Artemiy Patorskiy “8”b
Ray Bradbury was born on August 22, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois. The second name
Douglas he received in honor of the famous actor of that time Douglas Fairbanks.
In 1937, Bradbury joined the Los Angeles "Science Fiction League", which was one
of the many associations of young writers who were actively emerging in America
reviving after the Great Depression. Bradbury's stories began to be published in
cheap magazines that printed a lot of fantastic prose, often of insufficient quality.
Worldwide fame came to Bradbury after the publication of the novel «451 degrees
Fahrenheit” in 1953.
Ray Bradbury in the novel «451 degrees Fahrenheit» worries about how people
relate to books and other sources of information. People have completely stopped
thinking about what they are reading. They completely ceased to care about the
meaning of what they read.
The author wonders how to tell people that they are living wrong.
The novel has not lost its popularity, because nowadays many people do the same
as in the story.
The author's prophecies have come true because even now, the government
wants to force people not to think, and they punish those who want to disobey like
Montag.
In the world where the main character lives, the book is chosen as the main object
because people wrote their thoughts in books, but you can't think in a novel. And
the government is trying to burn books so that people would stop thinking at all.
Books are burned so as not to leave a single trace of them and they could not be
restored.
Guy Montag is a calm man who obeys the law until he meets Clarissa, who
awakens him to fight for a normal world and save all people. Guy leads a calm and
monotonous lifestyle until he gets tired of it. He is confident and fair. Also very
lucky, it is shown in the moment when Montag was chased by a mechanical dog,
but Guy was lucky that he dived into the water, and the dog ran past.
Clarissa is curious and resourceful. She is somehow different from the others. Does
not want to adhere to and is afraid of the law. This is shown when she spoke to
Montag and said that she was afraid of her peers, afraid that they would harm her.
Professor Faber-he is very smart and likes to read. He is afraid of the law, but not
like he can't put up with it because he constantly reads. He is fair and hardworking.
Brandmaster Beatty-he is cunning and well read. He still thinks that books should
be burned, although he used to read a lot. He is considered the most important
among firefighters. He is confident in himself and he always manages to persuade
a person to do something. This is shown in the moment when Montag got sick and
did not want to call Beatty himself, but asked his wife.
It seems to me that Beatty did not die by accident. He wanted to die. Since he had
access to books, he could read them and imagine what a wonderful life could be
with them. He was tired of his life, but he did not dare to commit suicide, so he
began to encourage Montag to do it.
It seems to me that Clarissa has left town, as has Montag. The news said she died,
as did Montag.
In my opinion, the epigraph "if you are given lined paper - write across" describes
actions of the main character. This means that you have to act on your own and
not look at others.
Overall, I liked this book. But I fully understood it when I read it for the 2nd time.
There is a lot of sense and morality in this book. I learned a lot from it, for example,
that you need to think with your own head, and not repeat after others. I think she
could be a good warning for the future for us. Because now some people no longer
think when they read and watch the news.