Theme Handout

Why Individual Self Expression Is Important

Olivia Popovich, Kayla Blumberg, Jenna Caimano, Andrew Hahn, Aaron Goetz

Bell 4

Timeline

• After meeting Clarisse, Montag starts to question his life and if what he’s doing, with burning the books is actually the right thing to do for society.
• During the situation with Ms. Blake, and her showing Montag all of the books she owned, and telling Montag her true feelings and thoughts on being able to have books, changed the way Montag  looked at himself and his actions.
• Meeting Faber and showing him a want to go see the books, and not turning him in. Obviously being a person that starts fires for a living for people that have books, it doesn’t seem like a usual thing to do to not start a fire for someone with books. This shows Montag’s change in character ever since realizing that books may actually be a key party to the way society works
• When Montag reads the poem, Dover Beach to Mrs. Phelps and Mrs. Bowles, he is trying to get them to see how important self expression is to individual people and to society.
• After burning down his house, Montag kills Beatty because he is willing to do anything to save the books.
• After the bombs hit the city, Montag starts remembering the book of Ecclesiastes,  Montag gets time to reflect on his life, and he thinks about everything he has done and all that had just happened to him, through the actions of him showing his true self.

Montag grows as a person in the book, and shows more self expression as it goes on.

Textual Evidence

• “Of course I’m happy.  What does she think?  I’m not? he asked the quiet rooms.” (Bradbury 8)
• “Then the old man grew even more courageous and said something else and that was a poem, too.  Faber held his hand over his left coat pocket and spoke these words man’s coat.  But he did not reach out.” (Bradbury 71)
• “He twitched the safety catch on the flame thrower.  . . . And then he was a shrieking blaze, a jumping, sprawling gibbering manikin, no longer human or known, all writhing lame on the lawn as Montag shot one continuous pulse of liquid fire on him.” (Bradbury 112-113)

Why Is this Theme Important to the story?

This theme is important to the story because without it nothing would’ve happened, Montag would never feel the same way towards books if he would have never showed his true feelings about how books can really change the way someone views society and life in general.

How does this theme connect to modern society today?

This theme connects to modern society today because in our country we are able to show who we are through the clothes we wear, our religion and many other things that we can turn to to express our own self expression, which shows up in Fahrenheit 451 multiple times. It’s very important to be aware of this because without it, everyone would be and act in the same manner.

     I finished the book 'Hate List' a few days ago. I found this book extremely interesting. I have never read a book so out of my element before and it really opened my eyes to all of the other genres I hadn't  been reading. I really enjoyed this book because it was about a harsh situation that is very realistic. I never thought that I would feel so interested about a sad topic. This book is about a girl who is a survivor of a school shooting, where the shooter was her boyfriend. Her life is unraveling and it sounds unbearable. It makes you think that even if you are having a bad day that you still have an overall good life and that you should think about the big picture. 

    

    You know those books that when you finish you don't even know what to do with yourself? This is without a doubt one of those books.

    

                                  (In the point of view of Mrs. Bowles)

      I had to get out of that house. I had to find a way to seem distraught at the idea of books being read rather than burned. After leaving the house I decided to take a night walk, making sure no one saw me of course. Being in the shadows is hard but it is the only way to keep what I do a secret. Montag, what an idiot! 

       "He's going to get us all killed, after everything we've worked for." I mutter under my breath. Montag, what a loud mouth! I knew I was right not letting him know about the company. The last copy of the bible? we would never let the number of copies of any book dwindle to one! Still if we taught him about all we know, he could be a very useful resource. Beatty said that even he didn't know about how many books Montag had taken. Having one source on the inside is very helpful, but two would take our operation to new heights! Beatty, at the beginning when we first found him taking books, we were astonished he wasn't already dead.  After training though, he turned out to be one of the best. Montag will be a huge piece of work, but he is very skilled in the art of book taking, which is basically the most important thing to the boss even if the skilled one is a complete numb-skull. 

        In the midst of arguing with myself, I find that my feet have taken me to the park. Just like always I see faber, sitting on the bench, enveloped in a book, him being the only one of us to have the audacity to read in public. Some say he's crazy some say he's brave. I sit on the cold metal bench, I find it unsettling as I look out on the park, empty and dark, it resembles our entire society, dark and hopeless. 

      "Hello Faber" I say.

      Without looking up from his book he says, "I know that we have to stay discreet, but since there is no one else here but you, me, and the stars, call me dad."  

