Fahrenheit 451 by Ray BradburyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Fahrenheit 451 is a story set in the future, told as a parable* about the role of the critic/teacher and the independent reader. The book takes place in a future where literature is burned and thinking is a Capital Crime. The only books allowed in this future dystopia are those that don't make you think, like Richie Rich or Archie comic books. The big thing you can ask questions, but don't ask why, never ask why. The main characters Montag and Faber battle against each other in war between the preservation of books and the need to burn them all.
The characters in the story represent the battle between readers and those that stand in the way of the reader. Montag represents the blank piece of paper. Faber represents a pencil with an eraser. Faber desires to graft the critics wholesome viewpoint on the blank unwritten mind. Faber types feel the best way to keep the people mailable is through the work of firemen, the maintainers of ignorance. The defenders of the thinkers are the librarians who maintain the critical mind by safeguarding valuable books.
Teachers sterilize the independent yearning of students when they dictate what one should think about this or that book. Society stands conditioned as trained morons, to use Prussian systematization to condition our future to be like drones thinking with homogenized answer. The homogenized answer is a problem in a divergent complex world.
The group discussion at the Larry Jackson Library was indepth, and full of insight. Don't miss next month's book discussion at the Main Library or the Jackson Library on the book: Emily's Ghost.
Fahrenheit 451 is a Classic Tale-and I liked it a lot!!!
(Listened to this on Audio C.D. Read for B.S.I. Lakeland.)
*(a short story that uses familiar events to illustrate a religious or ethical point)
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