag was a vampire to many people, and at the same time still a victim of it. There were many people that contributed to Montag's "awakening." Clarisse is one example. In the book they said she got hit by a car, but to me that seems too random. With all the dramatic government conspiracy going on in this book I took it like one of the government people took her out and made it look like an accident. Beatty said himself that they had their eye on her and knew she was up to trouble. In a way, her conversing with Montag everyday may have led to her death if the government was watching and listening to her, but at the same time it was the first thing that started to get Montag to think about the world around him and ask why.(Far-fetched about the government killing Clarisse? Yes, well so was the chase at the end of the book and the government killing a random man off the streets for the pure midnight entertainment of the city. Hey, it could happen.)In another way I think Montag was a victim to vampirism. Mildred seemed to suck the life out of Montag (no pun intended ;)) In the beginning scene when they are pumping her stomach after the sleeping pills, the author describes the whole scene. I just pictured Montag starring blankly at the scene before him. I did not feel like he could express and maybe even feel any real emotion. It was not sad nor happy, but if feelings could be heard his was very monotone. She always seemed to bring him down too. The world revolved around her. A part that made me really angry at her was in the beginning when Montag comes home from work and she complains about not having a fourth "wall." It was like half his pay to buy the other walls and it is not like she goes to work everyday to help pay for them. Montag just bought a third one for her and she didn't even appreciate it. I am sure anyone like Mildred would suck your happiness out of you. Montag continually tries to please her but he is just helplessly trying to fill a bottomless pit. The Montag and Milderd relationship was an obvious example of a dysfunctional relationship. They were not helping each other at all and it seemed like they didn't even like each other. I mean, no one could remember where they first met! Montag finally remembers at the end of the book, but that is only when he sees the city blow up and realizes she is dead. It is like at that moment her negative grip on Montag that she has had throughout the whole book releases and he is able to remember.And I am sure Montag was also a victim to Beatty. He kept trying to brainwash him and convince him what he was doing as a fireman was right. It drove Montag so mad that he finally turned the flame thrower on him.


Passage Analysis:

"Do you know why books such as this are so important? Because they have quality. And what does the word quality mean? To me it means texture. This book has pores. It has features. This book can go under the microscope. You'd find life under the glass, streaming past in infinite profusion. The more pores, the more truthfully recorded details of life per square inch you can get on a sheet of paper, the more 'literary' you are. That's my definition, anyway. Telling details. Fresh detail. The good writers touch life often. The mediocre ones run a quick hand over her. The bad ones rape her and leave her for the flies." (pg 83)

This is a beautiful passage spoken by Faber on page 83. He is talking about the human qualities that books contain. When he speaks of the books having "pores" he adds life-like qualities to the books, almost like a leaf breathing in and breathing out literature. These life like qualities extend way past the actual physicality of pages, cover, binding, etc. Books and literature hold living ideas that usually are timeless and can relate to every generation. The author may be long dead, but his ideas can still live on, they can still breathe through the writing and and ideas presented in the book and pass on through every generation. And like Faber says, good writing is about life and living, the one thing that every human being no matter what era or age they are found in will be faced with.


This passage is vital to the meaning of the work as a whole because the society that Montag is now living in basically discourages true living. True living involves thinking, emotions, and action. Now that books have been removed from his society, the people are no longer concerned with politic affairs, their own rights to freedom, and other important matters. Their standard of living has greatly dropped, as all they need to be happy and content is food, air, and their beloved "walls". When Faber speaks in this passage, he is commenting not only on his love of books, but his love of living and thinking and feeling. He is pointing out to Montag what is wrong with the society they are living in. It has become a society not only without books, but without knowledge, without mental stimulation, without concern for the bigger picture.




Opinion:

Well, I truly enjoyed the topic and overall theme of the book. It was a great idea to invent a world where books were illegal and society believed they should be burned. It reminded me of many events throughout history where the burning of books occurred such as World War II with the Nazi's and countless other times with Egyptian, Christian, Roman, Chinese, and many other texts. (In fact, it seems like almost every culture and/or religion has had a major burning of their texts at one point in time.) From an eleventh grade student's point of view, I really cannot believe how much ancient knowledge we have lost by the burning of texts. (and I say ancient because more modern texts have been copied many times over or are stored on a back-up hard drive of some sort.) You cannot help but wonder what secrets were recorded down and lost for the rest of time. (I mean, if the Egyptian architects could build massive pyramids, what else could they do and how much about the world did they know about in their time?) The idea of censorship and burning books was a great idea, and I loved the modern spin Ray Bradbury put on it. They were not only burning religious or controversial texts, but they were burning everything! Shakespeare, Emerson, Dickinson, Poe! Everything! Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Documentary, Essay! Everything was fed to the flames!
Now having said how much I loved the theme and topic, I must say, it was very hard for me to jump into this novel. I did not like the reason why they burned books. Because it made people feel stupid? Come on, for such a great idea I feel like the author fell short on explanation. Because books made people feel stupid and inferior did not satisfy my question of why. People will feel stupid and inferior without the aid of books. What about the people who built the skyscrapers in the city? Or the airplane jets that fly overhead? Wouldn't the average citizen feel stupid and inferior to the architects and engineers and mechanics that built the world around them? Even if they didn't learn their trade from a book, they had knowledge that would put them a step above the average citizen. And the other reason: books gave people too much to think about and worry about. I don't know, it didn't fly too well over me. I think it was a stupid reason for such a high crime.
And thats the other thing I didn't like about it. Having books was such a high crime. I mean put it into perspective in our day: Speeding is a crime but if someone sees you going seven over I doubt they are going to call the local police force on you. Or if your car is over-due for inspection, no SWAT team is going to raid your car. Or if you don't have your seatbelt on, you might get a ticket and pulled over by a cop, but they are not going to blow up your car because your seatbelt wasn't on. But whoa, have one book under your bed and your whole house goes up in flames! Why did they burn the whole house instead of just taking the books out and burning them elsewhere? And won't the firemen be out of jobs once all the books in the world are gone? It is not like books are getting reprinted in mass amounts of copies because they are so illegal. How could you even have a job if 97% of society hates books or is afraid of them and you only have that 3% that you are relying on for your salary to have books so you can go and burn their house down. The way the government brainwashes its citizens it is a wonder that people are not just turning their books in (and I am sure that is what happened when they first but their ban on books.)
I mean overall, it was an alright book. The theme was interesting and I liked that, but the plot itself I felt like it was too far fetched and I was not satisfied with the reasoning the author offered.