 
Hey guys so as I mentioned before
I'll be participating in the vlogbrothers book reading
club of Fahrenheit 451 in honor
Ray Bradbury's death. Before I talk
about the book
I just want to mention that I haven't
read any of his works before
and I also hadn't really heard of him until he died, which
is kinda unfortunate but that's the way
it is. So
Fahrenheit 451 if you don't know takes
place in a future society
where all books are banned. The main
character, Montag,
is a fireman but in this world firemen
set fires instead putting them out.
Any house with books must be burned and
their owners
sent to prison. For the first par of the
book club we had to read the first part
of the book, The Hearth and the Salamander. I will
be talking about plot points
so if you haven't read the book, you might
not want to watch the whole thing.
In John's video he mentioned how
everything is both alive
and dead. Machines are like animals.
There's a snake, and a
hound, that at times seem more alive than the
actual characters.
People in the book seem like empty
shells, especially Montag's
wife. For a while the only image we have of her is
lying in bed listening to radio or
music or something like that, just like a
zombie,
with eyes wide open. His wife is the
opposite of the other female character,
Clarice. Clarice is young and what John
described as a
Manic Pixie dream girl who is full of fire
and loves to smell things like grass and
just notice things
and actually have meaningful
conversation with people.
Because apparently in this world people
have become so obsessed with
technology and consuming media
that life has ceased to be meaningful
for them and they haven't even realized.
It sounds a bit like today but I don't
think
the prevalence of technology interferes with
our ability to have a meaningful life.
I think for the most part it definitely
enhances our life
and gives us the opportunity to meet
people we never knew
like interacting through this video and
this book club.
And plus very very VERY few people
have entire rooms that are TVs
as big as the wall. It's been awhile since
I've seen
MTV Cribs but I'm sure at least one
celebrity has something like that.
So as far as what I actually think of the book, I'm not quite sure yet.
The writing is definitely different from
what I usually read
and a bit abstract. And it also seems
like there are a lot of
adjectives which is a weird thing to
point out, but I noticed pretty quickly.
Not that that's bad, I mean a book without adjectives
wouuld probably be pretty boring, and this book is
definitely interesting.
I haven't really connected to the
characters too much because they do seem
pretty empty, but things are getting more
interesting and people are
getting more like
actual people. We find out that the young
girl Montag met,
Clarice, has planted a thought inside of
his brain that
maybe he's not actually happy. At first he
tells her
"well of course i'm happy" but then later he
admits to himself that he
really isn't. And he has this secret
urge to read the books that he burns,
and ends up stealing one from the job site.
And we find out that he has a whole vent
full of books that he has stolen over the
years.
So I'm definitely interested to see if
he gets caught
and what happens to him and his wife and if
he ever goes back to work.
And, ultimately if they find happiness.
Another thing that John brought up
was the sort of things that we today find
happiness in.
And he asks us about the sort of things
that make our life
worth living and make us feel alive. He
answered that talking about the book with
 
us made him feel very alive, and that yeah
nature and flowers are great but
there are bugs with diseases and stuff
and so the outside isn't always really
that great.
So what make me happy and makes me feel alive...
My family and I go on hikes together
with
our dog. I really enjoy that because we
get to travel a lot
even if it's just locally, and discover
all of these places that we never knew
existed
like conservation areas and parks and things like that. Parts of the world that
we had never been to or even known
about,
and we just get to spend time together
which is great.
Also it might be a bit odd to say, but
reading definitely makes me feel alive.
Even though I'm temporarily existing in this
other world
and living the life of this other
character I'm still learning things and
having experiences.
I really lovely the Song of Ice and Fire quote,
where I think
Tyrion or someone else said that a reader
lives
a thousand lives while a person who
doesn't read lives only
one life. But anyways hiking
and reading and friends and Zelda
make my life meaningful. So what makes
your life
meaningful? What makes you a Clarisse and
not
a Montag's wife whose name I can't ever remember
because she's so borning? I have a feeling
I'll remember her name after the next
section though.
So thanks for watching and John, I'll see you
whenever you upload the next video.
Bye!
