When was the last time you realized you hadn’t really looked at a particular thing in a long time? What things in your life do you not devote enough attention to?
These are questions I find myself asking anytime I read “Fahrenheit 451”. The opening pages of the book where Guy Montag realizes how long it’s been since he really experienced things are quite poignant and always get me reflective and thinking about where I want the attention in my life focused.
Recently my book club chose it as a selection, so I’m rereading it for the first time in years. It makes me reflect on my history with the book. I had something of an odd experience surrounding it years ago as a teenager.
Around the time I was a senior in high school, there used to be a program where I live called “One Book, One County.” Each year the committee would choose a book, giveaway copies, encourage everyone in the community to read it, and hold various discussion programs throughout the year. The year they picked “Fahrenheit 451” was one of the years I was involved with the teen program at my library.
Our teen librarian of the time had us do some cool but, in hindsight, a little odd stuff regarding the book. We filmed a promotional video with a fake book-burning played under quotes from the book to encourage reading the book and participating in the programs. She also had some of us record audio interviews for the website as though we were actually the characters from the video.
This was back in the days before we realized that things on the internet could come back to bite you later. While the site no longer exists and the program is long forgotten save by a few of us, I sometimes wish that she’d made up fake names for the character interviews. Sigh.
The idea of book burning churns my stomach, as it should everyone’s. I think the great strength of “Fahrenheit 451” is how universally it can create this reaction. Though much of the science fiction elements in the book don’t seem quite as far fetched by today’s standards, the core story and themes remain as strong today as they were at any time in the title’s history.
Often a discussion of this book brings up the idea of censorship, which makes a lot of sense. After all, the fastest way to lose your rights is not to exercise them, and the quickest way to lose the benefit of books is not to allow them to be read.
Yet none of these core aspects are what have stuck with me the strongest about this title. Even today, what always sticks out the most in my mind are those opening pages, where Guy realizes how long it’s been since he looked at the moon. Leans his head back to taste rain. Asks himself what experiences he’s been missing out on.
I think this is a mind-bending experience that a lot of us can relate to in our plugged-in modern world. Yet I’m not knocking technology or any of our modern conveniences. I love both.
Truthfully, I think the occasional realization that we’re not as tuned in to certain things as we’d like to be is cathartic. It helps us remember what’s important and refocus on it when we lose our way, as everyone does, every so often, on the road of life.
