Fahrenheit 451 Analysis

5. Analyze Mildred Montag. Is she truly happy leading a life blind to reality?




In the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Mildred Montag is the wife to Guy Montag. She is obsessed with all of the latest gadgets…such as her 'Family". Which is really just the multiple wall sized T.Vs in their parlor. At first I thought that Mildred was suicidal, but throughout the book I have made my mind that the only thing she really cares about is her time with the 'family'. This life that she is living causes her to literally be blind to reality. She would rather turn in her husband to the police than to stand by his side when he asks and needs it the most.

At first I thought that Mildred was suicidal. “Her face was like a snow-covered island upon which rain might fall, but it felt no rain; over which clouds might pass their moving shadows, but she felt no shadow. There was only the singing of the thimble-wasps in her temped-shut ears, and her eyes all glass, and breath going in and out, softly, faintly, in and out her nostrils, and her not caring whether it came or went, went or came. The object he had sent tumbling with his foot now glinted under the edge of his own bed. The small crystal bottle of sleeping tablets which earlier today had been filled with thirty capsules and which now lay uncapped and empty in the light of the tiny flare." pg.13 Did Mildred purposely take all of these pills? Why would she? She had all the entertainment in the world. She didn't even care about Guy, but she still denies taking all of those pills. Isn't that suspicious? "...'Yes' he said.’I wanted to talk to you.' He paused. 'You took all the pills in your bottle last night.' 'Oh, I wouldn't do that,' she said, surprised. ‘The bottle was empty' 'I wouldn't do a thing like that. Why would I do a thing like that?' she said...'Heck,' she said 'what would I want to go and do a silly thing like that for?'... She was quite obviously waiting for him to go. 'I didn't do that,' she said. 'Never in a billion years.'" pg.19-20 I was still convinced that Mildred was suicidal. It is very common these days for people to kill themselves in the way I though Mildred was trying to. "'Hell' The operator's cigarette moved on his lip.’We get these cases nine or ten a night. Got so many, starting a few years ago, we had the special machines built. With optical lens, of course that was new; the rest is ancient. You don't need an M.D., case like this; all you need is two handymen, clean up the problem in half an hour..." pg. 15 Then another thought popped into my head. Mildred is not suicidal, she just doesn't care. Not about herself, not about guy, not about the world, only her T.V's.

Throughout reading the rest of this book, I found that this opinion of mine was increasingly growing into a fact. When Guy's only friend Clarisse goes missing, he freaks. He is worried for her. One when Mildred and Guy were talking, Clarisse happens to be brought up into the conversation. "'What girl?' she was almost asleep. 'The girl next door' 'What girl next door?' 'You know, the high-school girl. Clarisse, her name is.' 'Oh, yes,' said his wife. 'I haven't seen her for a few days - four days to be exact. Have you seen her?' 'No.' 'I've meant to talk to you about her. Strange.' 'Oh, I know the one you mean.' 'What about her?' asked Montag 'I meant to tell you. Forgot. Forgot.' Tell me now. What is it?' ' I think she is gone.' 'Gone?' 'Whole family moved out somewhere. But she's gone for good. I think she's dead.' 'We couldn't be talking about the same girl.' 'No. The same girl. McClellan. McClellan. Run over by a car. Four days ago. I'm not sure. But I think she's dead. The family moved out anyway. I don't know. But I think she's dead.'...'Why didn't you tell me sooner?' 'Four days ago!' 'I forgot all about it.'" pg.47 How do you forget a thing like that. A girl died by getting hit by a car. Although these incidents occur often, how do you forget one who dies and lives not far from you? The only thing she cares about is sitting in her parlor watching her family. Even right after Mildred almost dyes, she doesn't care. "' It's really fun. It'll be even more fun when we can afford to have the fourth wall installed. How long you figure before we save up and get the fourth wall torn out and a fourth wall-TV put in? It’s only two thousand dollars.' 'That's on-third of my yearly pay.' ‘It’s only two thousand dollars,' she replied. ‘And I should think you'd consider me sometimes..." Mildred is so of in some whimsical land of hers, she doesn't even know the concept of money. Montag isn't the one being inconsiderate? He saved her from dyeing. He already bought four walls for her. It's not like she has a job to pay for any of this. For me the final straw came when Mildred walked out on Guy. She called the firemen on him to report the books that he has been hiding. She is so reserved, hidebound and blatantly doesn't care about anyone besides her family at this point. " The front door opened; Mildred came down the steps, running, one suitcase held with a dreamlike clenching rigidity in her fist, as a beetle-taxi hissed to the curb. 'Mildred!' She ran past with her body stiff, her face floured with powder, her mouth gone, without lipstick. 'Mildred you didn't put in the alarm!' She shoved the valise in the waiting beetle, climbed in, and sat mumbling, 'poor family, poor family, oh everything gone, everything, everything gone now...'"pg. 114 See Mildred didn't care at all. She didn't care that Guy was going to go to prison, that these books she is having burned could be the last of its kind, that she took the sleeping pills, that she is willing to spend a third of Montag's yearly pay that she can have a fourth wall installed.

