"Do you ever read any of the books you burn?"
He laughed. "That's against the law!"
"Oh. Of course."
More and more often I find myself secretly secluding myself from my surroundings in order to get some one-on-one time with one of the many books that I have been dabbling in. It seems the only way to get the most out of these illusive affairs is to bunker down in the privacy of my office, bedroom, or in the vicinity of my backyard. As if what I was doing was unfit for the public eye. Perhaps, in a sense it is. Think about it. How often do you see people reading books in public places? Unless you frequent a school campus, a library, or perhaps a beach, your answer to that question is more than likely a low number, if it isn’t the infamous zero.
It is odd how peculiarly familiar a book’s message can be, how easily it’s premise can be applied to your own life, and how completely captivating and absorbing a book’s affect can be on you. For instance, I am currently reading Fahrenheit 451 and although it takes situations to the extreme, (reading books is against the law and fireman exist solely to burn books) its message(s) are so in tuned to how I feel towards many aspects of my life and that of my culture. I think the most prevalent and easily interpreted message from this novel, is the author’s concern and fear of his culture’s progression into the realm of hedonistic entertainment and the associated deterioration of critical thinking. Of course what I speak of is the nation-wide obsession with television, which became commercially available in the 1930’s and became commonly affordable and vastly desired in the 1950’s. The author, Ray Bradbury, makes the case that television eliminates your chances of questioning what was just presented to you, due to the fact that TV is a constant stream, continuing flowing, forcing you to accept the information by eliminating your desire to question through endless entertainment. (Also, the book immensely goes into detail on the whole Individual Vs. Society Theme, which I will refrain from commenting on since I could go on for days about it.)
I find it eerie how similar someone from over 50 years ago felt about a prevailing issue and how closely his farfetched, prediction of a future reality can be compared to that of my own. I know, books will never be outlawed, at least I hope not, but I think the point the author was making is that how a good portion of our culture has deprived us, or lead us astray from, the wondrous and thought-provoking qualities that are ever rampant in a well written novel. He does a great job of making you question, if books will ever really become obsolete and if so, what will be the repercussions of such a lapse in individual development.
In this day and age, I believe television to be the man culprit as the deterrence from a person’s self indulgence into the beauty of books, but I have noticed a newcomer that may take away television’s title. This young go-getter would be the industry of video gaming and it is rapidly increasing it's grasp upon our culture’s youth. Being a part of the first mainstream gaming generation, I have seen direct results the effects such influences can have on people. For instance, I have had many friends who dropped out of school, disappeared socially, or who knows what due to their obsession of a video game. Now, I am not saying that they should not be enjoyed ever; I just think that as an individual, who partakes in such entertainment, one should recognize the limits of their involvement with said entertainment. Video games are highly enjoyable but, like most things, should be enjoyed in moderation.
Well I fell like I am beginning to ramble as well as beginning to loose my train of thought, so I will close with the following statement, "I am Guy Montag!", and based off that you can assure yourself this is a damn good book. Also, check out these reading figures I found, http://www.humorwriters.org/startlingstats.html, pretty lame if you ask me.
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