Everyone has a tough experience where they must deal with their pain afterward. A broken relationship, or a fallen society… Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 and Kesha’s song, Praying, both have to do with tough times and broken hearts.

 

Praying and Fahrenheit 451 are both in common in one way that Kesha is dealing with an abusing ex who she is choosing to forgive and despite all he’s done, to pray for him, that he would change his ways and he would find happiness. This is a REALLY tough choice.  I would probably never be able to do this.

 

Montag, (Main character from Fahrenheit 451) as well, must deal with similar pain. He must deal with the fact that his society is fallen and that his wife, Mildred, just left him. This is really tough pain to suffer through, especially in Montag’s case, because he had no friends he could talk to about his books and otherwise he would get turned in. Kesha grew stronger because of her pain, and Montag ran away from his pain.

 

Kesha was abused by this idiot, and even after all he did, she wishes him well, and she still says she will pray for him that he will find his peace and that he repents and that he will seek forgiveness. Montag must move on from his pain of losing really everyone. His society exploded in a nuclear war, as he was leaving. He could see the land around it rise up, and in an instant, it was gone. He realized he couldn’t feel so bad for people who ridiculed him and who never felt any real emotions. You can’t go to every dead stranger’s funeral.

 

In conclusion, you must move on from your pain, and get stronger from that pain, as Kesha did. And sometimes all you can do is run and hide from your pain for a while, as Montag did. Pain can make you stronger, or it can bring you down. If you choose to move on and forgive them, you can recover. If you let that pain flourish, it will consume you.

Ray Bradbury’s dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451, is about Montag and how he discovers that society lives a lie. He is frequently questioned about what he knows to be true, as issued by society, and he soon realists that there is more to life than just happiness.

 

One main theme is that ignorance is bliss. In the beginning, the main character, Guy Montag, is shy and uncertain. Most of the society is very technology oriented, and they almost completely rely on it. Montag seems shy about the little things society has, for example, shells, which are much like earbuds now, and everyone else seems to listen the devices, and they are intense about it. Montag seems wary of this, and while he has one, he almost never uses it. He doesn’t like that everyone is so dependent on them, and really any other device that society uses. He is wary of almost anything. He meets Clarisse, and at first is short with her, but she questions him and he starts to think about things. Before, he was okay with what society did, but he didn’t participate as much. Now, he begins to wonder about if what they are doing is really okay.

In the middle, Montag burns an old woman with her books.(It’s his job, not to burn people, but to burn illegal books) He realizes that maybe books are really not that bad, if people are willing to die for them. He feels guilty about her death, but in the last moments before the fire overtook the house, he snagged a few books from her shelves, and took it home. His wife, Mildred, finds them, and she immediately becomes worried that they will be found out and the house will be burned, and many other worrisome things. Montag swears her to secrecy, and hides them. Captain Beatty, comes in, because Montag feels so guilty and is becoming physically sick. Beatty sweet talks him into giving the books back the next day and coming back to the firehouse.  Beatty tries to convince him to go back to believing in the society, and to stop thinking about this nonsense. Montag starts to believe him, and then he realizes that he likes books after all.

In the end, Montag seeks help from Faber, who gives him advice, and tells him to flee and join the book readers.(This is Faber telling Montag to flee, by the way) Montag doesn’t quiet agree with him at first, but he listens to Faber anyway. He tries to go back for the books. While he was at Faber’s, Mildred sends a alert to the firehouse that Montag has books. When he comes back to the firehouse, Beatty says they have an alert. They rush over to Montag’s house, and Beatty hands him the fire hose (which actually sprays fire), to burn his own house.

At this point, Mildred has left him. He completely decimates his house because of this. He destroys everything. After the fire, Beatty angers him, and it escalates very quickly, and Montag sprays him with fire hose. A manhunt is sent after him. And he only just barely escapes, but all the time, he has the books.

I think that Montag was more happier when he didn’t know about books. That is, he knew about them, but he thought they were bad before, and while he was wary of what society did, he still accepted it as truth. He was, in a way, asleep in the world, and the book readers were aware of the lies that society told as truth. As soon as he read them, he has to keep them safe from society finding them and destroying them.

 

”You can be happy, or you can know things.”- my family slogan