Fahrenheit 451 Theme Handout

"Censorship causes diminished individual thought"

Sahaja Ampolu, Wei Gao, Jordan Kling, Emily Smith, Ghafeera Malik, Eden Breens 

 Bell 3

1) Guy Montag meets Clarisse, who contradicts the ideas of the society that they are living in.
2) Montag returns home to find Mildred collapsed from taking too many sleeping pills; he calls over a medical team to save her.
3) Montag realizes he is living in darkness and hasn’t really thought about what he is doing when he burns the books filled information.
4) He later responds to a call to burn the house of a woman who is hiding books. However, she chooses instead to burn herself (and the books) using a match.
5) Montag asks Mildred questions such as when and where they met. She cannot remember.
6) Montag goes to Faber’s house to discuss books, specifically the Bible, and what he should do about wanting to keep the books.
7) Montag decides to read Dover Beach outloud to Mildred and her friends, who then become very upset.
8) He gets called in to go burn another house, only to find that out that it is in fact his house they are scheduled to burn. He later finds out that it is his wife who placed the call.
9) Montag becomes a fugitive after killing Beatty and knocking down the other firemen. As he escapes, he gives some of the books he hid to Faber.
10) Once Montag reaches the river, he is no longer followed. He begins reminiscing about events in his past and notices many details about the nature around him. He also finally remembers where he met Mildred. He meets the new society which values and memorizes books and becomes part of it.


Quotes:

Part 1-
“We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the constitution says, but everyone made equal . . . A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it. Take the shot from the weapon.
Breach man’s mind.” (pg 58)


Part 2-
“‘...the televisor is real. It is immediate,it has dimension. It tells you what to think and blasts it in. It must be right. It rushes on you so quickly to its own conclusions, your mind hasn't time to protest,’what nonsense!’” (pg 84)


Part 3-
“Even if she dies, I realized a
moment ago, I won’t feel sad. It isn’t right. Something must be wrong with me.” (pg 155)
“He stood breathing, and the more he breathed the land in, the more he was filled up with all the details of the land. He was not empty. There was more than enough here to fill him.” (p. 144)

This theme is important to our understanding of the story because it showed us that the characters had their own thoughts and their own opinions but the censorship did not let them have the full individual thought they could have had.

Censorship causes diminished individual thought relates to our modern-day society because on a daily basis we stop ourselves from doing things just because somebody else could be watching or vice versa. It is important for us to study this theme because we need to realize that we all have an opinion and censorship shouldn’t stop you from doing something you believe in.

Describe the best and worst qualities the main character in the book has, including textual evidence for both.

     The book I just finished reading was American Sniper by Chris Kyle. It is an autobiography about him as he tells his experience of being a Navy SEAL, while simultaneously falling in love and starting a family. Throughout his time in the military, he comes to be known as the most lethal sniper in American history. One of his best qualities was his dedication to his country. When the World Trade Center was hit on September 11, you could practically feel Chris Kyle's patriotism coming off the pages. As he retells part of his side of the story, he says, "I saw smoke pouring out of the World Trade Center in New York. I didn't understand what-all was happening. Part of me was still sleeping.Then as we watched, an airplane flew right into the side of the second tower... I stared at the screen, angry and confused, not entirely sure it was real," (pg 52). Chris is extremely patriotic, and would do almost anything for his country. And that is also why his dedication to his country is also one of his worst qualities. Don't get me wrong, I respect everything that the military does for our country. But Taya Kyle, his wife, is starting to get a little upset with him. He places the military (his country) above his family, which is extremely hard for a woman who has to raise her two kids practically all by herself while her husband is staring death in the face everyday. At one point, she says, "When he came back after this deployment, I felt almost shy. I was a new mother and had been doing things on my own for months. We were both changing and growing in totally separate worlds. He had no firsthand knowledge of mine and I had no firsthand knowledge of his, (pg 234). She later goes on to say, "I wanted to count on him, but I couldn't. His Team could, and total strangers who happened to be in the military could, but the kids and I certainly could not...when he had to choose, he didn't choose us," (pg 348). Taya loved Chris to death, but couldn't depend on him to be there for her when she needed him most. That is why Chris Kyle's best and worst qualities is his dedication to his country.

