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Thread: Farenheit 451 - possible spoilers

  1. #26
    Gunslinger Apprentice SynysterSaint is on a distinguished road

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    Quote Originally Posted by BROWNINGS CHILDE View Post
    Interesting concept, using character development from different novels, written by different authors, to "flesh out" other characters.
    I know it sounds a bit off, but if you look at the characters themselves, then you'll see that there are some important similarities. Some of the plot elements that change Winston and Marcus into their subversive characters happen on a similar level to Montag. The three of them go through a similar level of growth (the same type of growth, for the most part), and two of them even go through it with literature (Winston has The Book, Montag has the Bible, if I remember right)! Marcus, on the other hand, uses the internet since it's set in modern time. I think the references to other subversive novels is fairly obvious, the heaviest of which being 1984, and, like all good authors, I believe Bradbury used Winston as a character model for Montag. And I know for a fact that Doctorow got the idea for Marcus from Winston, so therefore Montag can be seen as a variation of Marcus.

    Sorry if that was a bit confusing
    Finished The Dark Tower at 6:03AM on December 21, 2009.

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  2. #27
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    Quote Originally Posted by SynysterSaint View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by pathoftheturtle View Post
    this novel is perhaps a little padded. As great as the conception is, it might have sufficed as no more than a short story
    It was a short story in the first draft. Bradbury tried to sell it, and the only way to get it seriously published was to extend it by about double it's length; changing it from a short story to a novel (or, more aptly, a novella).
    It shows. Still, I think it's better for society than never publishing it in any form at all would have been.
    Quote Originally Posted by BROWNINGS CHILDE View Post
    ...what were your thoughts on the characters, were they well formed? I thought that the character development as a whole was lacking. But, I'm not sure that that is a complete negative, as this is not a character driven story. ...
    Perhaps, but I think that candy asked because she was impressed with Mildred. She didn't show much signs in the book of any kind of personal evolution, but I do think that she was a well-formed character, and the human drama between she and Guy really is one of the most interesting facets of this novel.
    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Beck View Post
    I loved this book, but like others, i haven't read it in years. It also reminded me of A Brave New World...
    You know, on second thought, that comparison just might be more apt than 1984, really. Since we do seem to have a trend here, maybe BNW should be our next book.

  3. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by pathoftheturtle View Post
    It shows. Still, I think it's better for society than never publishing it in any form at all would have been.
    I couldn't agree more!
    Finished The Dark Tower at 6:03AM on December 21, 2009.

    The man in black fled across the desert,
    and the gunslinger followed.


  4. #29
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    Posting this five years after the last post but, whatever.

    I am always told that Fahrenheit is about suppressing information, which the book did not seem to be about to me. I think the idea of 'burning books' in a historical sense is all about ridding the world of information and ideas that a society or government felt to be harmful. I interpreted Fahrenheit 451 not to be about suppression of anything, but of a society which simply moved on from art. When you look at today's society where plenty of people don't read books, are proud not to read books, about the plethora of vapid, mindless entertainments that exist and how meaningful art has been almost pushed to the boundaries of society, this novel is more timely to me than 1984 (we are our own big brother now lol HELLO SOCIAL MEDIA, how you doin?)

    Guy Montag's wife loves her parlor, with the wall-sized television screens, and her complete absorption in them, as she watches 'the family', was like Bradbury saw reality TV coming. Instead of spending her time watching film, she is watching life instead of living it, and get involved with the lives of those she watches. Was the advent of television, or in my interpretation reality television, a huge factor in art going by the wayside? Bradbury wrote his novel before the explosion of 'pop fiction' when novels were still primarily about art and ideas than simply about telling a story.

    The way I see the novel, society got so wrapped up reality TV and vapid entertainment that they eventually became afraid of art and the ideas behind them thus they decided to start burning books because they were daunted by books and by words and having to think. Society became radical about books as they can become radical about anything when they are so afraid of the power of something they don't understand, or that is different. The portrayal of the 'bums' (for lack of a better word) that Montag runs into outside of the city are the remaining few who still believe in art to the point they would rather be vagrants and live without the amenities of society, of home, and choose what is then considered to be a criminal life because they place that much importance in art. In many ways, they are martyrs for art. Montag is a character who, despite his job as a fireman, becomes enchanted by art and realises it is worth sacrificing everything for, because (in my words) art is the one thing that separates man from the rest of the world, and without art, we are simply animals with air-conditioning.
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