Fahrenheit 451. Jumbled thoughts.

I do not know how it could be said that Fahrenheit 451 is not an amazing book. It is one of the most intriguing books that I have ever come across. I think one of the reasons that it may have interested me as much as it did is because of the fact that, throughout the entire novel, I had to continue reminding myself that the book was not written recently. It was published over 50 years ago. When I'd think about this, it amazed me. How someone could so accurately depict the future is incredible. From the flat screen televisions mounted on the walls to the ear buds that Mildred uses to lull herself to sleep. Everything that Bradbury comes up with and describes as 'futuristic' is all standard to my generation. It is strange to think that, if technology continues advancing as it has, such a futuristic book will soon be outdated. Perhaps my generation will be one of the last to really be captivated by it.

I think Clarisse, even for the short time that she was in the novel, grew to be one of my favorite characters. I liked her because she is so similar to what I feel most teenagers are. It is a common misconception these days that all teenagers do is party, text, and watch tv. While these are things that teens enjoy, our lives are not consumed by them. Like Clarisse, many people my age enjoy hiking, nature, literature, and things that do not involve technology in the least. I think Ray Bradbury may have been thinking the way about the future generations as adults currently think of adolescents. I feel F451 is more of an entertaining story than an accurate depiction of life in the future as seen by people in the 1950's.

The end of the novel was a perfect end to the story. When Granger says 'welcome back to life' it ends the book in the best way possible. In saying this, he is addressing the rebirth of Montag. A new life that has been given to him. A life that can be lived in any way Montag desires.

Bradbury. Jumbled thoughts.

It seems obvious that the thing that motivated Bradbury to write F451 is that he loved anything futuristic. In the interviews, he talks about falling in love with the comics he read in the sunday paper. He says he liked to collect them because he loved that they were about the future. I feel the book came to life as it did because he was living it.. Not, of course, in the way the characters in the book live it.. But Bradbury heard of Hitler burning books in the streets of Berlin. He said that if you are not reading, you cannot be part of a democracy. I think this caused him to feel the way he did about the burning of books and definitely motivated him to write F451. Bradbury's literature definitely effected us in terms of technology, although, I wouldn't go so far as to say that we only have what we do because of him. I'm sure Ray Bradbury wasn't the only person to be thinking the way he did, but was one of only a few to bring his thoughts to life in the form of a novel. All the things we have today i'm sure would've been invented regardless of whether Bradbury had written this novel or not. I think a good question to ask would be whether or not they'd have been invented in time for us to benefit from them or if they'd only come to life for future generations.

Star Trek.. Jumbled thoughts.

I think that, even 45 years after, Star Trek is incredibly relatable. I think the reason that it is so relatable to someone my age is that nothing is outdated. In fact, anything that isn't relatable is that way because we DON'T have it yet, not because it's a thing of the past. For example, the laser beams used to torture Vana. This is something that probably won't be seen, at least, not in our lifetime. Then, it's relatable again, with the use of the communicator that very closely resembles today's cell phones. It seems to me that it was Gene Roddenberry's imagination and others like it that influenced scientists to attempt to create similar technologies. Scientists are so very formulaic, it's easy to believe that once an idea has been planted that they'd be able to make it a reality. However, it's not so easy to believe that they would have imaginations so creative that they could also develop the idea for something such as a communicator, or ear piece, or giant command centers floating through space.

To Kill a Mockingbird. Jumbled thoughts.

So far, I am loving To Kill a Mockingbird. At times the language is a bit tough, and there are parts that I have to re-read to understand. I, however, don't mind because the novel itself is so captivating. It's the kind of thing you just don't want to put down. It's hard to say whether my favorite character in the book is Scout or Atticus. Scout really interests me because of the way she acts. Scout is a tomboy and doesn't try to make anyone think otherwise. She runs around with her brother and neighbor and looks just like a little boy. I admire her for being exactly who she is. Atticus stands out to me because of his beliefs. Atticus feels that everyone is equal and tries to help his children to understand that. Atticus never judges and never acts as though he is above or better than anyone else. I can't wait to read the second part of the book...

