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Blog 6: Significant Passage

*Please choose one passage from the novel that is significant to you. Why is this passage meaningful? Please type it into one of your entries and comment on what you think about the passage.

Beatty, smelling of the wind through which he had rushed, was at Montag’s elbow. “All right, Montag.”
The men ran like cripples in their clumsy boots, as quietly as spiders.
At last Montag raised his eyes and turned.
Beatty was watching his face.
“Something the matter Montag?”
“Why” said Montag slowly, “we’ve stopped in front of my house.” (pg.110)

This passage is significant and meaningful for me, mainly for two reasons. Firstly, I like the thrilling tension coming from this passage. Secondly, this passage connects me with Montag.

The passage is full of tension and suspense, which made me like it. This particular situation is the peak of the rising action, where it is right before the climax. When I was reading this, I was so focused into it because even I, as the reader, felt tense and nervous. I read this book twice, and when I read it the second time, I tried to read it in Montag’s point of view. I tried empathic reading. Reading this passage in Montag’s point of view built up great suspense and I loved that suspense. At the moment I realized that the place that Captain Beatty brought me, or actually Montag, was my own house, I shouted “Oh my gosh!” I totally lost a word to say and I was absolutely shocked. Although the feelings that I had were not positive, I enjoyed the tension that was built and the surprise that I got. I love novels that are full of suspense and twists.

Other than how I liked it, this passage made me reminisce of the past. This situation is a happening where a character is shocked and surprised after feeling guilty. I underwent a similar situation in the past, and I could totally sympathize with Montag while reading this passage. This happened when I was in the seventh grade. It was the night before Christmas break, so all of my peers in the dorm decided to sleepover in my room. Of course, we were breaking the rule, but we wanted to have fun and a memorable night before the holiday. We were playing and talking loudly until around 11:40 P.M. Suddenly, a door knocked saying “Open the door guys.” At first, we all thought someone from another room was trying to mess with us, so we ignored it; however, it turned out that it was our dorm parent, Mrs. Van Wyk. We obviously got caught, but fortunately, there was no punishment, at least we thought so. However, some time during the third quarter, many of the guys were called up to our dorm parent’s office. We had no idea why we were called, but when I arrived into their apartment, I had the exactly same feeling as Montag did from the passage above. I thought, “Why, the people here are the guys who slept over in my room last semester.” When I read this passage from the book, I could totally understand how Montag felt. Because of such memorable connection I made, this passage was meaningful to me.

Blog 5: Mood

*What is the mood of this novel? Do you find this novel saddens you in any way? Why?

Mood is what the readers feel as they read a certain novel. As I read Fahrenheit 451, I personally felt sad throughout the whole story. So I think the mood of this book is gloomy and tragic; and because of such mood, the novel saddened me as well.
The overall atmosphere of the novel was dark and blue. Sad and unfortunate events continuously happened, and the incessant events made me feel sad. Such disastrous events were that the Old Woman was burned, Mildred attempted suicide, Clarisse died, Mildred betrayed Guy, and more. As you see the unfortunate events, most of them are related to ‘death’. Clarisse was one of my favorite characters, and her death made me extremely depressed. I was so sorry that she no longer appeared in the novel after her death. As I read the novel, I contemplated so many other things. One thing I kept thinking was that I was worried what if the same situation occurs sooner or later in my life. The dystopian situation in Fahrenheit 451 gave me an impression that it is highly likely to happen in the future. As I worried, I felt terrified because I don’t want to live a life where I have no freedom to read books. It is so desperate that people in the novel have no rights to own or read books. Even though I don’t enjoy reading books that much, it saddened me because books are still important in our lives. Books give us so much knowledge and entertainment, and the fact that such enjoyment is not allowed in this novel saddened me. Moreover, I think I will hate a fixed life of staying home, watching TV, not interacting with my family, and living the same routine everyday. When I read the part where Mildred and Guy barely talked about their personal lives, I felt very depressed because I didn’t want that to happen to me. I strongly believe that humans, and especially humans who love each other, should communicate and understand each other to make life happier.
In summary, reading this novel made me feel down. Further, imagining a situation in the novel to our lives made me feel terrified.

Blog 4: Climax

*What is the climax of this novel? What happens? How do the events of this novel make you feel? (How does the climax of this novel make you feel?)

