The words that we use in every day conversation help us to convey a message to whoever we are speaking to. Words are used in order to evoke a reaction, or create a lasting effect on whoever is receiving them. Authors determine the words they want to use by organizing their arguments or main points. In both Hipster: The Dead End Of Western Civilization by Douglas Haddow, and Bullet in the Brain by Tobias Wolff, the authors choose to make use of intellectual diction in order to indicate the idea that an absence of spontaneity is holding society back. In Bullet in the Brain by Tobias Wolff, main character Anders is described as being sarcastic, cynical, and argumentative. Anders is a very serious man who has been through a lot of hardships in his life that have made him the cynical man that he is today. Because he is a book critic, no matter what situation, Anders critiques everything that occurs around him. “Anders had never paid much attention to that part of the bank, a pompous old building with marble floors and counters and pillars, and gilt scrollwork over the tellers ' cages. The domed ceiling had been decorated with mythological figures whose fleshy, toga-draped ugliness Anders had taken in at a glance many years earlier and afterward declined to notice. Now he had no choice but to scrutinize the painter 's work (Wolff, ¶.26).” This quote directly shows what kind of a person Anders is. Even in the face of danger, he is still being his normal self. Anders has a gun to
Society is stocked full of various trends and epidemics. To many, the way in which these trends start is a mystery. As members of a society, we often subconsciously take part in these patterns without questioning our participation. Therefore, people continue to ignore the drastic changes in society, and the reasons why they occur so swiftly. There is a lack of motivation to take a step back and inquire about society as a whole, and rethink one’s actions. In The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell effectively discusses and analyzes how and why ideas spread throughout societies using the rhetorical appeals, ethos, pathos and logos.
“If you hide your ignorance, no one will hit you and you'll never learn.” (Bradbury pg.104) In Fahrenheit 451 and The Pedestrian, the main characters witnessed the rarity of social interaction and how inclined people are to their screens. Author Ray Bradbury describes how it has gotten to the point where people are more in touch with technology rather than each other. Through foreshadowing and flashback, Ray Bradbury’s short story, The Pedestrian, and his novel, Fahrenheit 451, explain how society has become more ignorant in a technology-obsessed world.
In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, mankind is portrayed as technologically advanced, and in turn, intellectually behind. The story follows Guy Montag, a middle-aged, disoriented, and unhappy fireman as he realizes the terrors of his world. In Bradbury’s dystopia, instead of saving lives, the firemen were the official “book burners”; they were the men who eradicated all possibilities of independent thought and freedom. From the ashes rose tvs, phones, and other gadgets the people turned to instead of becoming educated and knowledgeable . Throughout Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury demonstrates how the human race will increasingly link happiness and well being to their devices as a side effect of not having to put any effort into communicating in their artificial relationships.
“There is more pleasure to building castles in the air than on the ground.” This quote by Edward Gibbon illustrates the intensity of writing and what gratification it can hold. When one writes, they are not confined to one certain formula. A person is able to express their thoughts and feelings in any way they choose. Language is a border for many people in that some cannot comprehend a certain language, understand how to use it, or recognize what is being said to them. On the other side of the border, they are not viewed as equals or as important compared to those who are not competing with this barrier. In his essay “Coming into Language,” Jimmy Santiago Baca uses his personal experiences to demonstrate how much
“In the last 50 years, up to 100,000 Americans lost their lives due to inactivity leading to some sort of conditional disease such as heart disease [including the laziness within people of society]” (Wise 12). So many people have died from becoming lazy, doing nothing but go on their phones, devices, rather than doing everyday things. Technology has changed the way society approaches life, always depending on it rather than themselves and others. The society today consists of nothing but TV screens, telephone, smartphones, iPads, and items the 19th century would consider a dream to lay hands on. A book written by Bradbury presents lack of effort people put into their lives and society; Bradbury predicts how the future will become later on in the society. Becoming more similar to the laziness and ignorance in the novel, Fahrenheit 451, the society today struggles the society today struggles with dependency on technology which results to lack of social interactions with one another and failure in becoming literate with books.
