F451 Day 2 HW

1. In this section we learn that the firemen are reminiscent of the thought police of 1984. They control the books,and in turn the history. Therefore, they also control the conscious thoughts, emotional depth, and knowledge of the general public. These men are tough, blunt, and seem to act much like robots. They hear an alarm, they act, with no thought as to who they affect or what they destroy, it is merely their job. The so called history of the firemen is clearly a fabrication, which can lead the reader to believe that the burning of books, much like the ministry of truth in 1984, is in order to control the past. Benjamin Franklin was not a firemen, but whoever is in charge of rewriting history, has made it that way, so in the reality of the people, this must be accepted as truth. The firemen are feared because they burn things, but the people really should be fearing them because not only do they have all the power, they do not understand the magnitude of their actions.

2. Clarisse does not fit in at school because she is "anti social". This is far from the truth seeing as she is entirely in her comfort zone to commence talking to a random stranger. However, at school she is scared of other children her age because they kill one another, making her fear entirely justified. Her definition of social is ironic in our society today. She defines social as "Talking to you about things"(Bradbury 29), and being not social is "To get a bunch of people together and not let them talk"(29). This is ironic to our society, because in many scenarios we willingly and purposely gather, but are often consumed with our own personal electronics and do not talk to other people. Also, this idea of not being social, is much like how in 1984 the characters could technically talk, but were brought down so much by the fear of getting arrested that they did not.