The climax of this novel happens when Guy Montag kills Captain Beatty. This is the climax because it was the point of no return. The moment Montag killed the captain, he could not return to the past for the crime he had done. The moment he killed the captain, he had made his decision of choosing freedom. Montag went back to work after all the contemplation. At one point, an alarm rang, so the firemen went to the place where the alarm was coming from, and it turned out that the place was Montag’s house. His wife had betrayed him and turned him in. Captain Beatty states all the quotes and lectures to Montag about his actions. He orders Montag to burn his own house with the flame thrower that he receives. After burning down his own house, Montag confronts with Beatty again. Beatty punches him in the face. The little green bullet in his ears that Faber gave him falls off. The captain threatens Montag that he will trace the bullet and kill Faber as well. As captain Beatty said that, Montag fired his flame thrower to Captain Beatty and that’s how the climax occurred. After the climax, a mechanical hound stabbed Montag in his leg. Afterwards, Montag continues to run away from the hound.
The climax of the novel makes me feel “Yes, that was awesome”. It also made me feel like my stress flew away. While reading the novel, I had a dislike towards Captain Beatty because of his sarcastic and complex character. He was the opposing force towards Faber and Montag, and the fact that he was gone made me feel delighted because one conflict was somewhat resolved. At the same time, it made me feel confused. After Captain Beatty’s death, it made me ask questions like “Was Captain Beatty once a professor?” because he was so knowledgeable about literature. Another question I asked myself was “As Montag thinks, did Captain Beatty really want to die? Is that why he let Montag be armed while he was under no protection?” The first feeling I had when the climax happened was gladness, but after a while, I had a feeling of confusion and wonder.

Blog 3: Main Characters

*Who are the main characters in the novel? Do you like them? Why or why not? What is special about them? What do they reveal about the universal human experience?

The main characters of Fahrenheit 451 are Guy Montag and Captain Beatty. Guy Montag is the protagonist of the novel, and he was a fireman who had many queries. I like Guy because he is unique and different from other people in the dystopian world of Fahrenheit 451. Unlike others, Guy views things in a different point of view. He is one of the few people in the world who thinks critically and questions things about the world, in particular about literature and identity. I really like his questions such as “Do I really love Mildred?” His curiosity about things made me like him while reading the book. In addition, I like Guy’s characteristics for being adventurous and brave. I like these aspect of him because he stands up for what is right and what he believes in. Even though he knew that he was doing a dangerous and illegal action of stealing and reading books, he didn’t get intimidated. Instead, he continued to explore what literature is. I like his rebellious character in this way because he had the guts to explore something new. Guy Montag was the major character that revealed something about the universal human experience that is pertinent to the theme. He revealed the truth about curiosity. Guy revealed that curiosity is a human nature that is a strong and stubborn emotion that human beings have. Also, he revealed that nothing can beat over curiosity because it is human nature that people want to find a solution to that curiosity.
Another main character was Captain Beatty, the antagonist. Beatty was the captain of Guy Montag’s fire department. He is a very complex, narrow-minded, dictator like, and confusing character. I personally disliked this character. Beatty had extensive knowledge of books, but he detested books. I hated the way he talked to Montag. He constantly tried to persuade Montag that books are bad. He had a single belief about books, and I didn’t like that narrow-mindedness. In addition, whenever he talked, he had a sarcastic and ironic way of talking. He has a way of talking in a teasing way, which I dislike a lot. Right before he faced his death, he talked to Montag in a very sarcastic and mocking way. I also loathed this character because the character was ambiguous. I still have many questions about him. I’m not sure whether Captain Beatty wanted to die or not. It was weird that he let Montag have an extreme weapon, while he was disarmed. I don’t like if things are unclear but vague. Also I don’t understand how come he hates books while he knows a lot of knowledge from the book. I even wondered how he became the captain of the fire station if he had read numerous books before. Captain Beatty’s character trait and ambiguous existence made me feel uncomfortable with him. Meanwhile, Captain Beatty revealed a certain universal truth too. He revealed that in this world, there are certain wicked people who attempt to brainwash people and plant the wrong ideas into their minds. A great example is “child soldiers.” The captains of the child soldiers show the children the wrong idea of humanity. They brainwash the children by teaching them that killing is absolutely fine. Children watch videos of wars and massacres. Like this, Captain Beatty attempts to brainwash people in a similar way by telling others that books are bad.

Blog 2: Current Situation

*Are there any current situations in the world that relate to the novel? What are they, and how do they relate? Does the novel shed any light on how current situations could be resolved or fixed?

