Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451

680 Words2 Pages

Fahrenheit 451 451 degrees Fahrenheit is the temperature at which paper, more specifically books, burn. As a fireman living in a futuristic city, it is Guy Montag’s job to see that that is exactly what happens. Ray Bradbury predicts in his novel Fahrenheit 451 that the future is without literature -- everything from newspapers to novels to the Bible. Anyone caught with books hidden in their home is forced out of it while the firemen force their way in. Then, the firemen turn the house into an inferno. With pride, Montag carries out just that...Until one day he meets a young girl of seventeen who changes his mind about everything. Clarisse McClellan knows many things that Montag has never considered. For instance, she recites poetry, the ideas of great philosophers, and most importantly, facts about the world’s history. When she first speaks to Montag of these illicit things, he is taken aback and begins to question all that he has been told. Not trusting his current knowledge and cursed with a burning curiosity, Montag begins collecting books from the fires. One by one he reads the books, but they make no sense to him and he looks to others for help. Unfortunately, Clarisse mysteriously disappeared and is later reported dead. But, Montag did not give up. He soon remembers an old retired English professor, Faber, he met one year earlier. Faber jumps at the chance to help Montag and together they venture into the unwelcoming world to try to show others the importance of knowing their past. In light of these facts, one theme of this story, it is not necessarily the eldest, who is the wisest, can be found in the relationship between Clarisse and Montag. The relationship that they have is somewhat difficult to figure out completely; they are so far apart in age, yet they seem as if they are in love with each other, or at least with what the other has to offer. For example, Montag is astounded by the information and opinions that Clarisse has to offer while Clarisse is interested in Montag’s experiences as a fireman. Another theme could be Anne Bradstreet’s quote “If we had not sometimes the taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome”, meaning that unless one has bad experiences, the good ones can be taken for granted. This quote proves to be true in

Show More
Related

  • Montag's Influences in Farenheit 451

    1288 Words  | 3 Pages

    Firstly, Montag is influenced by Clarisse McClellan because she is the first person he has met that is not like the rest of the society. Clarisse is a young 17 year old girl that Montag quickly becomes very fond of. Clarisse influences Montag by the way she questioned Montag, the way she admires nature, and her death. Clarisse first influenced Montag by the way she began questioning him often. Her questions would make him think for himself unlike the rest of society. “Then she seemed to remember something and came back to look at him with wonder and curiosity. “Are you happy?” she said. “Am I what?” he cried. But she was gone- running in the moonlight” (Bradbury, 10). Clarisse was one of the only people that Montag had ever met that had ever asked him that. This question that she asked him influenced him because he thinks about, and Montag asks himself tha...

    Read More

  • Mississippi Mavens Stand Against Racism, Injustice, and Segregation

    640 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ida B. Wells was born in Holy Springs, Mississippi on July 16, 1862. Ida was born into slavery. Ida’s father served on the board of trustees for Rust College so he made education a priority for his 7 children. Ida received early schooling but she had to drop out at the age of 16, when tragedy struck her family. Both her parents and one sibling died in a yellow fever outbreak, so Ida was left to care for her younger siblings. Ida was a very strong African American woman she formed the National Association of colored women in 1896. Ida B. Wells should be remembered as an African-American woman who battled both racism and sexism at a time when it was extremely dangerous to speak out. She used her gift of writing, speaking and organizing to help shed light on injustice. She was extremely brave and held steadfast to her convictions despite being criticized, ostracized and marginalized by her contemporaries. Ida was a fighter she fought against prejudice, no matter what potential dangers she faced. Ida had gotten married to Ferdinand Barnett in 1898 and she was known as Ida B. Wells-Barnett. On March 25, 1931 Ida B. Wells had passed away from kidney disease she was at the age of 69. Ida was a great writer she left some great speeches and protests behind.

