Farenheit 451 - The temperture when paper burns

[Dirty Commie]

This book is great... a dystopia in the classic sense.

A government that forbids books. Any one read it, any thoughts on other dystopias?

[Pete]

I have read this book. I love it, it is so ironic. The ending is especially great.

[Son of Scargill]

Yes,definitely worth a read.

[Pete]

Now let us start a discussion on this book.

The Hound: Inquistors
The FireFighters: people who enforced the List of Forbidden Books
The Readers: 'witches heritics and pagans'
The Average People:good catholics.
The Book Rememberers: protestants.

Does that make any sense?

[Dirty Commie]

Could you elaborate?
I see the point, but needs to be expanded.

[Son of Scargill]

Good analogy.I'd never really thought of it in that way.
It is nearly 20 years since I've read it though,consequently my memory of it may not be good enough to enter into a full blown discussion.

The soap opera TV programme that his wife was devoted to.The Family?I think it was called.What significance would you say that was?The Mass?A kind of ritual distraction?

[Pete]

I sort of made up the analogy on the spot to spur discussion.

During the Inquisition holding certain books was an offense (Coprincus's is one of those books) and there was the List of Prohibited Books issued by the Catholic church to fight against the heretics and protestants (who where often the same thing). I am proposing an allusion between the book burnings of the past and the projected future presented in Farenheit 451.

The Hound always kills who it is after (except in the case of the main character), and as soon as the inquistion targeted you either you died in torture or you died after confessing to the crimes brought against you. Both killed their targets ruthlessly.

The Fire Fighters burn books in 451, and resemble the Jesuits (I believe...correct me if I have the wrong order) who collected and destroyed this books, as well as labeled those who printed and kept them as heretics for the Inquistors to finish off. Gutenburg was labeled a heretic for the printing press, although I do not htink he died.

The people who Read books are seen as the cusp of this society. They are rejected by the mainstream and often punished for it as if it is a mental illness (as the main character is).

The people of 451 also surround them selves with the walls to talk to other people who they may never meet. Simply saying this is like trying to talk to god or saints or angels through prayer. They spent massive amounts of time surrounded by these walls, which paralells the institution of the church itself (the building).

Then there are teh people who remember the books that they have read. These are the ones who are working against the current status quo, but they still burn books. This would be the protestants, and off shoot of the mainstream that is being persecuted. Yet they are not completely different and still burn books, although not ritually or for the exact same reasons.

Finally the main character represents a Jesuit priest who used to be an inquistor, but declared that anyone (archbishops, pope, and I think angels too) would give into torture that they where a witch. He was self-exiled (because they would have killed him) to a leper colony where he died. This is not an exact parallel, but he did leave and join an offshot, still trying to help people in the name of God.

That would be an expansion of my parallels.

[Dirty Commie]

That cleared it up, CP, you made a few good points.

[RED FIRE]

Ray Bradbury,nothing short of an genuis,a great read for all.

[anti machine]

I love the passage where the women start "discussing" politics to please Morgan. It becomes a comparison of the attractiveness between the two candidates running for office.

Another one of those mid-20th century "warning" books to be shelved next to Orwell.

[Lefty]

It belongs up there right next to Brave New World and 1984. Definitely worth reading and rereading.

[ravengod]

crazy pete this is a little bit too much
the book is great
it refers to censorship
and freedom of expression and thought
no society or leadership should ban these from no human being