            Right now I am reading "The Hate List" by Jennifer Brown. I like to read books about strange experiences or adventures but this book is a bit out of my comfort zone. I have never read anything like this before. This book is about the life of Valerie Leftman just before, during, and after a shooting at her school. It wouldn't anything like you would expect, because the school shooter was Nick, her boyfriend. Valerie and Nick were outsiders. They dressed, acted, and were treated different from everyone else along with their friends. 
            They were bullied by people in their school and that really took a toll on them. They hated those people. They talked about hurting them and made a list of everyone they hated, the hate list. To Valerie they list, the way they talked about  hurting them, it was all a joke, a way of letting their feelings out. But to Nick it was all real all to real. As he was shooting people that day, Valerie jumped in front of an almost victim and saved her life by taking the bullet in her thigh. Right before she jumped in front of the person she was screaming at him to stop. He just turned around and said "Don't you remember our plan?" As the shooting is investigated they find Nick and Valerie's conversations. So many people see her as a murderer. But a few see her as a hero. I am very intrigued to see how this story plays out.

Semester 1 Reflection

      I have read some very good books this semester thanks to the suggestions I see on the blogs I have commented on. I really enjoyed the required summer reading book I chose which was 'Kill Me Softly' by Sarah Cross. That book took classic fairly tales, even before they were childproofed by Disney, and modernized them. I thought it was a great story line because the author melded classic fairy tales with modern teenage lives. I loved that those two very opposite types of stories could be put together to make a very interesting plot line. Another book I read was 'Looking For Alaska' by John Green. I have loved every book by John green that I've read. This book had a very unique plot line because the resolution isn't the ending you hope for, but it makes you think about life and what you have waiting for you, and what you don't. This book takes you into someones mind and makes you feel exactly what the main character is feeling, and I think that it is extraordinary. 
     I believe that my blogging skills have improved from my first blog post to my most current one. I think my writing has evolved from just writing what the book is about, to writing how I think a character feels about a situation, or how I think the writer was hoping to grasp the reader in a certain way when writing their book. I see how a character develops throughout a story, how they act in the beginning compared to how they act in the end. My blog post's sentences flow together for a whole view on a specific topic. My first few blog posts were not the best and I think that my new posts are more intriguing, I think they pull readers in so that they want to read the end of the post, not that they have to. Every post I make I include a picture of the book's cover so that if the story wasn't that interesting to  the reader they might get attracted by the artwork on the cover. 
      I have a few goals for myself to improve my blogging in the second semester. My biggest goal is to have my posts on time, I had trouble with that this semester but I think I can improve on that drastically if I work on it. I have another goal which is that I include more quotes from books so that I can show why I feel a certain way on a topic or event. I think that I have been lacking on the quotes which I hope to make up for in the second half of the year. I would also like to work on spending more time on the visual aids that go with my posts. I always have a picture of my current book, but I would like for myself to search for videos or articles that pull the reader further into my post and feel more involved.

    I have read 'Deadly Little Secret' by  Laurie Faria Stolarz. I enjoyed this book because of the mystery. This book's summary includes that there is a romantic element to this book, and usually I don't read those types of books. I was intrigued by the title, and by the fact that there was scary type of feel to it. I will admit I probably would have enjoyed this book more if it had more mystery and less romance. When I was reading this book there were few times I was surprised by the way the plot would go. It was the usual forbidden love type of ordeal laced with some mystery and conflict. Overall it was a very well constructed book with a good plot line that I appreciated. I think the little things that this book has that makes it an individual really was a key factor for it to stand out to me.

   I have just finished reading the book 'I Am Malala' by Malala Yousafzai. It was a great book and very inspirational. She is a very accomplished woman already at the age of 17. She is taught by everyone around her to only aspire to be the perfect wife and mother. Only by her family and some close friends is she told to aspire to the perfect her. That means to strive for whatever ambitions she wanted, even if people try to shoot down her ideas. Later, she finds out that people would literally shoot her down. She has been an avid supporter of women's rights for a long time. Before she was noticed by the rest of the world, she had to voice her opinion, but in a way that she could protect herself from the Taliban. After she recovered from being shot, she came back stronger and more passionate than ever before. Also now with the rest of the world watching she could make an even bigger difference for her people, and women everywhere without proper rights. 

   Malala Yousafzai is now known as a staple for women's and children's rights. She still voices her opinion even after she was shot by the Taliban. She is a strong, inspiring woman. She, at 17, has won the Nobel Peace Prize. She is the youngest person to ever win it. In her speech she explains how the award isn't only for her, but for the women and children who didn't have a voice. This link is to her Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmqF9Y2Yq1U