Throughout the beginning of the book I thought that Mildred Montag was suicidal. Come to fact I don't think that at all anymore. I think she doesn't care about anything besides her and her family of TV's. It seems to me that Mildred is not happy about leading a life blind to reality. She is obsessed with it. If she isn't focused on her family, then she is concerned when she is going to get another wall taken out and a TV put in. Mildred Montag has no care for the world in Fahrenheit 451. Maybe if she hadn't left Montag, but stuck by his side, she and her family members wouldn't have gotten blown up by the bomb.

TU Tuesday-Local

Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text.

http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Cops-Men-shot-at-students-security-guards-with-3595626.php

At the local College of Saint Rose on Tuesday, they started aiming for students. Literally. "...Tuesday morning after they got onto a roof near the College of Saint Rose and shot at students..." A lesson is to be learned while reading this article. That if you shoot at people you are going to get into trouble, even if it is not a weapon like the AK-47. "They were both charged with felony criminal mischief and misdemeanor reckless endangerment." The situation got worse throughout the day. First off the two men who climbed on top of a home shot two students who were just sitting there. "...First shot at two Saint Rose students sitting on a porch on Hudson Avenue from the rooftop of Zima's home..." If the two kids weren't going to get in enough trouble because the two victims reported the incident to security who then reported it to have it investigated, then they shot at the security that was sent out to investigate this Debacle. "Zima and Wolff then shot at security personnel who were dispatched to investigate, Smith said. Zima and Wolff also shot out windows to the St. Rose security office..." This act of stupidity by these two men resulted in consequences. It didn't matter that they only took shots with a pellet gun, what matters was that they did it in the first place. 

9. Why do veterans deserve respect?

Why do veterans deserve respect?
I think that veterans deserve a good amount of respect. First off because they fight to save and protect this country. They also save other countries that need help. I never really understood what it was like to respect a veteran. I never really thought that a veteran would matter to me. Even though my cousin is in the navy, I never see him so I don't really think about him. Although I do always hope that he is safe. The real reason that I hold veterans in high respect is because of this kid me and my sister met named Andrew. He was not the best kid in the world. Once he went to college, he stopped and went to join the military. After his first 'Boot camp' I saw how much respect him now. He is currently in Afghanistan stationed there for nine months. I hold extreme respect for him, because I don't know many people who at the age of nineteen will go off to fight in a war that seems endless. I hold and think that veterans in high respect, because they deserve it. They fight to keep America strong and to protect the people that live of its land.    

What is Crippling Us?

First of (Sorry for this Miss Geurin.) but I think that John Taylor is completely wrong and is the biggest asshole in the world. His comments literally tempted me to scream and throw my laptop out of my window. I am a civil person (Sometimes) so I didn't do that. I also could rant all day about how much I hate this guy so much, but there are rules to this assignment that need to get done first. The thing is that I do see some connection to John Taylor's article to Fahrenheit. "...mandatory schooling throughout the South, surely understood that the Prussian system was useful in creating not only a harmless electorate and a servile labor force but also a virtual herd of mindless consumers." Although I don't believe this, I do say that this connects to Fahrenheit. This connects to the books basic overview. People in a futuristic society will not be happy. They will be born only to serve and be used by the government. pg. 17 " Well, after all, this is the age of the disposable tissue. Blow your nose on a person, wad them, flush. Everyone using everyone else's coattails." People are useless they get used and then thrown away like tissues. I do admit also that John Taylor presents his case about school crippling students with much 'evidence' if that's what you can call it. "Inglis breaks down the purpose - the actual purpose - of modem schooling into six basic functions...The adjustive or adaptive function...The integrating function...The diagnostic and directive function...The differentiating  function ...The selective function...The propaedeutic function..." So this provides evidence that he is not the only person who believes this. It isn't just some crazy teachers opinion, but it is supported by evidence. In the book Fahrenheit 451, the author Ray Bradbury doesn't use evidence necissarily because he can't predict the future, but he does use reasoning and good educated guesses. pg. 55"...English and spelling gradually gradually neglected, finally almost completely ignored. Life is immediate, the job counts, pleasure lies all about after work." I believe some of this quote to be true. Today we have spell check. I know that I depend on spell check a lot. Over my years I have practice the definition of words a lot, but I haven't practice spelling words sense elementary school. Also from the quote, aren't you pushed to do homework before leisure. I know that as I get higher in grade levels, my leisure time is diminishing more rapidly as I am learning more. I hate this, but I chose to do it, I am not forced like John Taylor said. So as you can see, Both Mr. Bradbury and Mr. Taylor have similar ideas and they both use reasoning or evidence to support their theories on society today. Now it is time to talk about how much I AM NOT PERSUADED BY JOHN TAYLOR. I also am not persuaded by Bradbury but I like his book a lot. So Mr. Taylor I think has it all wrong. I think that school is not forced upon you. Yes you are forced to actually go, but you are the one that really decides weather or not to do the work. I could not have taken five pages of notes in Mr. Renauds class today, but I did because I want to be successful one day. By successful I mean using my education as an advantage not so I can be a sycophant or submissive. One of the things that really annoys me is when he talks about the elite class being taught to control later in life. I believe that the elite people got there because they tried hard. I am not good in school because teachers just hand me good grades, it is because I try. Unlike someone who is not in the elite class. They just don't focus as much. I think and yes some people are devious and shouldn't belong in the elite class but still hard work usually results in success. The thing about leadership and schools not teaching it is crap as well. The students just didn't work enough to get it. There are plenty of opportunities to become a leader and teach the role of leadership. You can join a club and watch as leaders pass, then run to be a President or Vice President. You can learn a lot about leadership b becoming one of those. Just this year I was the treasurer for the class of 2014. I learned so much on how to lead and my job wasn't even the most important. However the case, this is my opinion and I have the right to have it, just like John Taylor has the right to his opinion even though I think it is wrong. 

