Hello, there.
Today I am going to talk about the famous,
sending to the stars work of a well reputed
science-fiction writer.
He was cherished by his family, grown on the
Hollywood hills, destined for the literature
and became a full-time writer at 24.
He gave a good-quality prose to the world
and left it with a single line on his tombstone:
"Author of Fahrenheit 451".
I am going to talk about Ray Bradbury’s
masterpiece, Fahrenheit 451.
Many of us like this writer as he also gave
us The Martian Chronicles, The Dandelion Wine
and other best-sellers.
This book is of great significance as it represents
social criticism of censoring people’s minds
by the government.
The book consists of three parts: "The Hearth
and the Salamander", "The Sieve and the Sand"
and "Burning Bright".
The title of the book is metaphoric, Fahrenheit
451 is the temperature when the paper catches
fire so it is the temperature when the society
catches moral stupor.
The book describes a XXIV century society
with all of its comforts of life such as jet
cars, TV screen walls, a new digital family
to a person, and all of its sins such as suppression,
illiteracy and cruelty.
The main hero Guy Montag is a fireman, who
finds great pleasure and satisfaction with
his occupation: a perfect guy for the job.
His communication strategies are strictly
professional and devoid of human emotions.
He doesn’t question any established rules
and neither does his wife Millie.
Being married makes them look even lonelier
and unhappier in that world, however they
are blissfully unaware of that loneliness
and unhappiness until one day there is a new
neighbor, a girl, who questions Montag’s
beliefs, so he starts thinking, asking questions
and becomes a troubled, dangerous citizen.
The perfect fireman, who likes to burn things
and to feed the fire with the best of human
thoughts put on paper, steals the books that
he was to destroy and starts reading them.
His communication strategies become more complex,
more emotional.
So, basically the book tells one to think
critically about one’s goals in life, surrounding
people and the things that make one happy.
The most catching thing in the book is its
social controversy.
The accent is made on the harm to humanity
from the conformism.
Nothing good will become of the society, where
narrow-mindedness is appreciated.
Sometimes people pervert the truth about their
professional, personal life, even about themselves
and that results in senseless terror.
Fahrenheit 451 turned out to be so popular
that in 1966 it was adapted for a film by
François Truffaut, for a play by Bradbury
himself and moreover there was even a radio
dramatization, computer game and graphic novels.
So, why should one read Fahrenheit 451?
Firstly, if you love science fiction then
this book is a must-read.
Secondly, there were several attempts to ban
the book, however they proved to be unsuccessful
so as it goes such books touch upon some burning
issues.
Thirdly, if you are keen on technologies you
will be interested in Bradbury’s view of
the future as it is fascinating.
I can describe this book by a simple proverb:
“If you play with fire you get burnt”.
Like Guy Montag got burnt his mind with the
books he was to set ablaze.
For my next video I have chosen a book and
have a riddle for you.
The first one to guess it right will get a
set of stickers in Vkontakte.
Here goes the riddle:
A mighty titan held the world
He got immensely tired.
Relaxing from this hardest work
Was all that he desired.
By the way I am in great need of your honest
opinion on the video.
Please, write your comments or ideas.
Give it a like if you did like it.
Keep calm and read a good book.
