Posted on 06/25/2015 10:44:38 AM PDT by Mr. K
FAHRENHEIT 451
by Ray Bradbury
This one, with gratitude, is for DON CONGDON.
FAHRENHEIT 451:
The temperature at which book-paper catches fire and burns
PART I
IT WAS A PLEASURE TO BURN
IT was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed. With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world, the blood pounded in his head, and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history. With his symbolic helmet numbered 451 on his stolid head, and his eyes all orange flame with the thought of what came next, he flicked the igniter and the house jumped up in a gorging fire that burned the evening sky red and yellow and black. He strode in a swarm of fireflies.
He wanted above all, like the old joke, to shove a marshmallow on a stick in the furnace, while the flapping pigeon-winged books died on the porch and lawn of the house. While the books went up in sparkling whirls and blew away on a wind turned dark with burning.
Montag grinned the fierce grin of all men singed and driven back by flame. He knew that when he returned to the firehouse, he might wink at himself, a minstrel man, burntcorked, in the mirror.
Later, going to sleep, he would feel the fiery smile still gripped by his face muscles, in the dark. It never went away, that. smile, it never ever went away, as long as he remembered.
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True.
Separately, I’ve read Atlas Shrugged at least a half dozen times, starting in the early ‘70’s. Every time I read it I can’t help but notice that the America described therein is becoming a reality.
The Rebel Flag is now an unperson.
George Orwell 1984
1984 & Animal Farm are on my 13YO son’s reading list this summer. I’ll let him read Atlas Shrugged in a couple of years, he’s already seen the movie trilogy. The sex passages in AS aren’t appropriate for him.
Aren't there a few in 1984? It's been a while since I last read it.
Humpty Dumbty Roberts is the Chief Fireman.
Thanks for the warning, it’s been years since I read it.
Has this country gone completely mad?
We need to understand this process by which the media and internet activists can so easily whip of the mob. Our only hope is that they will take it too far, and provoke a reaction. But at this point, I don’t even know what “too far” would look like.
ping
OT, but I'm pretty sure that's also true about the Coen brothers.
But just as an aside; Humpty Dumpty was never ID’d as an egg. In the written version that is.
Weren't there similar passages in 1984?
We have already reached to far and are heading for no return.
I took note of this passage on yours:
"Living in a foreign land for 4+ years intensified my love for this country, warts and all. That this country survived 8 years of Bill Clinton is a testament to the wisdom, brilliance, and foresight of our Founding Fathers who crafted our Constitution."
I am supposing that particular sentence was written a few years ago. My question is simple:
What say you now?
It’s obvious I need to revise my home page...lol. Given the political winds today, I’m likely to delete the whole nine yards.
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