Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Fahrenheit 451 - Why do we STILL read it?

I believe that we still read Fahrenheit 451 because its message is so important. It reminds people to think about their lives and not to cut things down to make things faster. If people did not have a reminder about things like that, who knows what would happen. It is a good thing that we continue to read this novel because with the progression of technology in our lives, we are becoming more and more sucked into it. Children are spending more time playing video games and watching television as they grow than playing outside or reading a book.

It is incredible how well the author predicted how our society would become. How could he predict so accurately how everything would become about doing things quickly in the most leisurely way possible?! He even realized how popular television would become, all the way back in the forties when he first envisioned this story. People think so little today that I have to wonder what the world would be like without this book, maybe people would be even worse off than they are. Hopefully, having this book as a warning will delay or possibly prevent the possible events of the future.

Reading through this book, images were sent to my mind about a world run by televisions and brainless people, which is a very frightening thought. I actually freaked out a little bit as I read it, turning off all the electricity around me as I read it. It was so silent in my room... Besides pointing out problems in our current society (which will unfortunately only get worse), the book made me appreciate the books that I have and have read. Books and the ideas within them change those who read them. They make people think, which spawns new ideas. Whether it is adding them to a list of thing they believe in, or making a decision about an idea being wrong, books help a person shape their mind. This causes individuality, which forms a healthy world.

Fahrenheit 451 makes people stop and think about the world. It makes people appreciate books and their individual thoughts much more. It is really amazing to me how close to the current future the author came, except for the prediction of nuclear wars and such (Bradbury 73). That has not happened... yet. No wonder this book is still read. It has a really powerful message that can potentially stop the future from becoming as brainless as it is in the novel.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine, 1996. Print.

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