Classics Without All the Class discussion

Please keep discussion and spoilers to this chapter.

I did not begin this book expecting to be propelled through the first section like I did, but as I was reading I kept asking why a society would condone burning books. Even now, when books are banned it makes no sense to me- people can choose to read them or not. While Beatty drones on a bit explaining the reason, his character did get me thinking. (Soap Box moment) What is it about books that I love so much? One reason is to get exposed to different opinions whether I agree or not which is exactly what this society is trying to avoid.

My sentiments exactly.

Sadly, book burning has happened in real life. Of course people could just "choose to read them or not", but the government doesn't want them to have that choice. Furthermore, burning is a transgressive and memorable demonstration of their ruthless power - always useful for totalitarian regimes.

Awful as it is, I see the whole book as a passionate piece about the positive power and great beauty of the written word, so don't be disheartened.

I just did a brief google search and see that unfortunately book burning is alive and well Much of the burning was because of differing beliefs. Yes, there can be great beauty in the printed word but there is also strength and inspiration that is not so easy to control by those who would like to tell us what to think.

I think there's a significant difference between some people burning books they don't like, and a government program of destroying books (even though I don't like either idea). Some crazy guy burning books because he dislikes what they represent, well, he's not stopping anyone else from reading them, but to burn all books or burn books that have a specific ideology is to have official control of the information.

It took me a little time to realize that the salamander was not just a symbol of the firemen but that their fire truck was a salamander. My dictionary says that salamanders were "mythical, lizardlike creature[s] said to live in fire or be able to withstand its effects."

Also, are you guys noticing literary allusions? Early in the book, he wrote something about Guy's smile not fading, and I immediately thought Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland, and a couple paragraphs later, he wrote something like "down the hole." So I started keeping an eye out for Alice references but didn't notice anymore, and now I wonder if he was maybe trying to work in a number of books and I missed them for looking for one specific one. What do you all think?

I hadn't noticed the "salamander" reference or the Alice one, so I'm going to have to start paying better attention! Bradbury did spend most of his life inside libraries, so that would only make sense that some of the characters or references from stories he read would make their way into the book. Plus he wrote the book on a "pay by the minute" typewriter in the basement of a library. I think it was 10 cents for every 30 minutes or something like that. The original story was written much earlier, and eventually he turned it into a full length novel. Pretty cool story. (I have the 40th anniversary edition which included a foreward and introduction by Bradbury).


I took the whole "book burning" thing to be somewhat of a "warning sign", like a "what if?" to a society whose government has taken away the individual's right to read books, and by doing so gained all of the control and power. Books hold a great deal of knowledge, and knowledge is power. Taking away the individual's right to that knowledge forbids one from gaining access to such power/creativity/self-expression, etc.

Also, did anyone notice that this year marks the book's 60th anniversary? :)

Bex wrote: "I'm not sure I like this so far. I've just finished the first part and I'm feeling a little underwhelmed.

It follows themes of things I've read recently and I was expecting to be really moved by ..."

Don´t worry, you´re not alone =d I experienced something pretty much along those lines. I also felt that Fahrenheit didn´t really approach new themes, that except for a couple of things it just repeated what other dystopian novels have already discussed.
As far as the hound goes I`d suggest you keep reading for a while, it might give you the hole picture.
It may be confusing at first, but I´m sure you´ll get there. I´d be glad to discuss the novel once you have finished it! =D

Regarding lack of "new themes", that is in part a penalty of the book being almost 60 years old: it looks unoriginal because we're familiar with later books and films that have been inspired by it!

Cecily wrote: "Regarding lack of "new themes", that is in part a penalty of the book being almost 60 years old: it looks unoriginal because we're familiar with later books and films that have been inspired by it!"

Actually I was referring to books that were written prior to Fahrenheit. Take "Brave New World" for example.

Fair enough. It certainly wasn't the first to cover these themes, but even so, I think it's easy for some of us (not necessarily you) to forget quite how long ago it was written and how much has been created since.

Cecily wrote: "Fair enough. It certainly wasn't the first to cover these themes, but even so, I think it's easy for some of us (not necessarily you) to forget quite how long ago it was written and how much has be..."

Most definitely. As you said it, roughly 60 years have already gone by and countless other books have been inspired by classics such as this.

I'm about halfway through this chapter, but wanted to post on here to say how much I'm enjoying it so far. The writing style is very different to anything else I can think of and I'm really looking forward to see where the story goes, in regards to the book burning laws and relationship between Montag and Clarisse. I haven't read too many of the comments above, as I wanted to avoid any spoilers, but I'll be back to update and offer my thoughts once I've finished the chapter.

Pink wrote: "I'm about halfway through this chapter, but wanted to post on here to say how much I'm enjoying it so far. The writing style is very different to anything else I can think of and I'm really looking..."

Glad you are liking it. I felt the same way as I was reading the first chapter!

I flew through this first section much faster than I expected. I like his slowly growing curiosity, despite his fear of being caught with a book. I'm not sure what I think of him opening up to his wife, though. I mean, he SHOULD be able to, obviously, but she's definitely not the kind of woman who WANTS to think, and he's forcing her into something before she's ready to face it.... if she ever will be.