Essays or projects that I am proud of

I did not like the book Fahrenheit 451

Cecelia Steenburgh

Mrs. Youngheim

English 9

29 January 2018 - 14 February 2018

Fahrenheit 451 has too many themes to just pick one but I did

Everyone knows the saying "curiosity killed the cat". It is a warning to not be where you're not supposed to be. In Fahrenheit 451 Guy Montag is the metaphorical cat. Spoiler Montag doesn't die but a fair amount of other people do. In Ray Bradbury's book, there is a dystopian world in which the people are obsessed with surrounding themselves technology. Guy Montag is a fireman whose job it is to burn books. In this world the possession of books is illegal. Montag breaks this rule. So I think that; A world without excess knowledge or literature knows no true happiness, and therefore the people of that world are dissatisfied. This is shown through Montag stealing all those books. Beatty having read books and not getting caught And when Mildred subconsciously tries to commit suicide.

Montag took the books because his mind was unfulfilled of its potential knowledge. He wanted to read so much that he got a job where he could steal books and potentially not be caught. "Then he reached up and pulled back the grille of the air-conditioning system and reached far back inside to the right and moved still another sheet of metal and took out a book."(62) A fireman is supposed to be the one burning the books so no one would suspect him to steal any. They would place the blame on the person who was hiding the books or their closest companions. "'It is computed that eleven thousand persons have at several times suffered death rather than submit to break their eggs at the smaller end." Mildred sat across the hall from him. "What does it mean? It doesn't mean anything! The Captain was right!'"(65) Mildred has never had the chance to even read the little piece of good literature. Her mind is blank. She doesn't even recognize the simplicity in the passage. It does mean something. She, in fact, is part of the eleven thousand people. On a page further page in the book, she rings the alarm of which warns the fireman to come and burn down whatever house that has books in it. But in doing this she turns in herself. In the book, she keeps doing things that bad for her. She does this so many times that subconsciously there must be a part of herself that wants her dead.

Mildred is trying to kill herself. She does this multiple times throughout the book. She is extremely unsatisfied with her life. You can see this through the way she is extremely obsessed with her TVs and have a digital family in her house at all times to keep her company and keep her occupied. "The small crystal bottle of sleeping tablets which earlier today had been filled with thirty capsules and which now lay uncapped and empty in the light of the tiny flare."(11) Mildred obviously tried to kill herself. That is the scene that Montag comes home to. That is the first glance we get at Mildred. Lying on her bed barely alive with a brand new bottle of sleeping pills lying empty on the floor. Montag suggests that she was so doped up that she just forgot that she had taken the pill before she took another one. But medicine doesn't work that fast how can a human be so brainless? She sits and watches t.v. the whole day that's how. Even after getting out of the hospital the first thing she does is sit down and watch more television and then she asks for another full wall screen. The t.v. room currently only has three screen walls. It costs two thousand dollars. That would be one-third of her husband's yearly salary. Also, she just had gotten the third wall installed. Mildred is bored enough out of her mind that her mind has decided that is not worth her time to stay alive. She's not even living. She barely sees her friends and stays inside all day. If she had literature she would not be dull of mind.

Furthermore, I think that Beatty has also broken the rules. How can he know so much about all the books that he has burned without having read a lot of them? He constantly quotes pretty advanced literature. For instance, when he is talking to Montag in the first part of the book he says "'Colored people don't like Little Black Sambo. Burn it. White people don't feel good about Uncle Tom's Cabin. Burn it.'"(47) He knows a whole lot about books. Which ones caused large controversies and what they were about. I think one of the reasons that Beatty gives Montag all those speeches is because he doesn't want his cover blown alongside Montag's. On a previous page, Beatty even mentions Hamlet. He says Montag might know who/what that is but that Mildred has probably never heard of it. When he said that I deducted that he knows that Montag has taken some books. He knows this because when he was almost discovered he might have acted the exact same way. He probably feels guilty that nobody ever found him out. Even before he was burned to death he was ranting about the similarities of Guy Montag and Icarus, Odysseus' son. Which is quite ironic because Montag doesn't die of fire and Captain Beatty does.

The mentioning of Icarus and his fate brings me back to the beginning of my essay. Saying that someone is an Icarus means that they are careless or doing something they are not supposed to be doing. I said that Montag is like the cat when one says that "curiosity killed the cat". In the end of the book, Montag did not die but instead lays fire upon his city. Guy was curious and he came very close to dying. Montag was a careless character who was driven mad by a Man v.s. Himself v.s. Society conflict. Montag went crazy after he read a couple sentences. That is what not reading books for your whole life does to you. He literally couldn't handle the words he was reading. There were books in the society but they were rulebooks. Books full of lawful jargon and thoughtless words are not books. They are just bunches of words. Mildred was so unfulfilled by her lifestyle that she tried to kill herself. She took thirty pills all in one night. She called the police to burn her own house. Beatty was also guilty like Montag. He was so wracked with guilt that he wanted to die. He was even as reckless as Montag with his quoting but he still called Montag out on his lamenting. He probably didn't want Montag ruining his cover. Beatty has done the same things as Montag. He just has been more careful. Montag should have been more careful too. But he wouldn't even have a job if there were no books to burn. Nobodies happiness to destroy. People need books. We need words. We need to write and discuss. We need to escape. For me, reading is the most valuable thing in the world. I assume it is the same way to many other people. If I couldn't read I would probably be like the old book hoarder who died with her books.

P.S.

I also want to say that I did not like this book. To me, it read like nails on a chalkboard and was very boring. Plus the character names are horrible. The only other person I have ever heard of named Guy is Guy Fieri. Who, is known for being obsessed with fire and insane. Like Montag. Montag is a fireman. Fieri likes setting stuff on fire. Coincidence? Maybe so.