Going back to the criticism on the gramatical mistakes in sunshine's post...

ur luck-e dat we yungins aint not talkin like dis, dawg! Don u be hatin! das ignerint...lol.

Keep in mind that this IS the internet. As long as the point gets across, and it doesn't look like the above, who cares? Spelling might get kind of annoying, but gramatical mistakes in informal conversation like this...it doesn't matter...think of it as talking to someone; it's not like you go out of your way to keep things gramatically correct. I'm not saying it's BAD to write carefully on a message board, in fact, I often do, it's just not something to get upset or angry about. Not to offend anyone, I'm not really attacking any individual.


Anyway...now that I'm done with that off-topic rant...

I allways felt like Montag wouldn't really be a leader because we find out at the end that there are many more like him. Still, it is an interesting idea that he would be the "moral centre". It could happen...


going back to the very first post...

I agree with lmskipper. However, I don't see what there is in 451 that would be of objection. I can sort of see why this might be thought necessary for 1984, but I read that book in seventh grade on my own, and I wasn't scarred for life. It's not as if people who aren't full adults are stupid; we know what sex is. We are not naive and reading a part of a book with (non-explicit) sex isn't going to hurt us. I have a vivid memory of my librarian last year (eighth grade) telling me that I should not reas Atlas Shrugged because it was too difficult to understand and might not be appropriate. I don't see why we should be scolded for wanting to read classic literature.

[This message has been edited by scarywarhol (edited 03-03-2005).]

While recognizing your points, I still see him as a moral center in that he represents life as a quest for truth, and that anything less than truth is too superficial to be fulfilling in any meaningful way. I don't see him as the moral center in that he is a completed work; but in that he is on a sojourn with truth and meaning consisting of the end goal of the search. The search is definitely sparked in a focused and external way by Clarisse, but my reading is that Montag was already looking for something more. His underlying melancholy at the beginning of the book seems to support this possibility. That unrest represents his disatisfaction with the status quo of a purely shallow, material, entertainment-focused existence. It is a bit like the Neo character at the beginning of the Matrix. He knows there's something wrong, and he wants to understand it, but it takes a spark to give his malaise focus toward resolution.

I am watching a movie entitled The Running Man which stars the likes of Anrold Governator and Jesse Governator and I was wondering if it is similar to Farenheit 451. We did not get the chance to read it this year in class so I will have to read it this summer.

I couldn't reply, although I imagine in terms of the use of mass-media, there would be parallels. I haven't seen "Running Man" in a long time. It's another movie (Blade Runner, Minority Report) based on a Philip K. Dick story, isn't it?

No, not PKD, but Stephen King.

"Denham's Dentrifice" -
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/05/20/space.advertising.reut/index.html

I think I agree with both Mr. D and fij...
Montag and the rest of society are unhappy which is shown by the mass suicides, very ironc because happiness is the reason they banned books. Guy realizes his unhappiness when he meets Clarisse but has already shown some curiosity in books because of the collection above the ventilator. Once he realizes the sorry state of his life he starts to take action. Unfortunately becasue he has never thought for himself he isn't able to even when he tries. When he is floating in the river he finally has the time to just stop everything and THINK about the situation. That is why it is a big turning point in Montag's development.

Phil and Mr. D:
Semantics or punctuation!?
You are both right!

Running Man, Yes - Steven King
&
Blade Runner, Minority Report, Yes - Philip K. Dick

3 really good SF stories.