A Beginner's Book Review

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. (New York, NY: Del Rey Books, 1981). 165 pp.
Review by David Lim, Los Osos High School, Rancho Cucamonga, CA.

What is there to say about this novel other than that its society is frighteningly similar to that of ours? Each event that our protagonist, Guy Montag, experiences resembles, in some way, a prediction of what is to come, should we continue to fall short in becoming matured human beings. Set in some utopian future, this dystopian novel beings with a terrifying ritual, book burnings of all works of merit. This moment makes clear to audiences that all is indeed not well in this universe that Bradbury plotted. With the idea of dystopia growing in popularity amongst readers and writers, Bradbury shows a significant difference of a what dysoptia disguises itself to be, which -- again-- is located in the first three pages of the novel. This method of beginning, as well as staying, outside of the comfort zone of dystopian novels -- that being some showing of a clean and contained society (The Giver, by Lois Lowry, comes to mind)-- snatched away my attention and kept it to the end.

With fantastic imagery of fire, night, and machinery, symbols of complacency, tension, and fear come to be revealed within the author and stirred within the reader. These symbols aren't too obscured either, as Guy Montag's mind peaks to a breaking point as he proceeds through this existential crisis placed upon him after admitting to his wife that he had stashed a bundle of banned books and a Christian Bible. Montag's torment is clear enough for any high school student to catch onto, a definite plus to Bradbury in terms of description, plausibility, and plot.

Plausibility is simply all too strong with this work. Teen violence? Facades of happiness? Insanity? Misfortunes existing in this work are all too real thanks to the stories of one of Bradbury's most mysterious characters, Clarrise McClellan, a sixteen-year old girl of many stories and questions. Though not really given physical detail, McClellan is indeed beautiful as an intellectual, and perhaps one of the only few that exist in such a society. Because of her "beauty" she is ridiculed and rejected as insane by her classmates in school and, consequentially, skips school very often to explore the outskirts of the utopia. I refuse to say anymore about this lovely character as she is too fantastic to be spoiled among those who are reading this.

Every complication that Montag encounters is no simple coincidence, each of his actions directly affect his social and mental outcome; in short, the character development for our protagonist is so natural and so "juicy" that it seems as if he were actually telling Bradbury what to write and what to argue.

I would encourage that this book be read by every single student, so long as they wish to mature into someone respectable and humane. I do not see any significant shortcomings in this novel; every piece was coherent and appreciable.

Dystopian Novel

Looking back at creating our team Dystopian Novel, I think that that was perhaps the most creative assignment that we have ever completed. I mean, think about it. We have to create this world of which we know absolutely NOTHING about.  Just pure imagination is used to construct this alternate reality. These are the kind of assignments that I think are the most rewarding, those that challenge critical thoughts and engaging teamwork. Our team's novel was developed based around this world filled with "bubble-boys". It's a little more complicated than that, though.  After a convoluted love triangle, the one that didn't end up with our protagonist female was slightly ticked off and decided to take advantage of his political connections to create a totalitarian government. As a byproduct of the formation of this regime, every citizen is confined in his or her own "bubble", and communication between any of the citizens is strictly prohibited--and impossible.  He does this to create a "better" world, one where the interactions between two people can never hurt another, as he was gravely affected by another's relationship.  It takes the brave efforts of the male and female protagonists, with the aid of their unconditional love for each other, to stop this bubbly atrocity and save mankind. Plausible? Why not? Dystopian novels allow us to experiment with imagination, and this freedom of creativity--along with the 2000 years worth of additional technology--can make any situation possible, even in the case of this bubble-boy world.

-Christopher Lee

What I Read That Mattered

By senior year in High School, I have probably read more books, novels, poems, plays and short stories to last a lifetime. Between the mandatory works of Steinbeck to my pleasure read poems of Hughes, I have had my favorites and least favorites in definitely. But the one thing that has stuck with me since the day my eyes grazed such a beautiful poem is so much higher than all of the others. The Seven of Pentacles by Marge Piercy was introduced to my fourth period English class by Mrs. Elliot the first day of school senior year and I can honesty say I have not been the same since.  The many questions that come along with being in high school and being less than a year from my future University campus, it could not have came at a better time. Its constant theme of fate, destiny, and owning responsibilities set me in the mood for senior year. I was driven by being the best “gardener” I could be, planting my very best self, and waiting for the harvest to come. Above it all, it was one line that forced me to stare all of my insecurities in the face and rise upon them; “Live as if you loved yourself”. Never has a quote influenced me as much as this had. It sums up the many emotions I have had to deal with and reminds me what should matter the most. Piercy’s poem hits home. Each and every time I re-read it, I always take away something that I haven’t before and open up a new door of possibilities. With the end of senior year and graduation around the corner, the Seven of Pentacles will always have a place in my heart and inspires me to always live as if I love myself.

