Fahrenheit 451

26 comments:

  1. I want to read this book “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury because i’m kind of interested in science fictional future books. Choosing this book was partly not my own decision because the teacher recommended this book to people who have a vocabulary book D.
    I think the book is going to be about a man who has a rather horrible job. His job is a fireman and it’s not as it seems. His job is actually creating fires not putting them out. His job is to create book fires like what the nazies did back then. I think during the story, he will finally realize that he has a terrible job and change his point of view. Maybe in the story he will encounter a certain problem or obstacle that will give him a choice of continuing what he does or go down a different path. Or in an alternate ending, he will actually get a more productive job because book-burning is not helping people read and learn, it’s destroying the chance for people to learn and gain knowledge.

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  2. Eli 8E

    I choose to read the book “Fahrenheit 451” for multiple reasons. The story itself and its idea interested me and made me want to read it. I had also seen 8th graders reading it last year and had remembered wanting to read this book. It also had the best sounding plot out of all of the other books that i was offered to read. Other than that i have no real idea of why i chose to read the book.
    My prediction for what will happen in the book is this: After living most of life like other people in his world, eventually Guy Montague will see that society is polluted and that he is not happy. He will learn these things after talking to a spirited 17 year old girl and a grave professor. He will then try to rebel and fix society in whatever way he can, have an epiphany or kill himself. He will also realize that he shouldn’t burn books because they are a precious object that shouldn’t be destroyed. It is possible that he will do several of these things or none of them at all. My prediction is based off of the 1st twenty or so pages i’ve read, the cover and the synopsis on the back. I have a feeling a lot more will happen and this book will go a lot deeper than i have. but that is the small prediction that i have put together.

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  3. I started to read “Fahrenheit 451” because of its intriguing plot and interesting dialogue. At first I thought we were going to read this book as a class altogether but then when I heard that we were in lit circles I was joyed. When you’re in lit circles you discuss about the book in a small group and you get to decide how much to read and that might be more that what we would’ve in class. Also as my job as Discussion Leader i get to ask my group essential questions and focus where the discussion goes and finishes. I also make sure that people in my group participate in discussion and adding ideas about our theories of a deeper understanding of the book. My prediction for this book is for the main character, Guy Montag would soon lose the pleasure of burning books and become the someone who starts disliking how the world works. He realizes that its not good to burn precious objects of reminder from the past and starts turning into a rebel to how his town/world functions. The author Ray Radbury really was making this book to show how the technology would change the world in the distant future and that we would soon burn what is left of the past.

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  4. Lit circle day 1 blog post

    In our discussion of FAHRENHEIT 451 we discovered what a couple of new words meant and one of them being the name of the main character Montag which actually means Monday in German, which can be thought of as a metaphor talking about Nazi book burnings. We went over a few quotes and discussed them to understand what they meant, this one in particular “The mechanical hound slept but did not sleep, lived but did not live in its gently humming, gently vibrating, softly illuminated kennel back in a dark corner of the firehouse. The dim light of one in the morning, the moonlight from the open sky framed through the great window, touched here and there on the brass and the copper and the steel of the faintly trembling beast. Light flickered on bits of ruby glass and on sensitive capillary hairs in the nylon-brushed nostrils of the creature that quivered gently, gently, its eight legs spidered under it on rubber-padded paws.” In this quote, from what we understood, it captured the essence of them in the future and having the mechanical dog sleeping but not actually sleeping and living but not actually living, which is kind of like the life the people are living too: not actually living but just using technology. It seems like Montag has forgotten what a real dog is and thinks that this mechanical one is actually real. This is like the world trying to bring back nature in their own way, and they think that if they have things that look like nature, they have nature.

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    1. So interesting, Eli, how you have explained the image of the mechanical hound. What did you think of its eight legs? Isn't the hound both menacing and comforting? In this image, does Montag like the hound?

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    2. No, he doesn't. He fears it. Its eight legs remind me of a spider, something venomous that could hurt you.

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    3. Great post! I wonder if the world trying to bring back nature is a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand, people are using technology even more in order to replicate nature, but on the other, the experience of living grows closer to previous, more natural ways of life.

