Fahrenheit 451 last 2 sections

I hadn't really put two and two together before we talked about the women in this book and how they're complete opposite from the 50's until we talked about it today. But now that I look back on the book, the women seem completely unconcerned with any of the things we would think they should be concerned with: cooking, cleaning, tending to children, and loving their spouses. All of these seem to be the farthest things from their minds, especially loving their spouses. I personally think they could care less about their family and they make that pretty clear. The only "family" they actually like are the vicious, limb-chopping clowns that play in their parlors. Technology definitely overtook this society to a point of no return. Who needs companionship when you can just watch television all day long?


Montag's mind is a sieve. His sand is the Bible or any of the other books that he is trying to practically memorize because that's the only way he can really "keep" them. Just like when he was a kid and would try to fill his sieve with sand in order to get a dime, he just keeps filling and filling his mind with information only to find he can't retain any of it because of constant interruption of technology. If there had been less technology, he probably would have had a better outcome, but since the radio or the television are promised to always be background noise, he'll probably have a difficult time with this. 


There really are  a lot of Biblical references in this book. I'm not exactly sure why but maybe as I continue reading it will make more sense. 


So Montag finally decided to do something to change his crazy world! I'm pretty happy about this because things need to be changed. It seems like the only people who are able to "feel" any more were Clarisse, Montag, and Faber. Luckily Faber has this master plan of attack to try and change things, I just hope Montag doesn't screw it up by going off the chain again like he did to Mildred and her friends. 


Also, I'm not really sure why Mrs. Phelps cried after Montag read the poem. Did it just strike her close to home? Or did she just really hate it? 


I think the things that bothered me the most about this section were the discussions between Mildred and her friends. First, Mrs. Phelps flat out said that if her husband died she wouldn't cry or worry, but she would move on with her life and on to her 4th marriage. This is way wrong! It's her husband and she acts as if he were a complete stranger. Secondly, I was bothered when they talked about politics, or at least their sense of the word. To them, it was all about voting for the guy that looked better, didn't pick his nose, and had an "attractive" name. If people really did vote like this in real life (which I'm sure appearance plays into it but not in the way they are treating it) then we would be in a pretty deep hole, I assume. 

First off, I was super surprised when I realized that Beatty was going to burn Montag's house. I thought that Beatty liked Montag and understood what he was going through but I guess not. It sort of seemed like Beatty was actually enjoying making Montag burn his own house. Also, I was really surprised that Montag's own wife was the one that turned him in. This just goes to show again that maybe she really didn't love him after all. She was so opposed to being a team with Montag throughout the book. From the minute she found out Montag had books, she wanted nothing to do with him. 


Two parts that really stood out to me and made me feel the kind of anxiety that I pictured Montag feeling at the time were the part where Montag is about to get hit by the car, and the part where everyone is about to open his or her door to look for Montag. The way Bradbury used the short sentences mixed with Montag's own thoughts made me feel what he was feeling. One example is: " 'At the count of ten now! One! Two!' He felt the city rise. 'Three!' He felt the city turn to its thousands of doors. Faster! Leg up, leg down!"


I really liked Montag's transition of thought when he realized the bums were using the fire to keep warm. This is the first part in the book where we see fire used to help rather than to hurt. In every other instance, fire is destructive, but here, fire is what's keeping these people alive. He realizes that fire can give as much as it can take and that's when I think he finally sees that everything will be all right. The fire serves as kind of a sign of hopefulness toward the future.


One thing that I thought about while reading the end of this book, was how different the world would be if there were no more books at all. There is so much history and literature that would be lost for future generations and I'm sure that this would greatly impact their attitude towards the world and the things of the world. I don't really read much, but if there weren't books, there would be so many things that I just wouldn't know and would have to just be okay with not knowing because there would be no way to find anything out.


I wish I knew what happened to Faber. I mean, obviously he probably died, but in a way I want to tell myself he didn't just because I liked him and his perspective on things. Hopefully Montag and the others that survived the "war" will be able to bring their internal books back to life in the coming generation. The bombing has given this society a clean slate to practically start over with and hopefully they take advantage of that. 

The poem's significance is that It has to do with the relation to montag's situation. Because the poem has to do with loss of faith and montag has lost his faith in society.