Drawing Parallels - Gwen Montes

Because I know how much Mrs. Stoller loves it when her brilliant and extremely intellectual students draw parallels to other books, I've decided to share some of my favorite works of literature and how they all relate to Farenheit 451.

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, was written in 1962. The setting of the story is in England and is set in a dystopian future. In this future the children, mainly teenagers, enjoy partaking in acts of "ultraviolence." The story's narrator Alex, is one of the teenagers who, with his friends, partakes in beating an old man half to death, crippling another man, and accidentally killing a women whose house he attempted to steal from. Alex is then sent to prison for fourteen years. However, his sentence is cut short when he is selected to be a subject in a new "rehabilitation technique" sponsored by the government. The technique, as Alex soon finds out, is not exactly what he had expected. The treatment strips Alex of his ability to choose between right and wrong and ultimately forces Alex to choose the morally right choice; whether he likes it or not.

"The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were and ask "why not?." John F. Kennedy-1962

Anthem by Ayn Rand was written in 1938. It too was set in a dystopian future. In this future people are given a name and a number, like the main character, Equality 7-2521. When people speak, they refer to themselves not using singular pronouns, such as I, me, or my. They instead speak using only plural pronouns, such as we, our, and they, referring to the community rather than the individual. People are actually burned at the stake for using singular pronouns when they talk. The children are raised away from their parents and given a specific job at a specific age with no choice in the matter. Equality 7-2125 considers his eagerness and curiosity a curse and a flaw. One day he comes across an old subway tunnel left over from the "Unmentionable Times." Equality 7-2125 begins to conduct secret experiments in a search for answers.

"We have to put a stop to the idea that it is a part of everybody's civil rights to say whatever he pleases. " Adolf Hitler- 1938

V For Vendetta by Allan Moore was written in 1982. Rather than being set in a dystopian future, the story is set in an alternate version of 1997 in London. The story takes place after a nuclear war that tore the world apart. England is under the power of a fascist political party called "Norsefire" that keeps the citizens under very strict control with secret police, audio and visual surveillance, and extreme censorship. Homosexuals, Jews, blacks, and other "undesirables" are arrested and sent to concentration camps where they are experimented upon. An anarchist who goes by the name of "V" intends to orchestrate a revolution and overthrow the corrupt governmen, following in the foot steps of the late revolutionary Guy Fawkes.

"Happiness is a prison. Happiness is the most insidious prison of all. " Allan Moore- 1982

Watchmen also written by Allan Moore, came out in 1986. Like V For Vendetta, Watchmen does not take place in a dystopian future, it instead takes place in an alternate version of 1985. The U.S. and the U.S.S.R. are on the brink of nuclear war, which could potentially end in the destruction of the entire planet. President Nixon is beginning his fourth presidential term. The story follows the lives of ex-vigilantes after the government has banned their activity. After the murder of one of their ex-colleagues, Rorschach, a vigilante who displays a belief in moral absolutism and moral objectivism (he would rather die than compromise his beliefs), begins an investigation in the murder and soon finds himself uncovering a plot to destroy the world in order to acheive peace.

"The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted, it belongs to the brave." Ronald Reagan -1986

You may have noticed that all of these books have obvious similarities to Farenheit 451. However, if you paid attention closely to the years that these books were released, they all have something deeper in common. Like Farenheit 451 these books were released around times of war. A Clockwork Orange came out when the Vietnam War was beginning. Anthem came out before World War II, when Hitler was rising to power. V For Vendetta and Watchmen came out during the Cold War. I believe that we as a class have forgotten one of the main causes for everyone's way of life in Farenheit 451. As Montag has revealed, the country in which he lives has already been involved in two nuclear wars and is on the brink of a third. During times of war, it is the government's main interest to keep the public under control. This is probably one of the main reasons why oppinionated books are banned, and people seek safety and comfort in mindless entertainment. The mindless entertainment is especially important because is takes peoples minds off the possibility of destruction and plunges them into sweet ignorance.

" The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame." Oscar Wilde