Saturday, May 13, 2023

Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury



 Stuff your eyes with wonder. Live as if you’d drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It’s more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in a factory.”

The difference between the man who just mows lawns and the gardener is in the touching. The lawn mower might just as well not have been there at all. The gardener will be there a lifetime.”

 

 Everybody was in a rush, so the dew on the grass, the sensation of rain in the skin and the sunrise were insignificant details to most people in Farenheit 451, but Clarisse McClellan appreciated them.  She liked to go for walks and enjoyed watching nature. She observed people. She knew interesting facts about the past. Clarisse was spontaneous and curious, and, unlike her peers, she rejected violence, but in the Farenheit 451 society, Clarisse was considered creepy and crazy.

 Books are banned and burned. They are considered a dangerous source of useless ideas. The liberal arts no longer exist. Critical thinking skills, knowledge and empathy are suppressed and disregarded. Books can ignite controversy, so those who try to read them are arrested.

 In Farenheit 451 people are dumbed and numbed by television and technology. It is a mechanical society that has no clue about its history, and is not even aware of the extreme poverty in other parts of the world.

 When Montag, her neighbor, met Clarisse during her walks, he felt irritated at first. Montag thought she was a peculiar teenager. She was not considered normal by the societal standards. Normal teenagers in Farenheit 415 are expected to be violent.

 In Farenheit 451 people kill each other for nothing.

 Clarisse enjoyed meaningful conversations, and she was curious about Mr. Montag’s life. Why did he burn books? He was a fireman, but technology had created fireproof homes, so firemen were hired to burn books instead. Gone were the days when firemen were expected to put out fires in homes, and Montag was not even aware of that historical fact.

   Clarisse planted a seed of transformation in Montag. She asked him questions that made him feel uncomfortable and kindled a sense of wonder in him: he opened up to the idea of unlocking the hidden world of books. Clarisse sparked a new light of awareness for him.

 Montag refused to continue working as a fireman.

  Montag escaped from his stagnant existence and meaningless occupation to rescue the soul of the books, and new perspectives delineated the beginning of a different life. 

   What kind of life would that be?

   Throughout the story multiple artists and literary authors are referenced; they were all male. Then I realized Ray Bradbury wrote the book in the year 1951. In those days it was normal to highlight the works of men, not women…At least, he mentioned Emily Dickinson in the foreword of the edition of the book published in the year 1993.

  Farenheit 451 left me in awe; the book is relevant today on so many levels…

    Yes, I do make the time to volunteer to create a space of awareness, reflection, inspiration. If you feel connected to Clarisse McClellan in more ways than one, you are not alone. Welcome to My Writing Life blog, and thank you for reading.

 

If you enjoyed this post, you may also like to read my writing on the following posts:

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Island by Aldous Huxley

The Handmaid’sTale by Margaret Atwood