Classic literature is the collection novels and stories that stand the test of time. They were considered groundbreaking in their release, continue to be vastly praised as time carries on and as the result of such hype, linger in our lives in the form of high school book reports. Students happily complain about the apparently boring classical literature, asking why it’s necessary and trying to find a way around reading something older than themselves. The novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury stands against these traditional notions of classical literature being boring and irrelevant to modern day. Critics and students today still defend the dystopian novel’s relevance, even 65 years after its release. The novel’s claim to fame lies in its
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The metaphor describes the willing ignorance of people to feel happiness. Faber describes this in his explanation on why books and literature are seen as negative in explaining, “So now do you see why books are hated and feared? They show the pores in the face of life. The comfortable people want only wax moon faces, poreless, hairless, expressionless. We are living in a time when flowers are trying to live on flowers, instead of growing on good rain and black loam. Even fireworks, for all their prettiness, come from chemistry of the earth. Yet somehow we can grow, feeding on flowers and fireworks, without completing the cycle back to reality.” (Bradbury ##) The metaphor describes so much in just a small paragraph. Faber paints the picture of a world where we don’t wish to see imperfection, difference or negativity. We only wish to see happiness and bliss, so we don’t have to feel terrible things like pain, sadness, anger and hate. In describing the people like flowers, he is explaining that we cannot truly be happy without experiencing what it’s like to be sad or angry. How would we know if were happy? If the life we are living was truly blissful? We may be living in a situation where that might be the case, but we will never know if we are truly living the life we are meant to if it continues. This is Bradbury’s largest point in the novel, asking the reader what does it really mean to live your life. All the way through the novel he has been giving us guidance on what to find inspiration and knowledge in our environments, but here he shows the greatest guidance comes from
The metaphor describes the willing ignorance of people to feel happiness. Faber describes this in his explanation on why books and literature are seen as negative in explaining, “So now do you see why books are hated and feared? They show the pores in the face of life. The comfortable people want only wax moon faces, poreless, hairless, expressionless. We are living in a time when flowers are trying to live on flowers, instead of growing on good rain and black loam. Even fireworks, for all their prettiness, come from chemistry of the earth. Yet somehow we can grow, feeding on flowers and fireworks, without completing the cycle back to reality.” (Bradbury ##) The metaphor describes so much in just a small paragraph. Faber paints the picture of a world where we don’t wish to see imperfection, difference or negativity. We only wish to see happiness and bliss, so we don’t have to feel terrible things like pain, sadness, anger and hate. In describing the people like flowers, he is explaining that we cannot truly be happy without experiencing what it’s like to be sad or angry. How would we know if were happy? If the life we are living was truly blissful? We may be living in a situation where that might be the case, but we will never know if we are truly living the life we are meant to if it continues. This is Bradbury’s largest point in the novel, asking the reader what does it really mean to live your life. All the way through the novel he has been giving us guidance on what to find inspiration and knowledge in our environments, but here he shows the greatest guidance comes from