#8: Fahrenheit 451

Reading Ray Bradbury's thriller renewed the desire within me to teach a class novel, a novel that annotated much as I read. Rich in so many topics. Fahrenheit 451 tells the mental struggle of Guy Montag, a fireman whose job it is to start fires, fires that burn books and help to keep a people suppressed and oppressed.


Consider this quote: 

With school turning out more runners, jumpers, racers, tinkerers, grabbers, snatchers, fliers, and swimmers instead of examiners, critics, knowers, and imaginative creators, the word `intellectual,’ of course, became the swear word it deserved to be.

Within an academic setting, who would this quote not address?

As I read, my mind continued to web out to the movie The Book of Eli, the message of which in both is similar, Montag and Eli both searching for ways to preserve the truth (as a Christian, I, of course, find it interesting that both's missions are to preserve the Bible).  The parallels are phenomenal.

• NOTE:  Here author Gary Whitta blogs about the release of The Book of Eli and works in progress.

Guy Montag's message, though, is one of hope, illustrating that the spirit of mankind, while often oppressed, cannot be suppressed, cannot be stifled.

Yes, the desire to teach this novel burns within me...

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Book Challenge:  Books I Wish I Had Read in High School