Fahrenheit 451 - Irony

Fahrenheit 451 was a very ironic book. With tons and tons of examples all over the place, I really do not even need to explain the but I will anyway because school starts tomorrow and I still need to blog a few more times. Alright there are so many examples of irony in this book I really do not know where to start. I guess I will start with the most obvious one. That being the fact that firemen, who when we think of them are people bravely running in to burning buildings heroically saving young children and dogs alike. Now the ironic part of this story is that in the book Firemen are people who start fires. Rather than being courageous and heroic they are cowardly and agents of terror, always keeping people scared for their lives. They are the exact opposite of what we might expect a fireman to be. This is the very first little piece of irony that I personally noticed during the book. The second irony is how people have seemingly regressed backwards as far as a morality is concerned. I know whenever I think of the future I think of people smarter than me, better morally and really cool technology. In this book though people have become more and more jaded towards other people. Rather than being more humane, more perfect than those that cam before them they are less of a utopia society. That may really be the ultimate irony in this story. the fact that the one thing we believe in, progress, humans becoming better and better may not always be true. This book really uses ironies very effectively, making you think about certain things and making you think about possibilities. There quite a few other ironies in this book. I will have to cover them in my next blog as I am quickly running close tot he 325 mark for words wait for my next blog.

The Old Man and the Sea - Irony

When you first think of The Old Man and the Sea quite a few things may come to your mind. I would be willing to bet money that one of the things that you think of most likely would not be that it is an a very ironic book. Sure on the surface it is very easy to take very thing at face value. You really really really have to try in order to pick up on a few of the subtle ironies inside this book. The biggest and most glaring one is obviously the fact that even after spending so much time fighting the fish so that he could sell it. After all his work and effort, everything that Santiago had been fighting for for three whole days. Even after all that his catch of a lifetime gets eaten by sharks on the way to the shore. This is the epitome of irony. Something you work and work for, believing that once you have this thing everything will be better. All of your hard work will be worth it as soon as you have this one simple thing. Then you finally get your treasured item and you realize it is pretty cool but just ok. Finally you realize all of your hard work, all of your sweat and toil was for nothing. As you do not even like the new item much less love it the way you seemed to think you would while you were working for the object. That is exactly what happened to Santiago, he worked and worked and worked so that he could catch this thing he just knew would make everything better. Then he finally catches the fish and what happens? It gets eaten on the way to the shore. So that everything he did was for nothing. He is even worse off than he was before he hooked the giant fish. Now he is hungry, fish less and sleepy. Oh the humanity Oh the Irony!

The Old Man and the Sea - What the Water Means

I realized that I never talked about what the boat and the water mean. During the story Santiago is trying to catch an unbelievably large fish. The fish keeps dragging him further and further and further out to sea. This whole time Santiago in a rather small fishing boat. Two of these things are very important. One being the ocean, in the story the ocean is the provider for Santiago, giving him small fish to eat so he may keep his body strong enough to fight the great beast. Though at the same time the ocean or sea is also something to fear. Capable of smashing his little boat like a toy. Killing Santiago even, all this with a single wave. Santiago seems to respect the ocean and to know what it is capable of. Mainly he knows that the ocean can be a great friend or a fierce enemy. The second important thing I originally happened to over look was the boat. It was only after someone asked me what it represented that I began to think about it. Some of the things I came up with are that the boat represents home. In the swirling unknown of the ocean and even under great the pressure Santiago's home at sea is always his very own safe haven. The other thing I think the boat represents in time, at in in conjunction with the ocean moving around it. I feel like the ocean swirling around Santiago represents all the time that has passed for Santiago during his life while he was at sea. I am not positive on my interpretations of these two things and of course everyone sees things differently. These just happen to be what I believe they stand for during this novel. Perhaps people see them as something completely different. The important things is that you decide for your self and not just take some other persons opinion and say you agree.