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  5. Adrien G. 8E
    Fahrenheit 451
    I chose Fahrenheit 451 as my book because it didn’t look too hard. It’s also a book about the future and how Ray Bradbury thought it would be in the future, how he thought that there would still be book burning. The book also has a medal for distinguished contribution to American letters. And the last reason I chose this book is because it talks about the burning of books, and I don’t really know much about that subject. The book is sci-fi, which is something I don’t really care for; I am more of a person that reads realistic books, but I decided to give it a chance. I think the book is going to be about a fireman who has a realization and it changes his life because he will finally find out that his life is not fun and that he is actually not happy. There is a girl that he has met; I think that she will come back in his life soon after and she will be the one to change it. In the first 20 pages that I have read, I haven't thought of the book being sci fi at all because it is a future that already doesn’t feel as futuristic anymore since it was written in thee 1950’s. I predict at Montag will face many problems during the story and that there will be a lot of ups and downs throughout the story.

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  6. I would like to read this book FAHRENNHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury because it looks really cool how it is in the 24th century so basically in the future with jet cars and parlor walls in every home used for both entertainment and for governmental propaganda. I think this book will have Guy Montag who used to be a fireman and is still is one but burns books instead of putting out actually fires finds out why he and the rest of the fireman must burn all of these books. I think that he will also have to find out why these books are no longer allowed for anyone to be able to read. I think this will happen because you can tell he is not happy about what he is doing and that he will probably start asking himself why is he burning books for no reason. H seems like his happiness is going down and then when he meets Clarice she tells him that what he is doing is wrong and that he should stop before it is too late!!

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  7. Lit circle day 2 Blog post:

    Today we discussed the scene of the old lady burning herself and her house. We talked about how the books may have cause the old lady to realize that society is polluted. She chose to burn herself instead of live in this world that they are in. We also discussed how most of the things in their world is named after nature, and if it symbolized more than just them trying to regain nature. We talked about a quote which was about Mildred talking with the “relatives” and not talking with Guy Montag, which is a case of technology rendering us antisocial “ ”. Guy realizes that his life is severely messed up when he and his wife can’t remember where they met. Even though this book was written a long time ago, this is a lot like what we may be like in a few years.

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    1. I distinctly remember that scene when I read Fahrenheit 451. It's nice that you discuss particular parts of the book because it gives an in-depth, detailed look into the story instead of a general overview. Also it's great that you connect the book to our future; our society could turn out like the one in Fahrenheit 451.

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  8. Lit circle day 3 Blog post:

    We started off our discussion with quotes. One of the best ones was “‘Nobody listens anymore. I can’t talk to the walls, because they’re yelling at me. I can’t talk to my wife; she listens to the walls.’”(pg. 82) This quote is a good example of Montag and Mildred’s growing separation. It also shows that Montag has grown tired of all of the technology. We then discussed how Montag had saved several books, the one he had taken from the old lady and the one he had hidden for a while for unknown reasons; we thought the fact that he had one of the last bibles in their part of the world is interesting. This shows that people have forgotten their religions and that religion does not exist in this world. Then someone gave us the meanings of cacophony and olfactory, words that were unclear to us while reading this passage.

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    1. Great post. Thanks, Eli. Does Bradbury suggest there are positives to technology or is he proposing a complete anti-technology revolution? Can you identify at all with the death of books?

      I want to turn you on to Ray Bradbury's great website made before he died last year: http://www.raybradbury.com/

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    2. I also find it interesting that Montag had one of the last bibles in the world. It is a very drastic difference from our current world, where The Bible is basically the best seller in history.

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  9. Claire Fargeix 8B
    Fahrenheit 451 1st Discussion Post.

    We started off our discussion by trying to find the “threshold” of the Montag's hero's journey. We decided that the threshold was either when he first talked with Clarisse, or the fire where the old lady is burned. After that, we discussed about when Beatty said firemen keep peace. We agreed that they are keeping their definition of peace, but it is not really peace. They killed an old lady to “keep peace”. Montag says that most people are scared of firemen like him, so they could have motive to revolt, and that would not be peaceful. We then discussed what exactly happened to Clarisse. We knew she was dead, but we think that she was murdered. Beatty said that queer ones come up occasionally and that they know how to “nip them in the bud”. They might have murdered her because she had bad and queer thoughts. Maybe because of her ideas, the firemen though that her ideas might cause a revolution. Then, we talked about how life has progressed from then and found that the book is catching up to now with technology like TV. Finally, we made predictions about the book. We predicted that Montag might run away and that he will start reading a lot of books. His ideas will change because of things he will read in the books. We also predicted that Montag will stop loving his wife and that he might start a revolution.

