1984-#1

* What is the major theme of this novel? Why is this theme important to a teenager living in 2007?

The major theme of the book 1984 by George Orwell is the importance of keeping history.
In his book, George Orwell describes how if there is no history, there will be a society just like in the book. The dystopian society in novel, they erase people memories to keep the party going, just like erasing a spelling mistake,. If people in the book remembered the past and learned lessons from it, such as World Wars and tyranny leaders, the people would stand against party. Also, if they remembered better time than that they are living in; they will realize that they can live in fairer condition, which will eventually lead to rebellion. This is why they brainwash and control people’s thoughts, to stop the time and make an immortal party. Other methods used by government include education with Party doctrine (INGSOC), joycamps, and youth education. This theme is very important to people living in 21st century, especially teenagers, because it emphasizes the importance of learning the past. The author describes the dreadful consequences of not looking back. I realized after reading this book that if I was in the book, I would one of the majority, who acts according to the Party orders, a zombie.
Also, the author of the book sharply criticizes the dictatorship and “totalinarism.” Totalinarism is when the government has authority to restrict individuals even with their deepest privacy. It is related to socialism and the descriptions of Big Brothers in the book are actually very similar with Stalin, a dictator in Soviet Union. The author vividly depicts how people can suffer under such a government, which controls every actions, history, memories, words, and even THOUGHTS. Whatever the thought is against the idea of party is labeled as “thought crime.” With this theme, he tells readers that it is critical for individuals to keep their own thoughts and opinions about the world. Winston, the main character goes through torture by Ministry of Love because he was “sick” as he had different views from the party and later, he was forced to be “cured.”
This theme reminded me how I, sometimes am manipulated by the media like people in this novel being controlled by party. I often am given certain beliefs and values from TV and radio. As technology develops more and more, I feel myself losing my own thoughts and color.

Fahrenheit 451-#8

-choice
After reading the Fahrenheit 451

As I am very interested in scientific-fiction books, I chose this book among others without any hesitation and I do not regret my choice.
This book was very challenging for me to read as the author had very different view about the world than me. While I looked at the human deveopement in positive way, the author described it with fearful machines controlling us.
Also, this book gave me many questions to think about. For example, the murder of Captain Beatty by Montag left me question of "Does knowledge worth human life?"
Other than that, I realized how much I depend on modern technologies and how many simple things I can not do by myself without any help from machines. Even when I am doing the simplest calculation in math, I do it with calculator and I began to lose confidence in myself.
I also realized that idea of being equal while neglecting one's unique characteristic can be dangerous idea, which is very similar to the communism.
In the end, the book was so vivid and realistic that I fear it would be prediction of our future.

Fahrenheit 451-#7

-Are there any settings in this novel which you have found to be beautiful? Or disturbing? Or memorable? Describe these settings and comment on why they were meaningful to you.

The scene where the machine-snake sucks out blood from mildred and putting new and fresh blood into her was the most memorable setting for me. When Mildred tries suicide, the two men from emergency center comes and replace her poisoned blood. The author reveals self hatred and deep saddeness within Mildred by this incident. However, her rotten spirit with misery does not get replaced and Mildred shows her emptiness through out rest of the story.
I thought this was very significant setting, because Mildred represent the people living in that world and their empty lifestyles filled with the desolation.

Fahrenheit 451-#6

-Please choose one passage from the novel that is significant to you. why is this passage meaningful? Please type it into one of your entries and comment on what you think about the passage.

"Well, after all, this is the age of the disposable tissue. Blow your nose on a person, wad them, flush them away, reach for another, blow, wad, flush. Everyone using everyone else's coattails. How are you supposed to root for the home team when you don't even have a program or know the names? For that matter, what color jerseys are they wearing as they trot out on the field"

This is what Clarisse's uncle said during the conversation of family.
It is rather a sarcastic joke about how excessive reliance on machines resulted downfall of human value. This passage was very significant to me as it was describing our society right now. One man dies today, everyone forget about his existence the next day. One machine gets broken, everyone cries out of pure fear. This mere thought made me shudder. The development of machines made our life much easier than before, but at the same time, it disabled us. Now, people have lost the ability to do even the simplest of tasks.
This idea of human value downfall is mentioned in the book for several times.
When Mildred and her friends were chatting, Montag turns off the "family" on the wall.
They act uneasy and cry out of discomfort because of fake "families" were gone, while they do not care if their husband dies during the war.
This also include me, even though I am not that extreme. I feel indisposition if my computer is out of order or tv is dead.

