Obviosly this book seems extremely far from where we are today, but we still can't hide the fact that there are many similarities in this book to today's world. The one thing that stood out to me the most so far that supports this idea is when Beatty explains to Montag how the idea of burning books started. He said that the government didn't start it, but the people did. Every minority in some way or another ends up being offended by books. I recently went to see the Brad Stine concert at the PAC, and I know this is using his ideas but I completely agree with him, most of our country is made up of wussys! Just saying someone is black doesn't mean your racist or talking down to them. Using ideas in books that don't appeal to christians doesn't mean your trying to directly offend them! People don't write books just to put things in them that will offend a certain group. Because most of our nation are wussys, no one will step up to the task of speaking against what our government is doing and try to change it. And for that matter, a lot of people don't even have the knowledge to do such a thing because people just don't care anymore. This is a lot like what is in the book. The government makes them happy so that's the only thing they care about. One reason, in my opinion, why people don't care anymore, is that for some reason it's cool not to....WHAT THE CRAP IS THAT ALL ABOUT? I didn't know that is was cool to be stupid and not care about anything, but, for some reason that's intoxicated the minds of a lot of our teens today. I think that's a huge problem. But I won't go into that much further because it's not based as much on the book as it is to today. The fact of the matter is that today's teens are showing many similarities to the people in the book; and that's extremely dangerous because the teens of today are our future generation. If we don't do something about this "wussification" and not caring anymore, we just might end up like this book.
-Nathan Knodel
Nathan, your post hits me where it counts. I am so on the bandwagon with you! One of my biggest frustrations as I look around is the lack of guts so many of us have as Americans. You're right on--talking about a black person doesn't make you racist anymore than talking about an orange makes you a....I don't know where I was going with that. Talking about a Mexican (or white or black or green person) negatively is just as damaging as talking about the next person--but it has nothing to do with race. It has everything to do with humanity and the fact that we need to treat each other with respect. But treating one another with respect is not the same thing as shutting up and never sharing the opinions and thoughts about which we feel strongly, for if we are all wusses and stop sharing our concerns and joys, we as people...and we as a nation...will not grow. Hang in there, Nathan, and keep fighting for your rights of free thinking and speech!
ReplyDelete~Mrs. Stoller
Well, I cannot figure out how to just make up my own post so I will post on Nathans. This is not connecting to his thoughts, however.
ReplyDeleteAs I was sitting here wondering what to post about, I came upon this conversation between Clarisse and Montag.
"Why is it," he said, one time, at the subway entrance, "I feel I've known you so many years?"
"Because I like you," she said, "and I don't want anything from you. And because we know each other."
Isn't is so that most people today are only doing things that are beneficial to themselves? Do even one time a day, kids sitting in our very own high school, wonder how that kid sitting by himself at lunch is doing today? Even if their mind did wonder on that though, would they do anything about it? Probably not. The society in Fahrenheit 451 is very self consumed. You can tell by the way it's unusual to connect with other people on a personal level. Heck, married couples aren't even close in their relationship. We need to care about the people around us and also the ones we don't even know. Step out of your comfort zone and speak to the people that aren't in your "clique." It may just make their day. Don't expect anything in return because in fact, you're gaining the knowledge that you're helping to keep this world one step closer from the world in Fahrenheit 451.
-Brittany Jurczyk