    Lit Circle = Claire F, Emily C, Chloé R.

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  10. Lit circle day 4 blog post;
    This lit circle we discussed the quote “I’m not thinking. I’m just doing like I’m told, like always” and what the quote meant. We felt that the quote was a comment by Montag about society and that everyone stumble along blindly doing what they’re told by the people higher up, and that people don’t stop to think. Then we learned the definition of the word procaine, a difficult word in the book that meant sharp. Then we talked about the recent passage of the book that we read and what had happened and what we thought about it. Then we discussed the society they live in and its reasons, such as happiness for everyone, even at the cost of hiding things like death, and not telling the person that tried to kill themselves. A society that doesn’t let people be sad, they just make them happy in a different way or artificially and that hides knowledge from the people in order to keep them in line.

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    1. I think its interesting that you brought up that quote, since it very accurately depicts the dystopian situation in the book. I also wonder about the context in which the word procaine was placed, since its such a seldom-seen word. How did the author use it to depict an aspect of the society or of a character? Why do you think he chose to use that word and not just the simple word "sharp"?

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  11. Claire F, Emily C, Chloé R, Lit Circle.
    This Lit Circle discussion, we started off by talking about Clarisse and her question about whether Montag was happy or not. We concluded that Montag knew he was not happy, but he was trying to hide it from itself and convince himself that he actually was happy. He might have done this because it could be easier to cope with. Then we discussed Mildred almost dying. The people that came to help said that there were 9 or 10 cases a night of these. We gathered that people probably don’t want to be in real life, they might be miserable, and they would rather be somewhere else. So they overdose. Then we discussed the threshold again and explored when the old lady takes out match. He realizes that she would rather die than burn the books and that would be the threshold. Finally, we discussed many quotes.

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  12. Lit circle day 5 blog post:
    Again we started the Lit Circle with quotes. “‘Montag, old men who stay home, afraid, tending their peanut-brittle bones, have no right to criticize. Yet you almost killed things at the start. Watch it! I’m with you, remember that.” We thought this quote was hypocritical because Faber is trying to get Montag to do these things, but he is not doing them himself. He is a sort of coward and is describing himself, even if he does not mean to. Faber is trying to save himself from potential harm while inciting a type of revolution. Then we were talking about what happened at the end of part 2, when the firemen arrive at Montag’s house to burn it. Several definitions were then given such as phosphorescent. We ended the discussion talking about the firefighters and Clarisse’s view of them, and what she thought they should be and what she said about the old firefighters.

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  13. Lit Circle day 6 Post

    In this group discussion we found the word gobbledygook on page 117. The word seemed very strange to us and thought that it wasn’t a word but it actually a word. gobbledygook means in jargon which is a bargled word or especially convoluted language that results in it being excessively hard to understand or even incomprehensible. this may be what the world views or thinks of about books. They don’t understand books and that makes them afraid, but they say books give them responsibility and makes them not have fun. People tend to fear what they do not know. In the back of the book there is a interview in which Ray Bradbury said that he got the idea of the hound from Arthor Conan Doyle “Hound of the Baskerville” Also in this discussion we found an important quote “What is there about fire that’s so lovely? No matter what age we are , what draws us to it?”

