Fahrenheit 451

PART A

On page 163, Granger refers to the phoenix, talking about how it kept repeating the same cycle of birth and death. Granger compares the phoenix to the people of Earth and how they keep repeating the cycle of destruction and reconstruction. I believe that, in this instance, the phoenix is a symbol for history and its repetitious nature. However, while the phoenix cannot remember his past mistake of burning himself, people know what they have done, and how foolish it was. Slowly, people may learn to stop the cycle. They will remember the destruction that happened last time and help prevent it.

PART B

“…Did you know that once billboards were only twenty feet long? But cars started rushing by so quickly they had to stretch the advertising out so it would last.”

“I didn’t know that!” Montag laughed abruptly.

“Bet I know something else you don’t. There’s dew on the grass in the morning.”

He suddenly couldn’t remember if he had known this or not, and it made him quite irritable.

“And if you look”-she nodded at the sky-“there’s a man in the moon.”

He hadn’t looked for a long time. (Page 9)

This passage shows how this society has brainwashed all its citizens into doing exactly what it wants them to do, and nothing else. The society keeps people’s minds frozen in childhood- obedient and easy to control. But Clarisse, with the help of her ‘peculiar’ family, has resisted the society’s control and grown up. She’s roughly half of Montag’s age, but she is so much wiser than he is. She has seen so many more things just because she pays attention, and by seeing them, realizes that there are ordinary miracles surrounding her every day. Montag has been acting like the cars Clarisse refers to- rushing through life so fast that he can no longer recognize what’s around him. Either life has to be stretched out- ‘so it [will] last’- or Montag has to slow down, recognize what’s around him, and help change what needs to be changed.

PART C

I did not like Fahrenheit 451. It seemed too implausible- for example, the government was too controlling, which I can't see happening, given the current system of checks and balances in our national government- and there seemed to be only two types of people, those who seemed like ‘zombies’ (like Mildred) and those who fought against the society (like Montag). There were no moderates, and that just seemed unreal to me.

There is a second factor in my dislike for Fahrenheit 451. I'm strongly against censorship, and I love books for the different kinds of knowledge and ideas that they contain. Reading about the book burnings in the past never fails to make me angry, because I simply can't imagine the huge amount of knowledge lost because of some people's short-sightedness. Seeing book-burnings so prevalent so early in the story made it difficult for me even read the book. Curiosity won out, however, and when I finally reached the end, I realized that I had ended up liking Montag. However, I still could not make myself truly enjoy the book. I applaud Ray Bradbury for his anti-censorship writings, but I’m simply not willing to be in his audience.