Fahrenheit 451
by Ray Bradbury
Rating: **** (4 stars)
Book length: 227 pages
Genre: Science Fiction
Is there still any value in books? We can access information just by speaking into a phone. We can turn on a television set and know that is happening anywhere in the world.
Is there still any value in education? Why learn when you can utilize technology to do anything you need it to do? Is there any value for going to school to study art, English, or any other humanities?
In Bradbury's world books were no longer seen to be of value. They were corrupting the minds. Schools were no longer interesting. There were more important things to pursue.
At nights boys drove their cars around hitting people on purpose, and firefighters found hidden books and burnt them. Both are possible outcomes when education is longer valued and individuals are expected to conform to a set mind and be lulled into complacency by drugs and worthless entertainment.
Except not everyone can stop thinking for themselves. Once you get a thought you cannot un-think it. Once you learn to think for yourself you can no longer go back to the masses.
That is the brilliant plot for Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.
Ray Bradbury is an amazing writer. The way he puts together words is poetic. The ideas and concepts behind those words are thought provoking. Yet, the actual execution tends to fall short.
I absolutely hated the ending in this book. It ends with a belief that what is right will eventually even out. It believes society will work like the law of averages. You can only be ignorant for so long before intelligence will again start being valued. Since it will happen eventually we should just wander around doing absolutely nothing waiting for generations to pass so that eventually their will be change. For good measure we should also blow up the entire city leaving only the main character alive. Although, until that point I actually thought the war was all an elaborate lie.
I love Bradbury. I love his ideas and concepts. I love the way he puts words together. I can sit and listen to someone read one of his stories and be entranced. Yet, there is always something that doesn't make any sense. If Bradbury doesn't think that people would fight back, then I question his understanding of human nature.
Still you should read anything and everything by Bradbury. Any book that evokes this much passion must be read!
No comments:
Post a Comment