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  14. During our third week studying Fahrenheit 451, we finished the book and so discussed the last part and ending of the book. We started by summarizing what happened in this last part, how Beatty burned Montag’s house and so something in Guy snaps and he burns Beatty to death. He also manages to burn one of the Mechanical Hounds. Since Montag has killed someone and something important to the government, the only way not to get caught is to run, and so he runs to Faber who tells him to run to the river. Once he gets the river, he dives into the river where the other mechanical hounds loose his tracks. When he gets out of the river, he finds himself in a forest where he finds a group of men who, like him, are running away from the government. Each man has a book, or part of one memorized in hope of someday writing them down to bring back books into their community. As they are talking, a nuclear bomb is dropped on the city and wipes out all possible life. The book ends with the hope that one day, Montag and the other men will bring back books.
    We started our conversation talking about the ending being sad. Everyone in Montag’s life has died except Faber. Millie, Beatty, and everyone else died and all it took was 2 seconds and a nuclear bomb. We agreed that Bradbury chose to end the book like this as a sort of food for thought; would they succeed in bringing back books? Did Faber ever reach the owner of the typewriter?
    We also discussed a quote which described the bombing of the city as a phoenix rising from its ashes. We believe that by that he was talking about although that city’s life had just been annihilated, Montag and the rest of the men were there to make sure that the mistakes that were made weren’t to be made again.
    We also came to the agreement that in this world (and ours), it’s quantity over quality. Whichever side has the most people will be the side that succeeds even if they are making the wrong choices. We couldn’t figure out where this book was situated except that it was in the US somewhere between Harvard and L.A..
    We believe this book is timeless because it teaches you that what the government has in mind may not be the best idea (Nazi Book Burning) and to remember mistakes so that you can try and keep them from happening again.

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  15. I would like to read Fahrenheit 451. It sounds like a good book to read.

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  16. In our first lit circle, we discussed characters and ideas of the first few chapters. At the start of the novel, Montag finds it extremely pleasurable to watch the fires spouting from the nozzle of his hose and see the house in front of him being destroyed by flames. He feels proud to be doing the work of his state that we find has dictatorial solutions. When Montag meets Clarisse, she tells him three words: “are you happy?”. This sets off Montag's mine and he starts asking himself what he's doing. Montag's opinion of books changes after he starts burning them again. He realizes there are human lives behind those books, and that he was destroying those author's lives when he was burning them. Books bring Montag knowledge about the world and his surroundings. He starts feeling more knowledgable and aware. But at the beginning, he feels uneasy when talking to Clarisse because she “too free spirited”, which is the exact opposite as Mildred. Clarisse has old-fashioned values (feeling nature, books, and connecting with other people) while Mildred is more aligned with the dictatorial society of “Fahrenheit 451”. In conclusion, the first few chapters talk about Montag's opinion and naiveté about books.

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    1. I wanted to read Fahrenheit 451. I read the Martian Chronicles by the same author, and loved it. If I knew that Fahrenheit 451 was an option, I would've definitively read it. After this discussion, it sounds like Fahrenheit 451 is a very interesting book, and has the same idea behind the Martian Chronicles: a futuristic world with strange and mysterious ideas. I can't wait to read it, and if you like Fahrenheit 451, then I really recommend The Martian Chronicles.

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  17. Today in our Lit Circle, we discussed the ending of Fahrenheit 451. We talked about our thoughts on how Montag’s wife and himself disagree about books and how the ending could’ve been different; instead of finding a group and escape the oppressing society he lived in, he could’ve just came back to his senses and realize the “mistakes” he’s made, and just live in a world with no books and just ignorance.
    We also discussed how the ending of this novel is very significant because it’s both an ending but also a beginning. After escaping the society which has pressured him and others, Montag has found a group who have the same interests : to seek to preserve books with their memory. But when the city is destroyed in a series of bombings, Granger remembers the legend of the phoenix, about a mythical bird who burnt himself up then came back to life out of its ashes. In the same way, Montag’s society, which has just been burnt down dramatically by the bombs, can be built up again in a new, stronger, and better way.

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  18. Today during our lit circle we discussed what we had read since the last lit circle we had read since the last lit circle. Simon told us the definitions to complicated words, And Cameron Asked us questions to make us reflect on our reading. During the story Montage has to burn his home and possessions by himself, room by room, as ordered by Captain Beatty, Montag is chided by his boss, and the two men engage in a scuffle, during which Faber's radio is knocked from Montag's ear. When Beatty remarks that both Montag and his "friend" (Faber) will be dealt with severely, Montag threatens him with the flamethrower. When Beatty continues to verbally abuse him, Montag flips the switch and kills the chief. At once, the Mechanical Hound, a computerized attack dog that can track down any human being by scent, pursues him. The Hound stabs him in the leg with a procaine needle, but Montag is able to annihilate it with the flamethrower before it can do more damage. Montag retrieves his remaining books from the yard before running to Faber's. On the way, he pauses to plant the books in the home of fireman Black, briefly collects himself at a gas station where he hears reports that war has been declared, and when crossing the road is nearly run over by a reckless driver. This proves that things are changing for Guy.

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