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Who thought the cave would come back?

Re-reading my criticisms I noticed that one of the dudes that wrote one was obsessed with Plato’s Allegory of the Cave.  Like dude chill.  I went back to my trusty wnb (always there for you) and looked over my notes.  Since I did that I can say for sure that I have concluded two things. 1. My handwriting is getting progressively worse and 2. Fahrenheit 451 is a lot like Allegory of the Cave???  Shocked I didn’t notice the parallels sooner but wow.  Kinda wishing that I could be writing about my secondary sources right now because I could go ham on that paper.  I am going to bottle my sudden excitement about writing this, take a few notes on the main points I want to talk about later. And go to bed?

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So here we are, skipping school to work on AP Lit.  I want to just make this a PSA for anyone who reads this I AM NOT CONDONING SKIPPING SCHOOL.  Granted skipping school is bad I made some progress I finished reading and annotating all of my crisicisms, and I am very confused.  I have two solid sources that make points I like and then my third is floating out somewhere with completely different ideas that I like but never really thought of? I dont’t think I want to abondan the criticism because I like the points made and I want to challenge mytself to think differently.  I think i am going to make my intro 4 paragraphs one for each bullet point because Idk that makes the most sense to me?  I am almost done with my intro and hopefully i’ll finish today and get a good start on my conclusion (already done with the body) then do the home learning from yesterday!  Not having theatre is helping a lot with this project so bless up for that.  Hope you guys aren’t all dead yet 

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Chunk 7 pages 130-158

WTH! I feel like Ray Bradbury put like 3 different book ideas together and somehow made it into one thing. So much change occurs throughout this book and it isn’t a very long book to begin with. One page Montag is being chill and hoping for a better life for him and his wife the next he’s burning his boss alive on his front yard, then skip 20 pages and he’s a member of a nomad hobo gang that memorizes books. Besides that strange feature I enjoyed the ending of this book. Montag runs away and ends up with a tribe of people that dedicate their lives to memorizing books that have been burned. An attempt at keeping literature alive. Montag joins this group and is walking with them while the city he has just run from gets bombed. This bombing destroys the city. In a way the book ends with a clean slate, it seems like hope is what will guide montag in the following years. Fahrenheit 451 ends with society being destroyed but I don’t see that as a bad thing in this case. It leaves what’s left to be rebuilt and hopefully end up better.

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Chunk 6 pages 107 to 130

Well damnnn montag snapped. At first he burned his house and the books with little to no protest, other than his thoughts about his wife betraying him. Montag seemed to snap when Beatty took the earpiece given to him by Faber. Beatty told montag that he would find the man at the other end of the earpiece. This caused Montag to snap, burning Beatty alive with the torch he was given. He then burnt the hound. He spent the rest of this chunk on the run from the police. He planted a book in another fireman’s home and then escaped to Fabers house. Faber gives him clothes to change his smell and montag goes on his way with the knowledge that he is being chased by a new hound. Montag undergoes a dramatic character shift in this chunk. Before I was talking about how montag was doing nothing as if he needed to be woken up from a dream. Now he’s definitely awake and pretty much acting a lil crazy. I am excited to see where this takes montag for the ending of the book.

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Chunk 5 pages 87-107

Montag continues to assume he’s getting away with having the books he has taken from work. I spent every single page after finding out that he had books in his house waiting to see when he gets busted. I’m unsure what makes him believe that he can keep these books and everything is dandy, he makes no apparent attempt to escape from this society that he hates. I just feel like Montag is being lowkey dumb. He won’t act it’s almost like he’s frozen, in my opinion this translates to today’s politics. We have so many people unhappy with the government imposing certain decisions nobody stands by onto everyone. But really what gets done about it besides political memes and protests and walks that no one listens to? Maybe montag feels powerless, this feeling could be the reason why he did nothing. Maybe not buringing his books himself was the little amount of control he had left? This chunk ends with the firemen outside of montags house. We will see what happens.

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Chunk 4 pages 67 to 87

Getting through this chunk was a struggle for me, I just got wisdom teeth out so I read it once on drugs and once normally due to the fact that I remembered nothing from my first read. Montag realizes that the book he stole from the woman’s house was a copy of the Bible, afraid that Beatty will know which book he took from the woman’s house Montag begins to attempt to copy the Bible in order to preserve it. He goes to a mans home to find a way to copy the Bible. Faber claims that he is able to contact someone with the ability to copy this book. He then gives montag an earpiece so they can communicate. Throughout this chunk Montag is struggling with the idea of living without books. On page 73 he talks about how books have “pores” and goes on about the dimension books with more pores have. I feel like when he says that books have pores he’s talking about when books have the ability to create opinions and insight into situations instead of forcefully telling it’s audience what to think like many “modern” entertainment options do in Montags day. He craves the wisdom many people in his society overlook, for example his wife who claims that books are boring and that she’d rather see her “family”. This is a motif I can see translating into life today. Less and less people care to read books because instead they could just watch tv or a movie, but at what point are we missing out on the idea of forming our own opinions about media?