Fahrenheit 451-#5

-What is the mood of this novel? do you find this novel saddens you in any way? why?

The mood of this novel, Fahrenheit 451 is both dark and hopeful.It generally is dark and sad, becuase it sharply reflects our present life.We depend our knowledge and values on electronic devices and often we find ourselves saying what we are told from the media without really thinking about it.It is brainwashing in a way, because our value is determined by what world is saying, which makes us their spokesman. For example, the TV and magazines determined the standard of beauty, and many people try to fit in there without thinking why it is beautiful.While reading the book that describes chaotic world, where people chase after entertainment, I realized that it is exactly we, and our world. We sit in front of television and computers for pleasure, but hardly read book. We seek easier ways to gain knowledge and information, which result us to estrange from the books.
However, like the two sides of a coin, the mood of this book is also full of hopes about the "new world" where people start to read and think about their lives. The ending of the book when Montag and other walk toward the destructed world with the hope of rebuilding it with freedoms is the brightest point of the book.

Farenheit 451-#4

-What is the climax of this novel? What happens? How do the events of this novel make you feel?

The climax of Fahrenheit 451 is when Guy Montag kills Captain Beatty and other firemen. When Beatty puts electronic hound after Montag, he realizes that Montag is hiding books. So, he somewhat enthusiastically watches Montag struggling to find the truth about the books. He instructs Montag to burn his own house down, giving him the message that books bring nothing but disasters.This is the point where indecisive Montag was forced to make choice between the plain and manipulated life and dangerous life. He chooses the dangerous life, and burns Captain Beatty and runs away. Even though the main antagonist died, I felt uneasy and angry with protagonist rather than feeling relieved. At this point, a question started to rise in my head: "is mean justified by the extreme?" Because I have believed that murder cannot be excused even if it was for the right reason this scene made me think about my value. I think human protection is the main point of every action. Of course, he had this important goal to save the knowledge for the world, was violence and blood necessary? I still believe that there were other options for Montag than killing the men. After all, saving the knowledge in books is for human.

Farenheit 451-#3

-Main characters in the novel

*Guy Montag- He is the main character and protagonist of the story. Despite the fact that he is a fireman, who burns the books, he starts to question himself about the world he is living in.Even though he did many small mistakes, I liked him because of his courage and pure passion to gain the knowledge. If I was in the same possession as he was, I would just ignore the truth I know and follow the rules that world gives me. Later when he was forced to choose between knowledge and comfortable life, Montag risks his life and all the worldly possession just to know the truth: the value of the books.
*Mildred Montag- She is the wife of Montag in the story. As Mildred was the one to turn Montag in, she can be counted as antagonist with Captain Beatty. Rather than like/dislike her, I pitied her emptiness for she is dead in spirit. Mildred leads a vacant and meaningless life with loss of passion and curiosity. She is the character who represents the people living in the world, which book describes, and perhaps some of us too. Everyday she watches the entertainment wall and finds comfort and joy from fake "family", while neglecting their real family and friends. She is rather a robot than a living person for she lives her life the way world instructs to.
*Captain Beatty- Captain Beatty was the main antagonist who represents the majority of the world, who strongly believes that knowledge is threat and ignorance equal happy life. Even though Captain Beatty has read few books, he could not understand it, but thought it was non-sense. With his experience, he attacks the protagonist saying books are nothing but papers with letters that contradicts themselves. He shows anger, hatred, and even jealousy to those who understand books. Guy Montag kills him, when Captain Beatty tried to submit him by burning his house with books in it.