Sources

http://www.wesjones.com/gatto1.htm

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury  

Tried and True

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lz9quhMITa1qz4e4a.png

As a normal pinata I wasn't expecting to get picked so quickly. I was just a star waiting to be picked by some kid. I wasn't Buzz light year, Spongebob or Dora, so why did I get picked so quickly. this little girl just picked me up one day. I love her, just as she loves me. She loved me so much that she started to feed me some candy. After awhile I was so full that I could have burst. I wanted her to stop filling me, but she wouldn't listen to me. So I went with it. That was last night. I realized now that I should not have been so excited to get picked, because now as I hang, filled with delicious candy, I fear for my life. The little kids keep swinging a long stick at me. BAM! Oh my I actually got hit. Sarah! Sarah! Save me. She wont listen. As I start to fall of the rope that I am hanging on, the young ones start running towards me. For I know that the end is near, the kids picking the candy that was once stuffed inside me. This is a warning to all of the pinatas left on the shelf's. For you are not the misfortune, but you are the lucky. For you get to live. Fear for your life once you get picked. It will only be a couple of days before your life that has just started, ends.
To all my fellow Pinatas,
Good luck.  

TU Tuesday - Commencement Speech

http://today.duke.edu/2008/05/kingsolver.html

http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/2792775-the-hunger-games



Although I don't like being told as you grow up you gain more wisdom, according to Barbara Kingsolver,... "Wisdom is like frequent-flyer miles and scar tissue; if it does accumulate, that happens by accident while you're trying to do something else." growing old and gaining wisdom come hand in hand. What did I  connect with in Barbara Kingsolver's commencement speech to the 2008 Duke graduating class was her opinion in hope. "The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. The most you can do is live inside that hope, running down its hallways, touching the walls on both sides." I believe that you can't survive without hope. Hope is what keeps my engine running. For the dreams that I want to accomplish in my lifetime and the hope that I can complete and succeed at the small everyday projects. Katniss Everdeen from the book The Hunger Games written by Suzanne Collins has only hope in her life. “You don’t forget the face of the person who was your last hope.” As she walks into the ring that is going to lift her into the arena, she knows that her only chance is to hope for some lucky chance that she will live to see her family again.  
Today I hope that one day will be successful. I want to get a degree and a PhD. In what? I don't know. I do know that I will go into the field of science. I hope one day invent things that will help make this world more efficent and "Green." According to Barbara Kingslover, this day will have to come soon. "To stabilize the floods and firestorms, we'll have to reduce our carbon emissions by 80 percent, within a decade." Some say that global warming is just a myth. I really hope that it is a myth, but I have to think that some part of the human population has an effect on mother nature and her stability. Although I don't like being told that as you grow old you gain more wisdom, according to Barbara Kingsolver... 
Barbara Kingsolver gave a extremely inspiring metaphor in her speech. It related to a book about a person tearing up their ship to use it as fuel to keep going. "finds himself stranded in the mid-Atlantic on a steamship that's run out of coal. It's day 79. So Phileas Fogg convinces the Captain to pull up the decks and throw them into the boiler. "On the next day the masts, rafts and spars were burned. The crew worked lustily, keeping up the fires. There was a perfect rage for demolition."  Then she connects it to our life and our hopes. "How can we get from here to there, without burning up our ship? That will be central question of your adult life..." I loved this so much that I had to explain it and continue on with her metaphor in my own way.
As my ship sails, I hope that it will keep sailing. Up ahead I see that there is a fork in the sea. I can go one way or the other, but I just wait, unconcerned in my little ship because I know the two big ships behind me will give me big push when I make that decision in a year. A splinter of hope does momentarily rise in me though, becasue I know once I get pushed I probably wont go back. Scared becasue those two big ships have been providing my fuel for all these years. I will have to start finding the strength to push forward on my own. 
Yes my parents will always support me, but when I go to college they wont be the ones making the big decisions for me anymore. My fuel that will help me along the way is hope. Just like before hope is what keeps my engine running. The bucket list that I keep, my dream college, my discoveries, inventions. All different pieces of coal that will keep my engine running just by thinking of them. 
So I thank Barbara Kingsolver. In her commencement speech she not only inspired those few graduates to think about their future, but also a kid from Guilderland, New York, who has dreams as big as the Earth.   