The Crucible. Jumbled thoughts.

The Crucible was certainly not my favorite book of summer reading. I didn't enjoy the way it was laid out as a play, rather than a novel. It was, though, fairly well written. The play takes place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. More than just the 'bewitching' of the girls, the play paints a picture of a time in which legal systems were based on the Bible and people high in religious standing governed towns and cities. Religion was without a doubt the most important thing in the majority of the lives of the citizens of Salem. People were so quickly named as witches because the town believed that anyone who practiced witchcraft was not loyal to God. People who were not loyal to God were a threat to society.

Parris was the character that I focused on most. It seems that he is a father who is genuinely worried for his daughter. The closer you look, though, he seems more worried about his reputation. He is worried less about the danger witchcraft will surround his daughter and the other girls in and far more worried about the trouble the scandal will cause him. A main idea linking all of the events in The Crucible is guilt by association. Being linked to anyone who sins makes you guilty by association. This is why privacy is almost unheard of in this time. Sins committed in privacy are made public by those who know about it so they cannot be said to also be guilty. All wrongdoings must be publicly condemned.

Scarlet Letter. Jumbled Thoughts.

I’ve never come across a book that frustrated me so much, yet, was so intriguing to me as The Scarlet Letter. 

This book shows in very good detail the beliefs, values, and priorities of the people living in this time period. As a group, people of this time lived solely to please their creator and to secure their places in heaven. This is the reasoning behind the shunning of Hester Prynne. Hester is a sinner. The townspeople believe that to let her live without punishment is to commit a sin themselves. Therefore, she is shunned in the village she lives in and is forced to wear a scarlet letter A (signifying she is an adulterer). Hester comes to wear this A proudly. Even when the elders are considering letting her take it off she wears it as a symbol of what she’s been through. She also makes no attempt to hide Pearl, her daughter, who is also a permanent symbol of her sin. 

Pearl is a symbol throughout the entire book. More than anything, she is there to remind the reader of the consequences of Hester’s actions. At the end, however, once her father publicly admits to being her father she becomes a person. A character, rather than a symbol.

Arthur Dimmesdale, Pearl’s father and Hester’s former lover, is plagued with guilt throughout the entire story. I didn’t see it, though, as guilt for the sin he has committed. It is guilt for not taking credit for his daughter. This guilt is with him with everything he does. That is clear to the reader throughout the entire story. 

Appropriately named, Roger Chillingworth is a cold, unfeeling man. Disguising himself as a doctor, he never lets Dimmesdale get to far away because he is planning revenge for the affair Dimmesdale has engaged in with his wife. At the end of the novel Chillngworth dies. Much like a leech, with no one to feed on, he has no way to survive.

The Great Gatsby. Jumbled thoughts.

I loved The Great Gatsby. Not only was it my favorite book of summer reading, it’s one of my favorite books ever. It had a way of making me feel as though I was in the book experiencing everything the characters were experiencing. That connection was the main reason I enjoyed the novel so much.

To me, Tom was the most interesting of all the characters. It seems to me that he has just about everything but doesn’t see it. Although he has a beautiful, loving wife, he has an extramarital affair. He is high in social standing, wealthy, and powerful. Yet he bully's people as if they’re threatening to him. Tom is incredibly arrogant and seems to be very prejudice. I noticed throughout the book that he sets very high social standards for all those around him. He himself, however, makes no attempts to also meet the standards that everyone else is expected to live up to.

When I began The Great Gatsby I saw it as a story of love, infidelity, jealousy, and expected it to continue in that direction. After getting further into the novel, though, I started to see it as less of a love story and more as a depiction of America as a whole in the early 1920’s. The Great Gatsby tells a story of an America in which there was a post-war rise in the stock market, making it possible for anyone to get wealthy. An America in which the poor and the rich had a need for bootleg liquor, and the craving for wealth and high social standing rather than the achievement of more significant things such as discovery, the pursuit of happiness, and individualism (chapter 9) led to many problems.