Montag's War: A Short Story

The burning of the Great Alexandria Library, maybe a mistake destroyed over 700, 000 scrolls. Many of these scrolls were the only copies and the information they held are lost forever (Heather Phillips p.4-6).

Many people talk about how the world is slowly caving in as people are desensitized emotionally. Opposers suggest that it is technology’s fault for sucking a person’s mind into oblivion twenty four hours a day. However, it is the people themselves who are going to bring about their own destruction. In the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the actions of the public perfectly exemplifies a worst-case scenario of the future coming to mayhem. In this world, books not accepted by the law are burned by “firefighters” so that everyone is taught the same information. Nobody strays from the “truth”, and this way, everyone is treated equally. There is no nerd and there is no bully. The public is encouraged to listen to live streams of people talking in headphone devices called seashells. Yet for one man in particular, Guy Montag, he struggled between fitting in with the public or pursuing an “itch” he has always had. These feelings started when he had a short talk with his neighbor, Clarisse McClellan. In school, Clarisse has always been seen as an outcast, yet by Montag, her strange facts of realization intrigued him. She knew curious information that he did not, and this made him angry. It was not until she mysteriously disappeared that he really started to understand the depth to her words. She knew more about life, and he was determined to find the same information in the forbidden books. Ironically, Montag was a firefighter, but he

Books also had social consequences. The ideas of nature and education had changed. Books suggested more private reading while universities and cities began to think of libraries as more important. While the printing press made books available for almost everyone, the public’s aspiration for literacy skyrocketed. But with easier access to printing, this led to more propaganda, gutter journalism, and quack theories to longing buyers. Books had become the center change for humanity. As books became the primary means of exchanging knowledge and

As the plot presented itself, fire did also. Fire was used as a solution to get rid of society’s ills. Ills in this society include nonconformity, overflow in wisdom and knowledge, and government doubt or mistrust. They all derived from one common factor: books. Beatty claimed that without books “…all are happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves against. So! A book is a loaded gun in the house next door” (28). Books were the greatest evil, because it places ideas of controversy and critical thinking into the minds of readers. Explaining to Montag the quick fix to the trouble of books, Beatty said, “And so when houses were finally fireproofed completely, all over the world there was no longer need of firemen for the old purposes. They were given the new job, as custodians of our peace of mind…” (28). As these issues became more and more prominent with time, something to subdue or suppress them was needed. Fire was the answer. So, in their noble position as firemen, Montag and his coworkers destroyed any detected books with fire immediately. This way, residents cannot read them and implant radical ideas. The

The government exercised its power by burning all the books so there would be no way to retrieve data that could stand against the government and its views of how society should live.

The Slopes Of War, by N.A Perez is a historical fiction book. There were lots of people who got damaged emotionally and physically in war, the slopes of war shows examples of how they got hurt.

When Faber described how the books went out, he said, “No on waned them back. No one missed them. And then the government seeing how it advantageous was, to only have people reading about passionate lips and fists to the stomach, circled your situation with the fire eater” (Bradbury 85). The people did away with the books on their own and the government took control. Even the people who wanted books were not getting any good information because all of them revolved around nonsense. Many of the people had some kind of technology to read with rather than using a book or newspaper. When people start using electronic stuff it really throws out the need for books. To completely get rid of the books, it was very easy for the government since they saw that the people had lost interest in books. The technology did not only make people get rid of books, but also their social lives. Most people would much rather cuddle up with a kindle or something than an actual book. People also stopped spending time with their kids because it’s better to give them something to play on than listen to them whine. The kids could be learning valuable information with the stuff that their parents get them but instead they waste their time turning their brains to mush by watching dumb things like shopkins. No offense to the people that actually enjoy watching those

girl who saw things in a whole new light than any other person Montag had ever met, was

The soft wind gently caressed Black’s face as the Salamander drove to the neighborhood of the next house in question. He sat quietly replaying the events of the night through his mind as Stoneman drove the Salamander, lost in his own thoughts. It had all started, Black realized, at the martyr’s house. That was where Montag had finally lost it. Black had heard stories of firemen who had buckled under the stress and went mad. As he thought this the small radio in the Salamander announced the capture of the fugitive, Guy Montag. Black, who had silently been rooting for Montag to escape sighed and turned to look out of the window. As the world rushed by at an amazing ninety miles per hour he thought of how much he had lost in the past few hours,

Technology has become an increasingly advanced as well as an important aspect in modern society. That is why Ray Bradbury, the author of Fahrenheit 451, was right to fear books and other printed sources would be replaced by modern technology. Technology has contributed to the significant loss of time children spend reading. Additionally, eBooks have replaced print books. Moreover, television and radio have replaced newspapers as the dominant source of information.

Montag whole mindset on life changes when he meets an amazing girl named Clarisse McClellan.

What's the purpose of remembering ? Well remembering gives purpose to our past. Remembering re-ignites hope for what can be. Remembering might be hard to do in some situations but, we have to face that facts and events of the past. What are the consequences of forgetting? The consequences of forgetting may be dangerous and destructive. If you forget the Holocaust and events that happened in between the years 1940 through 1945, then the past might repeat itself and bring the fear back into many people's lives. How can individuals and societies remember and commemorate difficult histories? We as young adolescents have to do our best to remember these events to honor those who we didn’t help in time. On January 27 is the day to commemorate and remember its International Holocaust Remembrance Day where we get together and remember the victims of Adolf

If we ignore the past we will miss out on so much in the future, we won’t understand and then we get caught up on trying to understand that you miss out on the present. You have to pay attention to the past and learn to understand because, when you do you will not only learn to understand you will learn that the world is a beautiful and valuable place. There are valuable people who would risk their lives for us and we need to respect that.

Walking around NYC this past week, desperately trying to come to terms with the devastation, my senses heightened to changes that have been forced on us. It’s difficult to comprehend how any good can possibly come from the current events. But

George Santayana once said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Following this quote, I would be expected to discuss some of the terrible actions committed in our history and that if we don’t learn about these events, they are bound to be repeated in the future. Well I slightly disagree; let us repeat history. Although our nation has endured dark and shameful times, our history is also honorable and full of progress, innovation, patriotism, and triumph. The United States’ history should not be confined to the worn pages of textbooks or preached only by teachers across America. It needs to be shouted from rooftops by all citizens so that we may, yes, repeat it, again and again.