    Read More

  • Colored American Is Not In The World's Columbian Exposition Summary

    381 Words  | 1 Pages

    Ida B Wells made sure that everyone who went to the fair knew everything about colored people , and make sure it shows the negatives and positives of being colored. They wrote an appeal to try and get African Americans in the Exposition , but were still rejected. Reason Why the Colored American Is Not in The World's Columbian Exposition is the voice of protest importance as the of history. “An statement of the hopes,

    Read More

  • Ida B Wells Research Paper

    806 Words  | 2 Pages

    wells made an important impact on the African American community is her participation in many civil rights organizations. Ida B. Wells established several civil rights organizations. In 1896, she formed the National Association of Colored Women In 1909. She then attended a special conference for the organization that would later become known as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.She was known as one of the founding members of the NAACP but Later left because she felt like the organization failed to take action. this proved that she made an important impact because she was a main contributor to the NAACP, which is now a legal defense fund seeking to end racial bias in the criminal justice system, protect voting rights and achieve full African-American civic engagement, increase economic fairness and promote equal pay for all Americans, and increase equity in education by removing racial barriers to educational opportunity. Ida B. Wells died of kidney disease on March 25, 1931, at the age of 69, in Chicago,

    Read More

  • Ida B Wells Research Paper

    981 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ida B. Wells was born a slave in 1862. However she was freed with the rest of her family after the emancipation only 6 months after she was born. Her life was very easy during her first years but then a tragedy struck her family which forced her to mature in an unimaginable way. While living in Memphis she had an incident on a train which urged her to fight for equal justice in all races and genders and then a lynching of some of her close friends made her start an anti-lynching campaign that would eventually lead to her becoming a very prominent figure in the fight for equality in the United States.

    Read More

  • How Clarice Influenced Montag in Fahrenheit 451

    814 Words  | 2 Pages

    Montag is influenced by Clarisse a lot. And, her impact on him is tremendous. She questions his whole life, teaches him to appreciate the simple things, and to care about other people and their feelings. “You're peculiar, you're aggravating, yet you're easy to forgive..”(Bradbury 23) Through all Clarisse's questioning, Montag knows that she is trying to help him. Because of her help and impact on him, Montag is changed forever.

    Read More

  • The Pain and Suffering of "Twelfth Night" by William Shakespeare

    1183 Words  | 3 Pages

    When Orsino sends Viola-Cesario to woo Olivia in his name, he does not think any more of it. When Viola-Cesario goes to woo Olivia for her master Orsino, she starts to woo her using the first person, referring to ‘me’ and ‘I’, under Olivia’s request. She continues using the first person throughout this wooing, where she tells of Olivia’s beauty and her person through her perspective instead of Orsino’s. This wooing becomes vital to the plot and the theme of love throughout the play, because this wooing causes Olivia to fall in love with Viola-Cesario instead of the Duke Orsino. This could be due to the request of Olivia asking Viola-Cesario to “tell me your mind.” (Shakespeare I.v.204) When Viola-Cesario woos Olivia, Olivia become smitten with Viola in her disguise of Cesario, while Viola believes that her wooing helps her master Orsino. This wooing becomes essential to the theme of love because Olivia falls for Viola-Cesario; however, the pain from this love does not come until the end when Viola’s identity is revealed. Olivia is then left puzzled and upset because she believed that Cesario was a real person, when in fact, it was Viola playing Cesario and she has married Viola’s twin brother Sebastian. All of the confusion causes the pain that Olivia feels from her love of Cesario because the Cesario that had told her all of the beautiful things was not the man she married and the one who told her all of those things turned out to be a woman. Along with this pain from the realization, she continues to feels a slight pain throughout the play because Cesario will not accept her love and pushes her away, ironically, like she pushes Orsino’s love or her away.

    Read More

  • The Story of Ida B. Wells, a Slave

    898 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ida Bell Wells was born into slavery as the oldest of 7 children in Holly Springs, Mississippi on July 16, 1862. Shortly after her birth, Ida and her parents were freed under the Emancipation Proclamation, which was issued on January 1, 1863. Her father was considered a “race man”, who worked for the advancement of Black people, doing things such as campaigning for African-American political candidates, although he never ran for office himself. He also attended Shaw College, although he had to drop out to help support his family. When Ida was sixteen, while visiting a grandmother in Memphis, she received word that a yellow fever epidemic had struck Holly Springs, leaving her parents and ten month old brother dead. Now orphaned, Ida secured a teaching position to support her remaining five siblings.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Unrequited Love In Twelfth Night

    724 Words  | 2 Pages

    Orsino never loses love for Olivia, but rather the madness subsides and the feelings and emotion transfer to another. In this case Orsino’s love transfers to Viola. Orsino says to Viola, “Boy, thou hast said to me thousand times thou never shouldst love woman like to me” which signals to the audience that Orsino’s epiphany masks the transfer of love from Olivia to Viola (V.i.279-280). This realisation comes after appreciating the good work that “Cesario” does for him. He also now understands the subtle hints that Viola drops on him from time to time. Orsino continues, “Give me thy hand, and let me see thee in thy woman’s weeds” which gives the audience an understanding of Orsino’s values (V.i.285-286). He has always thought that Viola had feminine features, but now he has the ability to put together the complete beauty of Viola through the transfer of love from Olivia to

