Welcome Back. Now...Reflect!

With the first day back at school mere moments away, the time is right to reflect on what we've read.   

One of the most commonly made statements about Fahrenheit 451 is that it is a novel about censorship.  You'll even find such a comment on the back of the book!  However, one of the ideas Bradbury makes very clear in his novel is that censorship is not the only contributing factor in society's widespread abandonment of books.

Consider the following quotes:

Beatty: "It didn't come from the government down.  There was no dictum, no declaration, no censorship to start with, no!  Technology, mass exploitation, and minority pressure carried the trick, thank God." (p. 58)

Faber: "Good God, it isn't as simple as just picking up a book you laid down half a century ago.  Remember, the firemen are rarely necessary.  The public itself stopped reading of its own accord.  You firemen provide a circus now and then at which buildings are set off and crowds gather for the pretty blaze, but it's a small sideshow indeed, and hardly necessary to keep things in line" (p. 87)

Faber: "I remember the newspapers dying like huge moths.  No one wanted them back.  No one missed them." (p. 89)

So what happened?  If censorship isn't how it started, and firemen are "rarely" needed, then why did people stop reading?

Go back to your book and revisit those conversations with Beatty and with Faber.  Think about Millie in the parlor, think about the Seashells, think about Denham's Dentifrice, and challenge yourself to truly consider why this society left books behind—and what Bradbury is trying say about the world in which we live.

Is Montag the Protagonist of Fahrenheit 451?

Technically, the answer would be yes. Clearly Montag is the principal character, the one who leads the action in the novel, but is he the hero of this story? I'm not so sure. I found myself rushing through the reading of this book to get to the end and see how it all would be resolved, but I didn't find myself rushing through to find out what would happen to Montag. I'm not even sure I really cared about him as a character. I actually found most of the characters in this book to be cowardly and unlikable. I couldn't even answer the post below about Faber and Millie because I didn't like the way either of them played out in this book. I thought Clarisse was interesting, but she was gone too soon for me to really care. I liked Faber so much when he first appeared on scene, but he did his little part and then disappeared for Montag and for me.

The only character who stayed with me was the old woman who appears in the book for a maximum of five pages (p35-40). She is the only character I could truly see and hear in this novel. She kneels amongst her beloved books and stares contemptuously at the "firemen" and then she ruins their fun, their "routine." She takes out her own match and watches as the men run from her in shock. I love that she takes back her life and her books! For me she was the only hero in this novel.

But I'm curious to hear what you think. Maybe you agree with me or maybe you disagree. Who was the hero of this novel? Who were you routing for as you read? Montag? Faber? Millie? The old woman in the fire? Granger? Beatty? The Hound?