Farenheit 451 reminded me of The Giver because the main character figures out there is something more to life, so they run away and try to change everything. They also figure out that no one they know really loves them, and when they find out what happened to the world, they are angry about it. Also, in these books, the people don't think about death. On pages 59 and 60, Beatty tells Montag that within ten minutes after a person dies, they are burnt in an incinerator because funerals are too unhappy. In the Giver, they don't even think of it as death, its called being "released". Does anyone have an idea on how the people in Fahrenheit 451 actually die(other than being burnt in a fire)? Also, Faber is a lot like The Giver because they understand what is happening to the world and the help Mantag and Jonas create a plan on how to help fix the problems the world is facing.
[This message has been edited by guardgirl1717 (edited 08-31-2004).]
This book also reminded me of The Giver becase in both settings they wanted a utopia (perfect world). They both wanted censorship also so that pepole wouldnt have to think. Censorship is good and all but somtimes like in F451 what they were doing was wrong because some of that information in the books could be used to teach classes so that people could go on in life becoming a very important inventor or somthing.
Posts: 2 | Location: lemont, il, usa | Registered: 26 August 2004
I agree that the book is similar to The Giver. Jonas, the boy in The Giver, is very much like Montag in that they both seem normal. Then they have life changing experiences that caus them to be different from everyone else in the community and ultimatly escape with hopes for something better. Faber is also much like the Giver (the old man) because he helped Montag to get away like the Giver helped Jonas.
"Brave New World," with an inside world in which the government runs peoples' lives, and an outside world of "savages" who may know more than the "civilized." "1984," with the government feeding people its version of the truth, to which they alter their memory--or else! (This is actually frighteningly close to how history is often taught.)
Posts: 7328 | Location: Dayton, Washington, USA | Registered: 03 December 2001
One of the best all-time SF short stories dealing in dystopian societies is HARRISON BERGERON by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
The smarter people were denied the ability to concentrate, pretty people were scarred, and graceful people were kept off balance with the use of weights. A very funny story.
As far as a story quite similar to F-451 in more ways than one, try THE VOICE by Gregory Benford. In this story, the need to read is abolished because the ever-present "Voice" tells you everything. But, there is an underground movement determined to keep the ability to read from being forgotten completely. There's also a direct and fairly obvious tribute to F-451 in the story when they happen across a tattered old book entitled CENTIGRADE 233.
I feel that F451 was very similar to the book/play "1984." In "1984" Big Brother (the leader of the Party) is brainwashing Party members into believing only the rules of the Party they belong to. Winston Smith (one of these members) begins to hate everything the Party stands for, and begins to see Julia behind their the Party's back. Since she also hates the restrictions and controls of the Party, they discuss ways of overthrowing Big Brother. When the Thought Police catches them, they are forced to confess their sins and plotting against Big Brother. In many ways, this book remind me of F451 becasue of the "perfect society" that is trying to be created in each. For F451, the "perfect society" was trying to be reached by destroying the books, and in "1984," the "perfect society" was trying to be reached by having everyone believe in the same ideas that are the rules of the Party they belong to. This is why I feel that F451 and "1984" are so similar.
Clarisse did play an important role to Montag think about books. But the biggest thing was the old lady dying for the books. Clarisse jsut helped Montag to think about things. The old lady got him think wats so important about the books to worth dying for. Still Clarisse was important to Montag quiting the firemen.
Farenheit 451 reminded me of The Giver because the main character figures out there is something more to life, so they run away and try to change everything. They also figure out that no one they know really loves them, and when they find out what happened to the world, they are angry about it. Also, in these books, the people don't think about death. On pages 59 and 60, Beatty tells Montag that within ten minutes after a person dies, they are burnt in an incinerator because funerals are too unhappy. In the Giver, they don't even think of it as death, its called being "released". 