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Chunk 3 45-67

In this chunk, Montag reveals quite a shocking part of his character.  From the beginning of the book I was under the assumptions that Montag was just a firefighter who spent most of his life not thinking about what he was doing to the world by buring books for a living.  The day agter Montag burns down the lady’s house with her in it he faces a dilemma.  He claims to feel sick even though he has “never been sick a day in his life.”  He battels with the internal struggle of the role he plays in society.  When his boss shows up at his home and gives Montag a lecture about why firemen do what they do attempting to preevent Montag from drifting from what society says.  Montag doesnt care, after Beatty leaves he reveals to his wife that he has been keeping books in an air duct over the front door.  He says it has been happening for the past year, leading me to believe that he has had struggles with the validity of whthe wolem he plays in society.  Ending this first chapter with the reader not kn owing what this decision Montag made means for the rest of the story makes me anxious to carry on with the book.  I feel like Bradbury is setting up Montag to go bust the government for all the shit it pulls to “keep the people happy” by supressing minorities.  I am excited to see where this claim “ as long as the majority ids happy we are fine” leads this book.  

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21-45

Chunk two

Montag undergoes a lot of stressers in his day to day life and I feel like this chunk in an extended introduction but more in depth when it comes to his social interactions. Montag lives his life around people the reader would assume he's close to. His wife and the men he works with every day are people he doesn't feel connected with. The characters he does feel connected with come from the least expected places. His teenage neighbor and a random woman whose house he was sent to burn down. I think Bradbury creates this distance between the average people that resemble society and Montag and draws Montag to the seemingly random characters that overall impact him more than the people closest to him. Montag stealing the book marks a turning point in his character in which he comes to the realization that he wants to be different. I am excited to see where this takes Montag.

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Pages 1-21

So my book has 3 "chapters" so essentially I divided each of those chapters into three and chose a stopping point around each section. I just finished my first section, this book draws me in because for lack of a better word the writing is beautiful. The vivid imagery and descriptiveness of the words that Bradbury uses keeps me present. This combined with the frequent dialogue keeps the book interesting yet fast paced. I am looking forward to seeing more of Montag and clarisse I have a feeling that Clarisse will have a big impact on the plot of the book. The relationship between Montag and his wife gives me dejavu. His wife's obsession with new technology overshadows many aspects of what it means to be husband and wife. Today is it common for people to complain about boyfriends playing video games instead of spending time with them. It seems to me that Montag is unhappy in their relationship, leading him to be drawn to outside social interactions such as Clarisse. So far I really like this book!

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Choosing my book

Initially I hated the idea of this project. Having to choose a book with scholarly criticism typically means that it's going to be a older book. Personally I find modern books to be more interesting so naturally I don't try to read older books. I decided to look back at books we read this year that I liked and see if I can find something similiar. Looking back I'd say that the handmaids tale was my favorite read. I enjoyed that it was a dystopian novel and looked for other dystopian novels on ap books list. Farenheight 451 drew my attention because it seemed like an interesting topic. The other day I picked it up from barnes and noble and am planning on reading it over spring break

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Why Beethoven is the most original known artist today

Ludwig van Beethoven is, in my opinion, is the most creative and original musician in history.  Beethoven began to lose his hearing when he was in his twenties, but continued to compose for the rest of his life.  Many of his most famous works can be attributed to his work that was done after he went completely deaf in his early 40’s.  It is assumed that this can be attributed to him not being influenced by pop culture, yet still staying completely original because of his hearing impairment.  In Beethoven’s case his impairment let him avoid the common issue that musicians face, being influenced by pop culture.

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College educated serial killers

“ This list is not exhaustive, but it shows that 1) some serial killers do focus well enough to stay a long and challenging course, and 2) there appear to be few of them relative to the number of serial killers who don’t. “

This article illustrates some of many serial killers who have gone to college. But also points out the fact that many killers find themselves too distracted to put themselves through higher education.  The numbers suggest that serial killers on average have not received a college degree.  Also interestingly enough the article suggests that most serial killers end up reviving a degree in medicine, education, or the social sciences.

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“ Chronic stress can detract from both mental and physical health. Over time, this stress can lead to the development of a mental health issue such as anxiety or depression “

This article talks about how a bad family life effects the mental health of the members of said household.  Perry in my opinion shows many symptoms of mental illness such as anxiety and depression.  I believe that this was because of his negative home life

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In cold blood secondary source

“There was this one nurse, she used to call me "nigger" and say there wasn't any difference between niggers and Indians. Oh Jesus, was she an Evil Bastard! Incarnate. What she used to do, she'd fill a tub with ice cold water, put me in it, and hold me under until I was blue. “ 

This passage is taken from a moment in the book when Perry (one of the two murders) reminisces about his childhood.  He was commonly sent away to different living situations by his alcoholic mother.  In particular the story of Perry being sent to a boys boarding school intrigued me because the reason he was punished so severely was because of his constant bed wetting.  Bed wetting at an older age is typically associated with serial killers, or murders of any type.  (Perry was technically a mass murderer)  His constant emotional and physical torture from various authority figures in his life likely accounted for a large amount of his mental problems.  Perry’s family life likely impacted his future. just like he claims,