Finished: May 29, 2023
Why I read this
In high school I read this book and really enjoyed it, I thought then that it was an interesting story about a government that goes too far to control its people. Then today, in our current political turmoil associated with challenges to freedom of speech, education, and censorship I felt this classic deserved a second look.
What I learned
From the first page of this second read I was thoroughly interested in the story being told. Beyond the depth of description that keeps your mind transfixed upon the world of Guy Montag, the underlying themes and how they are present in our modern world hit home. I felt the themes presented in the book instead of becoming less relevant over time, have become much more relevant. The emphasis on population control through censorship and the debates about whether people would be happy without exposure to profound thought echo experiences in my own life where ignorance might truly be bliss. Regardless, the book teaches the readers about the values of being engaged in your life, the importance of genuine interaction and thought (even if it isn’t always good), and the imperfections that would come from a society free from conflict, discourse, and the constant challenging of the majority by the minority.
What I didn’t like
One point in this book covered in the afterward that I think could have been drastically improved upon would be the background of some of the other major characters. For example, the fact that Captain Beatty is highly educated and capable of quoting dozers of writers, authors, politicians, philosophers etc. is very contradictory to the idea that he is a fireman, which I am sure is absolutely intended by Ray Bradbury, but giving him context and showing how he could be so educated, but also so entrenched in a society that shuns the very ideas he spent years understanding would have been insightful (although maybe I am missing the point that he just adapted to a society that he doesn’t support out of necessity and it was for that reason that he was glad to have Montag kill him).
Questions I asked
What really qualifies as freedom of speech? Where is the line for what should be censored and what should be protected?
How do we respect the originality and power of original works while challenging the normal thoughts and attitudes of the period (such as whether the N-word should be censored from original works)?
How is censorship being used by global powers in today’s world? To what extent is your own country censoring content?
My Favorite Quote
“She had a very thin face like the dial of a small clock seen faintly in a dark room in the middle of a night when you waken to see the time and see the clock telling you the hour and the minute and the second, with a white silence and a glowing, all certainty and knowing what it had to tell of the night passing swiftly on toward further darknesses, but moving also toward a new sun.”
Guy Montag
Books I liked like this one
1984 by George Orwell (For its portrayals of how the human population can be controlled)
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (For its vivid descriptions and question of the human psyche)
Book Reviews for Mom 