-Jasmine C

As I Grew Older

It was a long time ago.
I have almost forgotten my dream.
But it was there then,
In front of me,
Bright like a sun--
My dream.
And then the wall rose,
Rose slowly,
Slowly,
Between me and my dream.
Rose until it touched the sky--
The wall.
Shadow.
I am black.
I lie down in the shadow.
No longer the light of my dream before me,
Above me.
Only the thick wall.
Only the shadow.
My hands!
My dark hands!
Break through the wall!
Find my dream!
Help me to shatter this darkness,
To smash this night,
To break this shadow
Into a thousand lights of sun,
Into a thousand whirling dreams
Of sun!

Langston Hughes

This weekend as I was reading through one of my many poetry books, I stumbled across the As I Grew Older poem by Langston Hughes. What better poem to read in the midst of being only a month away from graduation? Although Hughes poem was probably written in a different sense and for a different purpose, I took it as a constant reminder that you can never dream and dream to large. With the conclusion of high school creeping upon us in only week’s time, the side effects of Senioritis has surely set in among many of us. Although many of us are eager for that next step after LOHS, there are still those days which it seems like the day will never come. As I Grew Older is a reminder to me that even though the day is almost here, never lose sight of what it is you want to do. It is never too late to dream and to reach that dream if you truly go after it. There will surly be “walls” along the way, but the satisfaction of achievement is so much greater.

-Jasmine C

What I Read That Mattered

Nearly all high school seniors have read a number of works throughout their high school careers, and each student often has that one novel that is more significant than all others because of the personal impact it had on the student.  For me, that novel ended up being John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath.

I’ll be the first to admit that when I learned we had to read this novel for Mr. Weidman’s Sophomore Honors English class, I was not too excited.  I allowed my immature preconceptions and assumptions of old, “critically-acclaimed”, and seemingly-endless novels take over; when I began reading, these misassumptions soon disappeared.

I was actually quite surprised that I was enjoying The Grapes of Wrath, that novel that nearly every sophomore supposedly hated in the graduation class before mine.  This is the first reason why this novel mattered to me: It taught me that I shouldn’t allow others to tell me if I would like a work of literature.  Before this, if my upperclassman friends would advise me to not read a certain book, and it was of my liberty to pick which book I could read, then I would quickly swap books.  However, my appreciation for this book extends much further than the reason listed above.

When I read, I like to read for a purpose.  As opposed to other novels that I had to read, which typically seemed to try to entertain rather than teach me, I learned so much history from this book and was able to gather so many values from it.  As cheesy as it seems, I think the novel actually taught me to be a more charitable person.  The struggles that the Joads encountered in that short amount of time affected me.  Admittedly and immaturely, I was a “fend for yourself” type of person before reading this novel.  After reading this novel, and after realizing that some people are placed into certain unfavorable situations by fate rather than by choice, I felt guilty for having such a selfish value system.  When each person is stripped of his economic status, social status, color, culture, religion, or any other classifying factor, he is simply a human.  Just like you, and just like me.  As humans, it is our responsibility to assist humans in their times of need.  If every human lived independently from each other, there is no possible way humanity could have advanced as far as it has today.  So why do we allow ourselves to discriminate against those humans who are clearly in adverse situations that are not self-imposed? It’s purely illogical. 

These are the critical thoughts and questions that arose for me after reading this novel.  I can genuinely say that it has had an enormous impact on the way I perceive those in need, and even those who aren’t in such great need, but still discriminated because of some classification which they are forced to live with.  Of all the novels I read in high school, this one truly is the one that mattered to me most.

-Christopher Lee