Fahrenheit 451 - The Old Lady That Died Pt 3

So once again I find my self needing another blog to properly convey my thoughts on such an interesting topic from this book. I am surprised at how long this blog has become. The main reason the old lady makes such an impact on GUy is the simple fact of her willing to give the ultimate sacrifice for some crummy old books. Guy finds this hard to wrap his head around, in his life there is almost nothing he would be willing to give his life fore. Perhaps he might for his wife of ten years or perhaps he would not. Recent discovering that the two did not know each other nearly as well as the thought. TO make the ultimate sacrifice is the biggest thing someone can do with their life as well as the most impacting thing. A martyr will always be more popular than someone who is living and breathing like you and I. A martyr paints an almost god like persona around the person and people instantly become more interested in some thing someone would be so dedicated to. Personally there is int o a book pile big enough in the whole word that I would consider going up in flames with it. There are a few people I would be willing to die for, like five tops. But to die for something that can be remade or something that can be reinvented even is a bit to far for me. I value my own life way more highly than I value several pieces of id paper. But who knows maybe the old lady did it on purpose that way so that she could put some doubt inside the Fireman's head and were she to just simply talk to the men she would have been simply ignored with would be worse than deaht some times. I really do not think i would have done the same thing if I was in the shoes of the old woman who decided it would be better to burn with her books rather than to watch them burn

Fahrenheit 451 - The Old Lady That Died Pt 2

My earlier post was on the same subject but it had gotten to be over three hundred and twenty five words so I decided to split it into two blogs rather than just one. Any back on track. The old lady undoubtedly died in the blaze that took down the whole building. Guy becomes bothered by the simple question of why. As he begins to think about it he realizes this was not just some crazy person but it must have been something about the books. This only piques Guy's interest in books. Leading him to wonder what could possibly be so interesting in those dusty old things? The Old lady was really important in the story because she helped set Guy along the path that eventually made he realize that he had been living life completely wrong and that he wanted to change. This woman really helped to awaken his conscience almost as much as Clarisse did in the very begging. The old lady did it in not as much of a direct way as Clarisse did though. Changing Guy's opinion through actions and character rather than through words and innocence like Clarisse does. Guy realizes that something must be really important in books if people are willing to die for them. Then he realizes hat why is the government forcing them to burn books if such an amazing message could be inside something so small. Should they not be learning form these books and find out what secrets these ancient tomes hold? Guy realizes all of this thanks to the old lady who decided to die with their books rather than to see them be burned indiscriminately. I do not know how much she must have loved those books for her to die for them. There are not any things that come to mind when I think of non person objects I would be willing to die for. Continued on next blog entry.

Fahrenheit 451 - The Old Lady That Died

Right before Guy Montag goes nuts and loses it. He is about to burn down this house full of books. Walls and walls and walls of books. All of these belong to this little old lady. She is absolutely horrified he precious books are going to be burned. This is not not crazy cat lady type of person but a regular person just like you and me. But she has a ton of books. Any way shes so sad that her books are going to burn. As the Firemen spread gasoline every where and prepare to burn the house down to a crispy pile of burned paper she begins to do something very odd. Rather than running to get out of her house and save herself she pulls out a lighter. All the firemen get really nervous since there is gas every. One false move and the whole place could go up in flames with each and every one of them along with it. This is the point where the scene begins to take on the symbolic qualities that make it stand out so much in the book. The old lady tells all of the firemen to get out of the house unless they wish to die along with her and her books. At first the firemen try to reason with her. Telling her she would only be in custody for a short while and she could be back out in the world again. But she has stopped listening to reason at this point she becomes almost hysterical. I am pretty sure at one the firemen even say she an keep her book if she really wants to but she still says that they need to get out because pretty soon she is going to drop the lighter and the whole house is going to go up in flames. The firemen finally oblige with her wishes, jsut as they get out of the door the whole place goes ablaze with her inside of the old building surely dead by now.

Fahrenheit 451 - If I Were Guy

Guy Montag makes a lot of tough choices that would really stop a normal person in their tracks as far as decision making goes. So that really got me to wondering how would I react if I was in Guy's situation myself? I decided to think about it a little more here are a few I cam up with. If I were in Guy's shoe when Clarisse walked up to me I do not think I would have stopped and talked to her. I am nota big on talking with random people I do not know. I probably would have ignored her and kept walking. I may have started to listen the third or fourth day though, if she kept pestering me enough. Next up, when that old lady refused to leave her house when we had to burn it. I really do not think I could have done that. I would have had a major issue with someone willingly dieing for their books. I probably would have been forced to carry her out kicking and screaming. I just do not think I could live with myself if I allowed someone to die because I refused to act. The other decision I think would have had an issue with was pulling out all of the book in front of his wife Mildred and then again in front of all of her friends she had over to our house and reading them poetry. Man that was a dumb choice, I would like to think I would make smarter choices than that. Like maybe hiding the books and reading them when no one else is around. Definitely under no circumstances would I ever pull out my books and start reciting poetry t o my wife and her friends who already think that I have lost it. That is just a completely terrible idea and I am sure one that right after you do it you sit there and go Ooo bad idea.