how i went from being very shy to less shy

85. How I went from being very shy to less shy As a kid I was always shy. I would always hide behind my parents if we ever went out to a party and it wasn't family. I was always scared as a kid about what people thought about me. So I tried to fit in as best as I could. I didn't want to be the kid everyone knows is strange or weird. Most people could say I am that exact kid today though. Over the years I have grown to not care at all what people say or think about me. so now as a kid that is certainly not shy, I have realized that I love being the odd one out. Some could say I am arrogant and only want attention, but that isn't it at all. Why was I chosen to be my parents kid? I am one out Of millions of kids my parents could have had. So I was given this life to live it, why should I let this experience waste away when I could be one who acts for themselves not one who acts because it is "cool". There are situations though that I am still conservative and quiet. When. I know it is time to be repectf then I am, but school is a place for learning who you are and what you like. I'm not in the real world yet, so why let these few days of being a kid go to waste? (just because I said this, it reflects about myself. I don't think being shy is bad at all. It's just personally I would rather not be!)

Love to Know Slideshow

http://freelance-writing.lovetoknow.com/Slideshow:Free_Writing_Prompts~1

How do you feel when you walk though freshly fallen snow?

When I walk through freshly fallen snow I feel relief. I feel a calming sensation. One reason is a literal reason: The snow has killed all of the things that can flair up my horrible allergies. Which give me headaches and restricted me every Wednesday because I had to get shots just to be able to control them. The next thing that I think about is a calming sensation. I don't know why, maybe it is because snow falls gently but I have always loved snow and I always think a lot when I am in the snow. The new snow seems to have the special different memories on those special different snow flakes. As those flakes fall on me, a old memory is experienced again. The first time I played with my dog in the snow, the time I built a literal igloo, the time I built a snow slide at the end of my cousins hill. Just a few were written down. Each year as the snow falls down onto the ground for the first time, I sit down all bundled up, watching a TV of my life, flipping through the memories as each snow flake reaches my face. 

Creative Contest III

"Scribble, erase, no life only school"

Philosophy=Communism

Communism

Communism is a political idea. There are basically two types of communism: theory and reality. Theory is exactly what it sounds like. It is the theory of how communism was supposed to work. Here are some key components of it: The underclass (Proletariat) will overthrow the upper class (bourgeoisie) because the underclass supposedly gets exploited by the upper class, equal distribution of wealth, eventually no need for government, a Utopia, closed society. Things never worked out as planned. So the theory always turned into reality: Totalitarian state (Dictator), closed society, strong censorship etc. The thing is that it is against human nature for reality to work. People are usually greedy, selfish etc. so in theory when the lower class overthrow the upper class, why would the lower class want to give up this power? 

 I don't believe in this philosophy. I don't believe this because of the how equal it is. I don't like that people who own their own business and make a lot of money should have to give it up. Some people don't work at all and in places that have communism as a government people have the same wealth and everything. I just don't like it. For example if I were to become a doctor in a place like America that has democracy then I would work even harder because I would get fairly payed for my work, but in a place with communism I would be extremely annoyed and I wouldn't want to work as hard. (But if I would if someone needed my help but mentally I wouldn't want to) I wouldn't want to, because I would make the same amount of money as someone who works as a factory worker. Not saying that factory workers don't work as hard, but they don't have med school bills to pay and on and on. I just think if people work hard for their money, then they shouldn't get it taken away from them.

(Learned from Global studies (Upper section))