Lit. Analysis #2

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury


      Fahrenheit was a class assignment. Before I read the story many people told me that they did not like this story, so I didn't expect much. After I read it I was most definitely surprised to find that I enjoyed this story very much. When I first started reading I was a little confused about what was happening. Even though the author made it very clear, I wasn't sure why everything was happening. This made me think about it, then i just realized that, that is what every book is like. I enjoyed that the inciting incident happened towards the beginning of the story, which meant that I knew it would get interesting right away. My reading habits for this story were different than usual for me. When I started reading I didn't get lost in the book, but yet I still enjoyed every word. I read this story piece by piece; this kept the story interesting with a lot of cliff-hangers for me to go back to.

      The plot of this story was a bit all over the place. It starts with the main character, Guy Montag, just living his life as normal, and a young girl changes everything for him. He goes on an adventurous journey to seek what the meaning of books are. There are many obstacles for him, but in the end he comes out on top. The theme of this novel was hope and self determination. The authors tone in my opinion would be slightly poetic and dramatic with a hint of bitterness. "There must have been a billion leaves on the land; he waded in them, a dry river smelling of hot cloves and warm dust. And other smells! There was a smell like a cut potato from all the land, raw and cold and white from having the moon on it most of the night. There was a smell like pickles from a bottle and a smell like parsley on the table at home. There was a faint yellow odor like mustard from a jar. There was a smell like carnations from the yard next door. he put down his hand and felt a weed rise up like a child brushing him. His fingers smelled of licorice.", Bradbury writes. He uses great diction to not only make you feel as if you are there but to make you relate. In the excerpt I used you can see similes, imagery, synesthesia, diction, tone, and syntax.

       An example of indirect characterization is when Ray Bradbury uses the characters actions, "Montag grinned the fierce grin of all men singed and driven back by flame." to show what the character is like. By Montags action you can see that he is enjoying what he is doing. The author's syntax and diction changes when he focuses on a character. Such as, if a character was getting overwhelmed, the author made the sentences shorter. Montag is a dynamic character because he makes a dramatic change to his character throughout the story. After reading this story I don't think that I felt like I met Montag in person, in my opinion he was just another heroic character in a story.

Favorite quote from book:
http://www.lrsimas24.blogspot.com/2014/12/book-quote-2.html