"Fahrenheit 451" Question 6

Why do we still read this book?  What is so timeless about its message and characters?  What can we learn from reading this novel?  "Fahrenheit 451" is one of the more timeless novels I've blogged about.  Basically it is about how the world falls into a technology obsessed state of being.  There is no literature, but plenty of television.  Everyone is materialistic and complete followers.  No one is really there own person anymore.  They do and say as they are told, reading no books, but burning them instead, and watching plenty of television.  This is very relevant in my opinion because the world will always have a bit of a materialistic side to it.  We will always have something that we can get too much of and that can completely take over and eclipse something else that could hold much more purpose.  In "Fahrenheit 451" people get way toooo much of television.  It completely takes over people's lives and eclipses literature of course, and simply normal human interactions.  This would be the equivalent to apple products, most likely, in today's society.  You can literally walk no where and not see a little apple with a bite out of it upon some expensive device these days.  Everyone, myself included, as an iPhone or at least an iPod to call their own.  Now we have iPads to spend money on, too.  I'm not saying these devices aren't great things.  They are completely worth the investment, if they are used correctly and with in reason.  We are beginning to text and facebook and tweet and instagram, however, just as much as the people in "Fahrenheit 451" watched television:  excessively and without necessity.  It is slowly but surely taking over normal everyday things that people used to do.  For example, when a boy was going to call a girl he  would tell her a time and she would anxiously wait by the phone, waiting.  Now a boy just texts a girl and asked to call her and boom.  Corny example, but still relevant.  The simple things are vanishing.  This is related to in "Fahrenheit 451."  Montag is able to relate to because he is a fighter.  All of us have a cause that we just cannot bear to see losing and have a fight inside of us for it.  His might be a little more extreme considering it's like the entire world, but still relatable!  We can learn from him that no matter what other people are doing, we must fight for what we think is right.  Montag has basically going against him, but he never gives up.      



Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. Print.