Essay/Term paper: Fahrenheit 451: books - a part of our past

Essay, term paper, research paper:  College Essays

Fahrenheit 451: Books - A Part of Our Past


One of the biggest issues raised in this book was the idea that people
are starting to forget more about books and what they mean. People have
started to take books for granted, instead of reading books they watch a movie
or a program on the television. People do not realize that books, scrolls,
manuscripts are a big part of our past.

Since the beginning of time, people have been recording things they saw,
did and took part in on birch bark and later very primitive paper. People do
not realize that without those scratching on the birch bark that we would have
no recollection of the past. Sure there would have been word of mouth, but
things would have gotten so turned around that it would not have been our past
anymore, it would have been a made up one. In the time of Shakespeare there
were no televisions, not even close to that technology yet. Who would we study
and learn about, if no one had written things. Man kind would be studying the
man who had invented the television because he would have been able to record
himself, and then everything after that, which is only about fifty years. But
without the recordings of Einstein and all the other famous scientists,
television probably would not be invented that early.

In our day and age people are watching too much television. We figure
that everything that is in books is on the television. If we need to learn
about something we rent a movie about it or watch a show on it. No one reads
books anymore just for the fun of it, or so they can read the paranormal,
science fiction, horror, classics, fiction or non-fiction novel that surround
our world. If we want to see stuff like that we will watch "The X-Files" or
rent a Stephan King movie. Actually when you read books there is much more
satisfaction about it. They help you develop your imagination which can be
very good in many things. The description in them makes you use your brain to
see the picture and the action behind it. The picture that comes into your
head is more real than the picture on the television. It never seems like they
just threw a dummy out the window, it actually looks real in your head. When
you read stuff like "Moby Dick", you actually see Captain Ahab and Ishmael and
the rest of the crew trying to slay the great Sperm Whale, then you see the
huge White Whale come up and attack the craft that attacked it. In many books
you can actually see yourself there with the characters in the books, slaying
the dragons or fighting in the many Solar Systems beyond ours, you never get
that kind of satisfaction out of watching a movie, it just goes in one ear and
out the next.

Reading also keeps people from going illiterate and it encourages other
to read. What would the world be like if everyone were illiterate? It would
be terrible, those who could read would be named "freaks", just like the people
who read book in Fahrenheit 451. They would be outcast from the rest of the
world. It would be like as if everyone were racist against those people, and
we all know the racism is one of the worst things to plague man kind. Where
would those in the world without enough money to get a television hear the news,
or catch a glimpse of that favorite show that they seen at a friends house. In
a way reading books kind of keeps us in touch with ourselves. The kind of
book we read reflex on our own self. When you read a romance, it says that you
are one of those people that believe in true love and that like to be given a
dozen roses just for the fun of it. When you read a adventure it screams out "
I like trying new stuff all the time and I like the thrill of life". When you
read fantasy it says that you like to imagine that dragons were real and that
maybe they will appear again, you are constantly using your imagination.
Showing people the kind of book you read is like showing them the open pages of
your brain and how is works. No one gets that kind of stuff by what television
show you watch or by what movies you watch, you could be watching it because of
the cute person who is in it.

Our lives would be very dull without books and without the literature of
the past. It will probably always be that television will be more dominant in
the home unless people rediscover the treasure in the books that are in their
own home or in the library. Parents have to encourage their children to read
more often instead of always sticking them in front of the television. People
will never know what books are in their true form unless they find out for
themselves by reading them and actually getting into the book.