For instance, when Faber is explaining Montag the three things he is missing to ‘digest’ a book, he juxtaposes “driving a hundred miles an hour at a clip where you can’t think of anything... ” to “sitting in some room where you can’t argue with the… televisor.”(80) The juxtaposition Bradbury uses to compare a drunk driver to a person in front of a televisor portrays the absence of one’s mind and the ignorance of his surroundings when using technology such as the televisor. The inability to “argue with the… televisor” indicates that having an independent thought or taking some time to think and challenge ideas is improbable in the presence of technology just like when driving drunk. By comparing the characteristics of a technology addict to that of a drunk, the author illuminates the ignorance and independency of people in his dystopian
Respect seems to be the basis of this theme because without respect there cannot be appreciation. When Anders was a boy, he was able to respect others and the differences they had. However, as he has grown up and has faced many tragic events, Anders no longer remembers “the pleasure of giving respect,” (Wolff 3). Anders has forgotten how to feel respect after doing something he enjoys. He also has forgotten how to respect the people in his life whom he used to love. Since Wolff emphasizes on the fact that Anders no longer remembers what giving respect means, it shows the significance of respect and how lack of respect leads to life with no appreciation. Anders first demonstrates his lack of respect when he expresses his sarcasm towards other people waiting in line at the bank. He criticizes others and believes he is of higher importance which shows his lack of respect and portrays him as detestable and offensive. Anders lack of respect is then demonstrated during the bank robbery. While the other people are faced with fear, Anders seems to think that the whole situation is a joke. He speaks out of place and laughs, not giving he robbers the respect they want. This causes readers to question whether he understands the severity of the situation. Usually when someone perceives a threat, their hearts begin to race; they have shortness of breath; they have nausea…etc. During this situation, Anders
“As cities grow and technology takes over the world, belief and imagination fade away, and so do we”(Julie Kagawa). While technology spreads and completely takes over one’s life, the electronic wave cannot be tamed. Once society fails to take control of their lives over technology, they lose contact with our loved ones and reality, as well as the ability to think for one’s self. In the dystopian world from Fahrenheit 451 technology is found everywhere, and the people highly depend on it to do hard work for them or for entertainment purposes. Bradbury illustrates a society that has lost the ability to enjoy life without technology through a variety of characters that rely on unnatural and modern objects to fill the void of an emotionless society.
Diction also has a major impact on writing. Unfortunately, Botstein does not use appropriate diction in his article “Let Teenagers Try Adulthood”. Botstein writes “they need to enter a world where they are not in a lunchroom with
In both “The Pedestrian”, by Ray Bradbury, and “Harrison Bergeron”, by Kurt Vonnegut jr, citizens are controlled by technology. In this essay I will be talking about how technology has destroyed their societies. In both The Pedestrian and Harrison Bergeron their society has everyone do the same thing all the time that they cannot do anything different and is against the law. For example, in The Pedestrian the most simplest things such as walking can get you arrested because it’s not normal.
Millenials are in the midst of changing society and language at a breakneck pace, “the likes of which haven’t been seen since Greek civilization” (Clive). Young people “write far more than any generation before”, and to go with the new era of instant messaging, have created “new forms of expression and rules fot social behavior” (Ito, Clive). Adults can’t
As Montag sets a single book into flames, a meaningful conversation dies, dragging intelligent thoughts into the ground with it. From “Seashell Radio” sets and Spotify on Bluetooth to the story-telling power that television strips away from literature, Bradbury looks more than 64 years into the future in Fahrenheit 451 to predict the fatal outcome of the technology-infested intelligence, or the lack thereof. The invention of TV, Radio, headphones, iPods, and much more, along with a rapidly increasing gain of access to technology has created a civilization that is dependent on a battery as they are on their own heart. This dependency has sculpted a 1984-sort of society that Bradbury can explain just as well as Orwell. Ranging from
The world is now completely dependent on technology. Instead of talking to one another and discussing ideas, people stare passively at giant “parlor wall” television screens and tune out the world with “Seashell ear thimbles.” This is the hellish world Ray Bradbury creates in his 1953 futuristic novel Fahrenheit 451. In this
In the article, Big Words Are Fading, But Many People Still Love Them, the syntax and diction indicate a bias in favor of big words. Bernstein shows a bias towards big word users through her depictions of people who don't like large vocabularies, through Mr. Bonneman’s girlfriend, and his interview.
With mobile phones where the small screen technology is so constraining, texting and tweeting plays a significant role in how we conduct our daily communication. David Crystal wrote an article titled “Texting”, and believes the younger generation is introducing a new phase of texting where words are usually represented with acronyms (241). Crystal called this abbreviated text exchange a “textspeak” (243). Kris Axtman is also a prominent author who wrote an article, “R U Online? The Evolving Lexicon of Wired Teens” (247). His article focuses on teenagers and their dependency on the online technology. Axtman observes that teenagers develop a whole range of abbreviations while exchanging