In the past, Korea was a developing country so there weren’t many media or technology. The major activity was that people helped out their family business such as agriculture. For free time, people, in particular children, did activities according to the season. For instance, in the winter, people would play kite, ride sleds, and skate. During the summer, many people would fish and swim. Moreover, many people read books for leisure. But at that time books were rare, so people considered books to be very precious. However, in present, people play with the media whenever they have free time. As mentioned in entry 1, most people tend to look for TV, computer, and games to spend their time instead of reading books. Opposing to this current situation, a campaign was created last year in Korea. The campaign’s goal was to establish a living room without TVs and computers but filled up with books. The purpose of the campaign was to encourage people not only to read, but to communicate with their families. Nowadays, teenagers especially wander around late until night playing and going to academies; so they have little family time and less opportunity to talk with their family. But through this campaign, it enables more family time and communication between parents and children. By that way, the children will not digress to the bad path, but the parents will be able to guide their children to the right path.
This current situation relates to Fahrenheit 451 because the situation from the book and the world is similar. In the novel, Montag’s room is filled with three TV screens and a radio. Montag’s wife, Mildred, is constantly watching and listening to the TV, so Montag and Mildred barely have a deep conversation. The only thing they really talk about is what is happening in the TV. Mildred always talks about that and Montag always listens to her. That is basically the conversation they have. So they don’t have a deeper understanding of each other, and that’s why both of them even forgot where they first met.
In Fahrenheit 451, the main character and some others coincidently encounter and read books. Then, they figure out that books are fun and valuable. As they are exposed to books, they feel the happiness and fun from literature. From this book, it conveys a message that the world also should help people to have more access to literature. They should not only encourage them to read books, but provide motivation or even rewards. For example, in our school, there is a system called Accelerated Reader (AR). Each quarter, we have a certain amount of points that we have to reach by reading books and taking AR quizzes. That is an incentive because it is part of our grades. The campaign as mentioned above had some kind of lottery so that certain people are picked for remodeling their living rooms into a library for free. Thus, I believe that people try to get more exposure to literature and should be motivated to read more through rewards and other encouragements.

Blog 1: Theme

*What is the major theme of this novel? Why is this theme important to a teenager living in 2008?

The major theme of this book is that letter and literature is a very important tool and power for development of individuals and human society as a whole, and therefore should be kept maintained in the world. Using an imaginary story, the author attempts to signal the danger of abandoning literature in modern society as technology such as media replaces literature.

From the beginning of the human history, people have been using letters and literature to record their history, communicate each other, distribute knowledge, and more. By reading books, people can obtain knowledge, explore different world, where they have never been exposed to and become creative. In this book, ‘Fahrenheit 451,’ although literature is replaced by the media and people are brainwashed that literature is futile, literature cannot disappear from the world because the human nature of curiosity cannot be destroyed. In the novel, the obligation of the firemen is to burn books, whereas it used to be turning off fire. In addition, some controllers had created an idea that books are like pests and poison meaning that books are useless and harmful. As a result, people are not allowed to own or read literature. Instead of reading books, people in this novel watch and listen to the media all day long. Since the information they earn from the media is limited to the facts, they have less chances to develop thinking and imagination. However, Guy Montag, the protagonist of the story, begins to ask questions about his identity and literature. He is a firemen but he happens to encounter characters like Clarisse, Old Woman, and Faber, which triggers him to wonder about the truth about the world and literature. As he continues to wonder and query, his curiosity makes him different from others. Unlike others, he thinks deeply and explores himself to literature by stealing and reading books, which is an illegal action. His continuous curiosity eventually results in the realization of the truth of literature. He figures out that literature is not a useless and harmful thing, but a useful and beneficial thing that helps humans to become knowledgeable, contemplate, be more creative, and consequently develop the world better.

The theme of this book delivers important message to a teenager living in 2008, because the phenomenon of replacing literature by media shown in this book is also happening in these days. In Fahrenheit 451, a certain controller plants a concept that literature is bad and people absorb into the media. Similarly, many teenageers at present stay away from literature but become close to media, on a voluntary fashion. Nowaday, it is hard to see teenagers reading books for their leisure. A great example is playing games. Many teenagers play internet games or video games whenever they have free time. Games are addicting, and books can be addicting as well. However, think about the consequences of playing games and reading books. If one plays games, he or she does not earn much out of it other than instant enjoyment. On the other hand, if one reads books, he or she not only gains knowledge, but also has a chance to develop creativity and imagination. The teenagers right now are the future of the society, and if teenagers continue not to read, the future will be dark. In order to face a bright future, the teenagers right now should develop their thinking, imagination, and creativity. Therefore, the theme of the books leaves a strong message to teenagers that they should read books.

WELCOME :)

Hi everyone. For my first novel, I read Fahrenheit 451.

Welcome to the burning, tense, tragic world of Brytopia's Fahrenheit 451!

Enjoy reading my comments and thoughts, and have fun!