Fahrenheit 451 Response
Throughout the novel, Fahrenheit 451, the idea of the government trying to exercise thought control through television propaganda is an important concept to comprehend. In the scene in which Beatty comes to Montag’s house to give him a little history lesson on the becoming of the firemen at the time, Beatty discusses the fact that many people believed that television was a better way to understand things thus making books less needed, yet Montag begs to differ later in the novel. Beatty also says that with more books, that books became more alike each other, making them less interesting compared to what the television could do. Concluding his lesson, Beatty, comments that important groups, relating to the government, found that some context in books was intolerable and the debate against books and technology was ended, leaded by the burning of books. This idea of books being so bad that they need to be burned and replaced by idealism television is absurd. Books are authors thoughts, people’s thoughts just written on paper and the fact that a government would want to burn them is illustrating that they really don’t care about their citizens thoughts and that their citizens should be controlled through the idealist television shows replacing books.
Fahrenheit 451 Project
Scenario
You're a 35 year old parent and your 9 year old daughter comes home from her first day of fourth grade in tears. She tells you that all her friends have clothes from designer brands, which made fun of her because she doesn't have designer clothing brands, and she doesn't fit in. You have to explain to her how it's okay not to fit in all the time.
Body
The body of my project is written like the mother's blog post on her blog, explaining one of the major life lessons any parent should teach to their child.
Monday, September 1st, 2009
Another Life Lesson Learned, So Many More To Teach
Today was Annie's first day of the fourth grade. I almost cried when she got on the bus, I mean she's growing up so fast, one of these days she's going to be six feet tall, moving out, going to college, and getting married. Oh those thoughts scare me. Anyways, today was her first day of the fourth grade which should be a happy day since she gets to see her friends again, but when she got off the bus in tears my heart dropped.
I approached her in the drive way with my motherly instincts of asking her what was wrong, though my open-heartedness failed and she ran inside to lock herself in the bathroom. For the next two hours of convincing her to come out of the bathroom was pure frustration -- I was about to rip my hair out and on top of it all I could sense a headache coming on from the crying and yelling through the bathroom door.
After two hours of this absurdness I coaxed her out to talk to me by offering ice-cream and an extra hour extended to her bed time for the rest of the week. In the kitchen we sat at the breakfast counter as I scooped some chocolate ice cream for the both of us and then asked her what had happened at school. She replied stating that her friends have clothes from Abercrombie and Hollister and that they had teased her for not having the same kind of clothes as them and how she doesn't fit in. As we sat in silence for the next few moments, shoveling ice-cream into our mouths I thought to myself, "How can children be so mean to each other? Why does clothes matter so much, Abercrombie and Hollister are so expensive and I don't need to spend money on her clothes when I have bills to pay and our economy is where it is now. How could she not fit in? Because of her clothes?! Well I'll just explain to her how it's okay not to fit in." Scared to open my mouth for the fear of screwing things up even more I tried comforting her by telling her, "Sometimes it's okay not to fit in. Don't you like your clothes?" She replied yes, "Well there you go! You just need to tell your friends that you like your clothes and they make you happy and it doesn't matter what they wear, you aren't them, you are you. Just be yourself and tell them you like being yourself and if they can't handle that then they aren't good friends." While she absorbed what I had just told her, I poured some more chocolate syrup on top of my ice-cream and shoved the last spoonful in my mouth. Then to my astonishment she responded quietly, "Thanks mom, I think I'll go to bed now and tomorrow I'll tell my friends how I feel."
The next day while she was at school I went to the mall and bought her an Abercrombie shirt as a reward for telling her friends that it was okay not to fit in. Waiting in the drive way when she got off the bus I felt relieved that she was crying this time and that she greeted me with a hug. I then told her to go see what was in her room and to meet me in the kitchen. As I waited in the kitchen she walked in with a big smile on her face and informed me that she did not need the shirt, that she would rather be herself which did not include Abercrombie clothing. Also stating that her friends were okay with how she wants dress and that they even apologized for picking on her. I was so proud of her!
Until Another Life Lesson is to be Taught,
Julie Smith
Relations to Fahrenheit 451
In the novel, Fahrenheit 451, the character Clarisse McClellan, represents the outcasts of society, the people who don't fit in no matter how hard they try. In the world of Fahrenheit 451, the characters live in a world of controlled thought, but Clarisse shows us that you don't need to fit in especially if it makes you happy. She looks at the world in a different way than the others, she doesn't confine her thoughts to her own mine, instead she asks questions about them, as well as enjoys life's simplest gifts like the beauty of nature and happiness. This kind of behavior is frowned upon in the world of Fahrenheit 451, which makes Clarisse an outcast, but even if she is an outcast she's happy compared to the rest of the society which fakes their happiness.
She proves her part of the novel in the scene in which Clarisse asks Montag if he is happy. He replies that he is happy, but if he was truly happy why would he be lying? In the beginning of the novel you see Montag as he fits in with the society being in this fake happiness logic, but progressing through the novel he finds that he truly isn't happy in the way he is living, so he starts reading. Reading makes him an outcast -- one of the people who just can't be happy fitting in like the others who are glued to televisions, believing that they are part of the television families in such an absurdness about themselves. But by the end of the novel, Montag sees that not fitting is okay, just like Clarisse had showed us at first. So we must ask ourselves if we aren't happy fitting in why do we try so hard and just end up unhappy? Wouldn't it be common sense to just not fit in and be happy? Clarisse shows us that it is okay to not fit in, as long as you are happy just be yourself because it has to be better than being unhappy fitting into a world that you don't belong in.
