Fahrenheit 451

It was a good read and is undoubtedly a classic. But it had its moments that were to slow for my liking.

"We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the constitution says, but everyone made equal . . .A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it. Take the shot from the weapon. Breach man's mind. Who knows who might be the target of the well-read man?" Guy Montag is a fireman. Not the kind that stops fires, but rather the kind that starts them. Books and the people who illegally possess them are the fire brigade's target. Books are not burned in the name of censorship, but more in an attempt to level the playing field. There is a fear in this Bradburian society that knowledge and awareness of the world breeds a sense of superiority. However, this leveling comes with a price. Guy is a loyal servant, carrying out his duty and then returning to his hum-drum life with his tv-addicted, vapid wife Mildred. Day after day, neither of them thinks outside the box. Until he meets Clarisse, his young neighbor, who has a different perspective on life. Shortly after, he is overcome by temptation to keep a book he has been tasked to burn. Soon, one turns into two and two grows to five. As his secret collection grows, he begins to question his blind compliance, and his very existence. Has his new self-awareness created a threat? This is a book from the 50s that is eerily relevant today. As I listened to the audio version, I couldn't stop thinking about how tethered we are to social media today and how it stifles our individual thought. The behaviours and attitudes of Mildred and her friends echoed the behaviours and attitudes of those who lurk in the shadows of the internet, blindly consuming one-sided content and never seeking the other side of the coin for a more balanced perspective. We are so busy consuming content that we are not living in the moment.

Loved

If you want your mind blown, this is the book for you. This dystopian story forces you to question the importance of writing, personal opinions, governmental control, the past, present, and future, as well as whether or not censorship could be leading us into oblivion. I read this book when I was 14 and it sent me on my journey of reading. It is still one of my all time favorite books. Remember to remind yourself that this was written in the 50s ;)

My middle school teacher made us read this. I always love when teachers make students read books as a class because they are usually good.