Discuss why you were interested in picking up this book

     The book I just finished reading was American Sniper by Chris Kyle. It is an autobiography about him as he tells his experience of being a Navy SEAL, while simultaneously falling in love and starting a family. Throughout his time in the military, he comes to be known as the most lethal sniper in American history. I chose to read this book in particular because for my Best Sellers class, I needed a book that had been adapted into a movie. There were novels such as The Hunger Games, Divergent, The Fault in Our Stars, and Gone Girl. Apart from having read some of them, I wanted to try a genre that I typically don't tend to read. And so I went with an autobiography. I actually found this book to very interesting, although the majority of my group did not. When asked if they would see it then read it, read it then see it, just read it, or just see it, everyone but myself said that they would rather see it. But I said that I would rather read it, then see the movie. Chris Kyle also wrote in a way that I'm not used to. Usually, the books I pick up tend to be just a story. But Kyle wrote a bunch of mini stories that were then combined into one. I actually found myself liking this style of writing. 

     I was also really interested in reading this book because I really wanted to see the movie. I don't like to watch a movie before I read the book (unless I don't know that it is a book). I like to get a feel for the characters and learn about their personalities how the author pictured them, not the director. Plus, I really want to imagine the characters as how they appear in my mind, and not how the director decided to cast them.

BS: Post #4 Adapting American Sniper

     The book I read was American Sniper by Chris Kyle. It is an autobiography about Navy Seal, Chris Kyle and his journey through becoming and being one. In this book, you will follow Kyle through the ups and the downs of his life.
     If I were to adapt this novel into something that people would be able to watch, I would make it into a movie. I feel that this make the most sense because the book has some action in it that would not transfer well into a play, and a TV series would be too long, plus it would get a little boring. With a movie, you would open up more possibilities than imaginable; stunt doubles, action, suspense until the end (unless you have read the book), and more!
     If I made American Sniper into a movie, I would want to keep it as close to the story line as possible. I personally hate it when directors stray from the plot line and add/remove key events. By keeping close to the story line, it would almost be like stepping into Kyle's shoes and living how he did. The audience would be able to develop a connection with all the characters that they read about.
     I would also feel inclined to add voice overs whenever necessary. When watching an autobiography, I personally believe that voice overs are a must so the author of the novel are able to go into a little more detail about that event than what is shown on the screen. Or if there is a particularly confusing part in the novel, the author would be able to explain what happened versus leaving the audience wondering. And sometimes by adding a voice over, you are adding suspense to a scene. Imagine you are watching a scene where there is a load of gunfire and bombing. Suddenly, you hear a grim voice saying, "On October 23, _____ died." You know who dies, but you don't know how, leaving you wanting more. The scene will then cut to a close up of Kyle and _____, along with some other members of their team. You will watch as they fight the enemy, when in semi-slow motion, you see _____ get shot. "_____!" Kyle screams. The scene fades out as fighting continues then back in to Kyle at ______'s funeral. You here the voice over say, "200 men showed up to his funeral, myself included. We all mourned the loss of not only a comrade, but a friend." By adding the voice over to this scene, suspense is created, leaving you on the edge of your seat.
     If I were to choose a casting for the film, I would want the actors to look as much like the characters as possible. Even the minor ones. So that way, the audience would feel like they aren't just watching another movie that had terrible casting, choosing people who looked and acted nothing like how the character was supposed to. For the movie, I would personally choose to keep the real casting of Bradley Cooper as Chris Kyle and Sienna Miller as Taya Kyle because I believe that they actually look like the characters they are supposed to be portraying.