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Adam Barich

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Fahrenheit 451

by Ray Bradbury

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Reading for the 2nd time

read in October 2019

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Adam Barich said: " “A book is a loaded gun in the house of the man next-door, who knows who might be the next target of the well-read man”. This quote from Ray Bradbury's book fahrenheit 451 displays a main theme present throughout, knowledge is dangerous. The story ce “A book is a loaded gun in the house of the man next-door, who knows who might be the next target of the well-read man”. This quote from Ray Bradbury's book fahrenheit 451 displays a main theme present throughout, knowledge is dangerous. The story centers around Montag, a “fireman” who’s job is to go around and burn any sort of book or written media. He lives in a world where the contents of books from the past is considered dangerous by the government and is discarded in favor of state-sponsored digital media. This central idea of classic print media being phased out for more controllable digital content is extremely applicable to our current society as more and more people are consuming media online rather than physical copies of things like books and magazines, and is also the books biggest strength in my opinion as it allows the reader to better connect to the world the story is set in as it’s quite similar to our own.
This strength also leads into a possible discussion question, does our reliance on digital media these days make us more influenceable as a population? As seen in the book people are bombarded by ads and propaganda that keeps them in support of anything the government wants, similar to Orwell’s 1984 but to a lesser extent. So this begs the question, with new technology like algorithms that can target ads based on your search history and personal “smart home” devices that can track every aspect of our lives, does this reliance on technology leave us more open to manipulation? I would argue yes, as now outside influences have even more methods of sending subliminal or outright messages directly to us through our devices. As we grow more and more accustomed to the vast digital influences of our surroundings I think we have to take a step back and remember, you can’t put a pop-up ad in a book.
Other readers say the book can be interpreted many different ways across different generations, I agree as older readers may see the book as a commentary on censorship similar to eras like the red scare in the late 40’s-50’s or even the years following 9/11 and the patriot act. Whereas younger readers might share my view of the book being about the dangers of digital influence. The point being that I agree with my fellow readers that Fahrenheit 451 is a book with themes applicable to many different generations. ...more "

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(page 160 of 249)
"(vocab)

totalitarian - relating to a system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state.

"this whole system is completely totalitarian, how are you all so blind!"" — Oct 06, 2019 10:21PM

Oct 06, 2019 08:17PM · see review