Ray Bradbury, Farenheit 451

In Ray Bradbury's classic, Farenheit 451, he describes a terrifying but all-too-real world of sensory overload and thought-depravity. Guy Montag is a fireman, but this fire brigade doesn't put out fires (for houses are fire proofed with plastic coatings), but instead starts them, burning houses (and often people) where books are found. And people, for the most part, don't question the way of things; in fact, most people simply contributed to them, reading less and less, being less and less interested in dissenting views and complex views of reality. Instead people opt for graphic novels filled with sex, and talking "parlors," living rooms with televisions on three (and sometimes four) walls that surround the viewer in a virtual reality that becomes family, friends, entertainment, and knowledge. There is no taking walks, no late evening chats on the front porch; in short, little or no thought. But Guy slowly emerges from the haze of this contrived reality, as he first encounters a strange girl who doesn't seem to be charmed by the way things are, and then comes to see his own duties as a fireman as brutal and senseless. Didn't firemen used to actually put out fires? he wonders.

Montag, now repulsed by his occupation, starts looking for a way out. And on the way, he begins slipping books into his coat as he is burning houses, one here, one there, until he's got his own little library. But soon his captain, Beatty, is on to him, and the mechanical hound, the instrument of doom and seeker of people and books, finds him out. Montag is left with the choice, burn his own house or admit guilt. He starts his house ablaze, but then turns the flame thrower on Beatty and on the mechanical hound and makes a break for it. He is now a man on the run, but a free man for the first time. He finds himself among a group of run-aways along a deserted railroad track, and discovers they are former professors and preachers, and each one holds inside him a chapter or a book. One is Thoreau, one is Marcus Aurelius, one is Plato's Repulic, and so on. Montag is the book of Ecclesiastes. And as their civilization seems to be spiraling toward an end in a huge and destructive war, the wisdom of that great book, that everything has a time and a season, seems a pointer to the possibility of a new reality, a fresh start.

Bradbury's Farenheit 451 is a prophetic novel that bears freightening resemblance to our world today. Our culture resembles the reality he paints in its obsession with virtual reality (think "reality TV" and our obsession with this fictive family or friend network, as just one examle), media saturation, and shallowness. Our politics are driven by sound bites and media experts more than they are driven by policy positions and reasoned debates. Marketing is more important than product quality. And this is just the beginning. Reading Bradbury's classic is like a wake-up call to appreciate the wisdom of the ages, the beauty of friendships, the value of family, and the wonder that is a quiet walk in the woods. It is truly a treasure trove of reality, all tinged with the hope redemption.