    Read More

  • character analysis essayof Slaughterhouse Five

    745 Words  | 2 Pages

    Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut, is a novel that makes no sense in itself; yet, when put into context individually with today’s events, or life’s events in general, makes more sense then if it were clearly spelled out within the pages. By using the character of Billy Pilgram, Vonnegut conveys his points with Billy’s reactions and common characteristics. Billy Pilgram could not be any more a human then if he was actually walking amongst us. With basic characteristics of simplicity, confusion and general common sense, any one can relate to what Billy is and was going through. By successfully portraying this personality of Billy’s, Vonnegut creates a complex yet oddly simple character for audiences to follow.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Narcissism In Twelfth Night

    1071 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Olivia’s encounter of Viola/Cesario, Olivia admitted her love for Viola, Olivia knows that Viola/Cesario does not love her and she is accepting the fact that she cannot have “him.” Though Olivia is accepting that Viola/Cesario does not love her, she still tries the flatter him. Olivia tries to ingratiate herself with Viola by telling “him” that he is handsome and that whoever his wife shall be will be lucky. This blandishment not only displays that Olivia loves Viola and Viola doesn’t love her back, but it also shows the resentment Olivia has in believing it. Viola uses enemy to show that Olivia is really her competition for Orsino. Viola believes that pity is not to care for someone so she infers that she does not care for Olivia. Viola seeing Olivia as an enemy shows the bitterness she has about Orsino’s love for Olivia. Viola’s yearning for Orsino’s love created an enmity between Viola and Olivia. Viola will not accept the fact that Orsino does not love

    Read More

  • Unrequited Love In Twelfth Night

    704 Words  | 2 Pages

    Even though Olivia has rejected Orsino many times, he does not give up. Orsino still believes she deserves his love, saying, “Here comes the Countess. Now heaven walks on earth” (V.i.92-93). Shakespeare reveals the desperation many people feel when in a complicated situation like this. He knows she does not return his feelings, but he continues to pursue her. He reveals the perseverance of a man in love, and he does not stop until Olivia proclaims her love for Cesario. When Orsino says he will kill Cesario for marrying Olivia, Viola, still disguised as Cesario, states “to do you rest, a thousand deaths would die” (V.i.129). Her willingness to do anything for his happiness represents a love truer than most. She does not care what becomes of her as long as Orsino has the love he

    Read More

  • Confusion And Chaos In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

    1090 Words  | 3 Pages

    Confusion is a major factor in the plot of Twelfth Night- especially in the crazy love triangle between Duke Orsino, Viola (“Cesario”) and Olivia. What makes the whole situation even crazier is that Viola is actually a woman. This is apparent through little hints given to the characters here and there and also by how easily Olivia falls in love with “Cesario” when she is actually in mourning. In Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Olivia wonders how she could so suddenly change her mind about loving when she questions, “How now?

    Read More

  • Free Essays - Viola and Orsino in Twelfth Night Twelfth Night essays

    512 Words  | 2 Pages

    In act two the complexity of the relationship is taken to an all new level.   Olivia falls in love with the page Cesario, meaning Viola has landed herself in a tight spot between Orsino and Olivia. The newly developed love triangle is now apart of the relationship between Orsino and Viola despite the fact that Orsino knows nothing but the façade Viola has conveniently blinded him with.  In scene four of act two there is a very important interaction between Viola and Orsino. She tells him a love story about Cesario's sister the stories purpose however is to pull his attention from Olivia. Viola takes a step in her own interest of love by asking him if he could love another woman if they loved him as much as he loves Olivia. In lines 98-102 of act two scene four there is an example of her trying to persuade him that there are other women about. "Sooth, but you must. Say that some lady as perhaps there is, hath for you as great a pang of heart as you have for Olivia. You can not love her; you tell her so. Must she not then be answered?" Orsino brushes the comment off and says that there is no stronger love than he has for Olivia, but the conversation in itself is a big step in their development into friends from complete strangers. The statement also leaves the audience a back door to a possible aspiring love relationship.

    Read More

More about Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451

Open Document