Page 161

" The men lay gasping like fish laid out on the grass.  They held to the earth as children hold to familiar things, no matter how cold or dead, no matter what has happened or will happen, their fingers were clawed into the dirt, and they were all shouting to keep their eardrums from bursting, to keep their sanity from bursting, mouths open, Montag shouting with them, a protest against the wind that ripped their faces and tore at their lips, making their noses bleed. "

This suspenseful mystery will keep you on the edge of your seats.  Montag's job as a fireman is to burn books; but throughout this story, you will learn his struggle to keep his sanity as well as what goes along with his job.  The author packs this book with loads of descriptive language, making every little detail important to understanding the real story.  I recommend this book to very engaged readers who love a mystery to solve on their own, not one the book will solve for them.  What could happen in a world with no books?  The real question is are there still books...and if so, where are they?  "It was a pleasure to burn."

Page 165

And on either side of the river was there a tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yeilded her fruit every month; And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
Yes, thought Montag, that's the one I'll save for noon. For noon . . .
When we reach the city.

I think this is a very short but effective cliff hanger. Even though the author did not make another book, it still leaves the reader wondering what is going to happen to Montag and his group when they get into the city. This book is basically about how the goverment has banned books because they express fictional or fake feelings that is not real life. So they send out these "firemen" to go burn down the house with the books in them. But the reality of it is that books are essentail to young people like students and even abults to read and learn from them. It gives us an escape and a vocabulary builder. If you like complicated books with a good cliffhanger I would totally suggest this book to you. It is great for both young and mature readers. It really makes you look at how he uses his words and strutures them in his sentences. This book really Flows!

Page 117

Blog post #4
The house fell in red coals and black ash. It bedded itself down in sleepy pink-gray cinders and a smoke plume blew over it, rising and waving slowly back and forth in the sky. It was three-thirty in the morning. The crowd drew back into houses; the great tents of the circus had slumped into charcoal and rubble and the show was well over.
Montag stood with the flame thrower in his limp hands, great islands of perspiration drenching his armpits, his face smeared with soot. The other firemen waited behind him, in the darkness, their faces illuminated faintly by the smouldering foundation.
Montag started to speak twice and then finally managed to put his thought together.
"Was it my wife turned in the alarm?"
Beatty nodded.

In this passage it captures the emotion of Montag and how defeated he feels. He burned down his own house and was betrayed by his own wife. He shows great discription on how the house looks after it's burned down. I kind of feel sorry for the guy trying to rebel against a bad thing and still ending up being defeated. I really like the line " the great tents of the circus had slumped into charcoal and rubble and the show was well over." It shows us how it is not as big and tall as it used to be but now just ash and rocks still flaming in scilence. It felt like he was describing a scene in a movie after an explosion happened and people are just standing around looking at it.

Page#148

Blog #5
Granger nodded. "They're faking. You threw them off at the river. They can't admit . They know they can hold thew their audience only so long. The show's got to have a snap ending, quick!! If they started searching the whole damn river it might take all night. So they're sniffing for a scapegoat to end things with a bang. Watch. They'll catch Montag in the next five minutes!"
"But how-"
"Watch"
The camera, hovering in the belly of a helicopter, now swung down at an empty street.
"See that?" Whispered Granger. "It'll be you; right up at the end of that street is our victim. See how our camera is coming in? Building the scene. Suspense. Long shot. Right now, some poor fellow is out for a walk. A rarity. AN odd one. Don't think the police don't know the habits of queer ducks like that, men who walk mornings for the hell of it, or for reasons of insomnia. Anyway, the police have had him charted for months, years. Never know when that sort of information might be handy. And today, It turns out, IT's very usable indeed. IT saves a face. Oh Go, look there!"
The men at the fire bent forward.
On the screen, a man turned a corner. The mechanical Hound rushed forward into the viewer, suddenly. The helicopter lights shot down a dozen brilliant pillars that built a cage about the man.
A voice cried, "There's Montag! The search is done.

This was my favorite part in the book. It's basically a good summary of how screwed up their entire government is. In this book it shows the entire decline of society. As people's attention spans get shorter and shorter, the use for things such as books dissipates, and gets outlawed. It really makes you appreciate proper  education. I think the author was trying to say something more than just telling a simple story. It's like he's trying to send a message. You shouldn't burn books to fit your lifestyle. Burning books in a figurative sense, but it's still just as applicable to daily life as it is in this. There's something pure and magic about the written word that sometimes shouldn't be tampered with.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a good read. It requires focus, and often makes you second guess, because it feels like the words were written in a hurry, like spitting pure thoughts onto a page. Even though you might need to second guess yourself a couple times and do a double-take, the language is great. Ray Bradbury is an amazing writer, so if you haven't read this book then it is a must have before you die.

Page #122

Blog #4
Beatty wanted to die.
In the middle of the crying Montag knew it for the truth. Beatty had wanted to die. He had just stood there, not really trying to save himself, just stood there, joking, needling, thought Montag,and the thought was enough to stifle his sobbing and let him pause for air. How strange, strange, to want to die so much that you let a man walk around armed and then instead of shutting up and staying alive, you go on yelling at people and making fun of them until you get them mad, and then...

Beatty was a questionable character to me. Basically he acted like a jerk throughout the entire book, all because he wanted to die. I think he was afraid to die, to die on his own anyways. It wasn't good enough for him to just go out like everyone else, or to take the obvious shortcut. He had to go out with a bang, at another man's hand. He poked and prodded and rolled poor Montag. He made him feel so insignificant and primal that he had done what Beatty wanted after all.

Page #100

Blog #3
Mrs. Phelps was crying.
The others in the middle of the desert watched her crying grow very loud as her face squeezed itself out of shape. They sat, not touching her, bewildered with her display. She sobbed uncontrollably. Montag himself was shaken and stunned.

I find crying hard to describe, mostly because when it happens it's almost surreal. I think this metaphor describes it well. 'They sat in the middle of the desert'. In this story, showing emotion is basically a crime, crying in front of others is socially unheard of, so when it happens, no one knows what to do. 'bewildered with her display.' It's a desert, a dry empty, place, and that's what it was like. I thought this was interesting.

Blog Post #5 (FINAL BLOG)

1.  Always title your blog post with the PAGE # (this will help others avoid reading spoilers).

2.  For your FINAL blog- you can choose ANY section from the book.

3.  Blogs will have 2 parts- Part 1:  passage from the book  Part 2:  commentary

4.  Don't forget to comment/interact with your peer's posts!

5.  You CANNOT choose the same passage as someone else- the first one to post claims it!

For your final blog, you can choose from ANY WHERE in the book.  You are going to do a sort of book review.  Your first paragraph should still be a passage from the book but your FAVORITE passage.  It might be a particularly well written section, or the most exciting part, or a great cliffhanger.  For your second paragraph you do not have to analyze this passage but rather write a paragraph long book review.  Let us know what this book is like and pitch it! If you weren't a huge fan, think about what kind of person might like to read this book.  This should be a STRONG paragraph- not a sentence or two!  

--
Ms. Melin

https://sites.google.com/site/mselmer114/