Knowledge and ignorance seems to be a conflict which plagues Guy throughout the novel. Does ignorance, or knowledeg bring bliss? Montag, all his life has only known ignorance (no pun inteneded haha) decides to risk his life to fight against a society that embraces and lives off of ignorance. Thus he explores the second possiblty of hapiness which the first failed to achieve.
The fireman's job is to burn books, and therefore destroy knowledge and thus promoting ignorance to maintain the retardation of society. After speaking with Clarisse, Montag realizes his life is meaningless because it lacks truth and happiness. After having his epiphany, Montag fights against ignorance, trying to help others become enlightened. An example is when he forces them to listen to poetry despite their objection. Although they become angry after listening to the poetry, they have the luxury of experiencing true emotion for once. In Montag's aqcuired view, emotion will give these women and the world less retarded.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Guy Montag
In the post-apocalyptic world Fahrenheit 451 takes place Guy Montag is seemingly perfect. He is a strong fireman, having the uniform dark features such as "black hair, black brows…fiery face, and…blue-steel shaved but unshaved look."
Guy loves his job as the incendiary of knowledge which ironically gives him the opportunity to drain his collapsing world the only chance it has to regain intellectuality and stay afloat. He is officiated by every aspect of being a fireman such as the smell of kerosene, every one's fear of him, and
letting small animals loose and betting on which ones the Mechanical Hound would annihilate first. However, as the book progresses his seemingly ideal mental state seems to undergo a metamorphosis after meeting the neighbor girl, Sara McClellan. While every house is filled with darkness and every person with fright, she and her family seem to be a surviving anomaly. Her house is bright with light and her heart lacks fear. She and Guy have the first intuitive conversation in his life that makes him open his eyes and see his world for the first time. He sees his terrible, suicidal marriage for what it is, he questions his job, and he questions society. The girl's death places guy on a quest what he has spent years destroying, knowledge. Guy chases this until he arrives at a paradox, the fireman begins to read. He realizes individuality and his soul is worth breaking the shackles of stupidity by which conformity has bound him like many other heroes of literature.
Guy loves his job as the incendiary of knowledge which ironically gives him the opportunity to drain his collapsing world the only chance it has to regain intellectuality and stay afloat. He is officiated by every aspect of being a fireman such as the smell of kerosene, every one's fear of him, and
letting small animals loose and betting on which ones the Mechanical Hound would annihilate first. However, as the book progresses his seemingly ideal mental state seems to undergo a metamorphosis after meeting the neighbor girl, Sara McClellan. While every house is filled with darkness and every person with fright, she and her family seem to be a surviving anomaly. Her house is bright with light and her heart lacks fear. She and Guy have the first intuitive conversation in his life that makes him open his eyes and see his world for the first time. He sees his terrible, suicidal marriage for what it is, he questions his job, and he questions society. The girl's death places guy on a quest what he has spent years destroying, knowledge. Guy chases this until he arrives at a paradox, the fireman begins to read. He realizes individuality and his soul is worth breaking the shackles of stupidity by which conformity has bound him like many other heroes of literature.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Mark Strand Black Sea
Black Sea by Marky Strand
One clear night while the others slept, I climbed
the stairs to the roof of the house and under a sky
strewn with stars I gazed at the sea, at the spread of it,
the rolling crests of it raked by the wind, becoming
like bits of lace tossed in the air. I stood in the long
whispering night, waiting for something, a sign, the approach
of a distant light, and I imagined you coming closer,
the dark waves of your hair mingling with the sea,
and the dark became desire, and desire the arriving light.
The nearness, the momentary warmth of you as I stood
on that lonely height watching the slow swells of the sea
break on the shore and turn briefly into glass and disappear ...
Why did I believe you would come out of nowhere? Why with all
that the world offers would you come only because I was here?
This is a more sensative poem. It permeates a man's heart when it desires one it can not have. He uses his infatuation with nature's beaty and the body's natural state to describe this woman whose hair is like the drak waves crashing in the night. Her darkness and ambiguity became his passion and his passion dorve him into a trance till sunrise. Her darkness became his passion until light. His desire is the passion he wants but in his hand. He wants her, the darkness, the passion, the light, his love to come to him to prove his worth. This level of testosterone is surprising for a poet. This display of wanting something simply so the result proves ones worth is present in many and reveals Strand's insecuirities or at least his depiction of the human insecurity that is fragile as glass and changing as the ocean. It is human nature and nature is human.
One clear night while the others slept, I climbed
the stairs to the roof of the house and under a sky
strewn with stars I gazed at the sea, at the spread of it,
the rolling crests of it raked by the wind, becoming
like bits of lace tossed in the air. I stood in the long
whispering night, waiting for something, a sign, the approach
of a distant light, and I imagined you coming closer,
the dark waves of your hair mingling with the sea,
and the dark became desire, and desire the arriving light.
The nearness, the momentary warmth of you as I stood
on that lonely height watching the slow swells of the sea
break on the shore and turn briefly into glass and disappear ...
Why did I believe you would come out of nowhere? Why with all
that the world offers would you come only because I was here?
This is a more sensative poem. It permeates a man's heart when it desires one it can not have. He uses his infatuation with nature's beaty and the body's natural state to describe this woman whose hair is like the drak waves crashing in the night. Her darkness and ambiguity became his passion and his passion dorve him into a trance till sunrise. Her darkness became his passion until light. His desire is the passion he wants but in his hand. He wants her, the darkness, the passion, the light, his love to come to him to prove his worth. This level of testosterone is surprising for a poet. This display of wanting something simply so the result proves ones worth is present in many and reveals Strand's insecuirities or at least his depiction of the human insecurity that is fragile as glass and changing as the ocean. It is human nature and nature is human.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
mark strand Precious Little
Precious Little by Mark Strand
At times we muse about things in life; we are blinded and we are unaware of our surroundings. We may think that we see one thing yet it is something completely different. Although we can see there is something ambiguous about our environment. Here the person is confused about what is going on and ceases to think about it since he or she will not be able to figure it out. You don’t have to be blind to be blinded but you will never know what you didn’t see while you were blind.
At times we muse about things in life; we are blinded and we are unaware of our surroundings. We may think that we see one thing yet it is something completely different. Although we can see there is something ambiguous about our environment. Here the person is confused about what is going on and ceases to think about it since he or she will not be able to figure it out. You don’t have to be blind to be blinded but you will never know what you didn’t see while you were blind.
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