Reflection Blog: Puritan beliefs

Puritans were people that were upset with the Church of England, and wanted to purify it (Kizer). They wanted a reform of Protestantism. They believed that God had the true laws in the bible, and that they should directly follow these laws in their everyday life. The Puritans also believed that everyone was predestined being elect or not. The elect were the people who were basically good people in the eyes of God. The people that were not elect were pretty much just damned, but they wanted to prove they were good by performing righteous acts throughout their lives. The elect wanted to keep performing righteous acts for fear of becoming damned. The fact is that no person knew whether they were predestined as elect or not, but regardless everyone was supposed to follow the laws of the bible and live a morally correct life (Kizer).

Mary Rowaldson writes a story about how important and impactful everything is (Rowlandson 82-85). She says that even crumbs of a pastry that taste “like little flints” are a great blessing. She explains that everything God has put on this world is a blessing, and that it should be well regarded and enjoyed. At one point Mary goes into a wigwam to sit around the fire, and some nice strangers told Mary that they would try to buy her if they were able. From this Mary sees that the people God has created are very sacred too. She also deduces this throughout her story when she is fed by others, and she always repays them by doing something in return. Mary experiences the main belief of Puritans that they should directly follow the laws of God. The people are goodhearted; respect the laws of God; and project His laws in their actions. Mary also tries to take the best care of her “babe” as possible, and she continually suffers to do so. She says “I sat upon my knees, with my babe in my lap, till my flesh was raw again.” Not to long after this does the baby die. Mary is distressed, but she thanks God that He gave her the will to abstain from taking her own life. Clearly Mary Rowlandson has a strong faith in her Puritanism (Rowlandson 82-85).

Anne Bradstreet writes about her house burning down, but she does not let it affect her too much because it is an earthly possession and God’s will (Bradstreet 91). She says “The flame consuming my dwelling place. And when I could no longer look, I blest His name that gave and took” (Bradstreet, 91.) The Puritan belief is that worldly possessions are not important, so she does not let this consume her the way the flames consumed her house (Bradstreet 91). She simply abides to her ecclesiastical beliefs that the Puritans are supposed to follow (Bradstreet 91). She says “The world no longer let me love, my hope and treasure lies above” (Bradstreet, 91.) She tells that the world has taken what she loves, but her life has been lived entirely for a good afterlife.


Bradstreet, Anne. "Upon the Burning of Our House." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 91. Print.

Kizer, Kay. "Puritans." University of Notre Dame. Web. 31 Aug. 2011. .

Rowlandson, Mary. "A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 82-85. Print.

Journal 2

Once upon a time there was a cat that lived in a house. He took good care of his house and it was always clean. He would always make sure that his house was perfect and spotless. He had just recently moved into the house, and he decided that he would invite some of his neighbors to his house to get to know them. The people he invited were the skunk, the pig, and the dog. The first to show up was the skunk. The skunk walked in the house, and he immediately let loose with a foul spray that stunk up the whole house. The cat was appalled by the smell, but shook it off because he thought it would be a one time thing. Then the pig showed up at the house. He came right inside, and went to the kitchen. He took a lot of the food, and the cat was disgusted. He did not say anything because he did not think it would happen again. Then the dog came in. He walked into the house, and started yelling and barking loudly. The cat did not want to say anything because he wanted to be a good host. All of the animals were causing a ruckus. The animals were the worst the guests that the cat ever had, and the cat would have a lot of cleaning up to do. The guests were ruining the cats house as quickly as they came, and then they left. The cat was completely upset by the event. The next day the cat was planning to leave because of his awful neighbors. The other animals saw that he was upset, and realized that they had trashed the cats house. They came up to the cat and apologized, and the cat accepted the apology. The animals said that they would never act like that again, and they would forever treat the cat with respect. And they lived happily together forever.

Journal #1- How the Dog got its Tail

A long time ago the dog had no tail. The dog would get excited whenever it was going to get food from its master, but the master could not tell. The master would take the dog for a ride, and the dog would get excited. The master could not tell. The master would take the dog for a walk; the dog would get excited; and the master could not tell. This would happen with everything that the dog liked. The master could never tell when the dog was happy, so he assumed the dog was always miserable. The master started to feel disappointed in himself because he felt as if he was not taking good care of his pet. Although the dog was completely satisfied by the master's care, and he was actually very happy. One day the master finally decided that he could not leave the pet in misery, and took the dog to a farm to live with other animals. The dog was sad that the master left him, and he was stuck with other animals. He was miserable at the farm because all the other animals would take the food that was given to them. He could not compete with the bigger animals. He also had no one to pay attention to him. He had to walk himself; eat scraps of leftover food; and he never got to go for a ride in a car. He thought about his master everyday, and hoped that he would come back. After one month the master realized that he was missing something, and went to check on the dog at the farm. The dog saw the master, and this time the dog had another appendage that was wagging when the master showed up. The master could see that the dog was happy on the ride home because his tail wagged. Then he fed the dog, and his tail wagged again. The master knew that he was treating the dog right,and the two of them lived happily ever after.

Fahrenheit 451 14 Fire

Fahrenheit 451 has a strong theme of fire. It is a symbol that shows up many times in the book. The title is even supposed to be the temperature at which paper combusts. The main occupation focused on in the story is that of the fireman. Fire seems to represent different things at different times in the story. To Beatty it means destruction. He says “Its real beauty is that it destroys responsibility and consequences” (Bradbury, 115.) He uses fire to destroy books, and get rid of problems. Eventually becomes the problem that is burned by the fire. The old woman that is burned with her books sees fire differently. Before she dies she says “We shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out” (Bradbury, 40.) She believes that fire is good, and that it will make her remembered, not forgotten. Montag sees fire as a good thing before the book starts, but he thinks it is bad throughout most of the story. He used to actually think the smell of kerosene was good, but then he sees no point in burning books. When Montag meets Granger he gets a new perspective on fire. He sees the fire from a distance, and notices that it is different. It is providing warmth and light. Montag sees that fire can actually help people, and notes that it even smells different. Granger explains another meaning of fire to Montag. He tells the story of the phoenix, and how it would burn itself then come back from its own ashes. He sees fire as a sort of rebirth. When something is burned by the fire it is just reborn. Fire is probably the most recurring symbol in the story. It is constantly in Fahrenheit 451, and is a good representation for many things. Most characters have their own opinion on it, and it symbolized many things for each of them.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine, 2003. Print.

Fahrenheit 451 13 Beatty

Beatty is the fire chief where Montag is employed as a fireman. He is very contradictory and always one step ahead of Montag. He is a fireman because he hates books, but yet he can quote them with ease. He uses the books against Montag by quoting them in a paradoxical way. He actually composes a scenario where Montag and he have a battle of quotations through a dream of Beatty’s. He reenacts his dream for Montag, and it feels so real to Montag that he just feels like he was beaten. Beatty is probably the most complex of the characters. He most likely had a strong passion for books at some point in his life. Beatty has pretty much become satiated by not only books, but by Montag too. Beatty was probably just like Montag at one point. He continuously antagonizes Montag throughout the book. Beatty’s idea seems to be that people would just be better without books. He has read them; analyzed them; thought about them; and he believes that people are better off without them from personal experience. He simply wants to make these books burn. Montag sees the books completely different, but Montag is still very naïve. Montag has read books, but he has not analyzed them to a great extent. So Beatty uses books against Montag. Beatty has taught Montag a lot. He told him the history of firemen and other things, but Montag ends up killing him. In Beatty’s last moments he continues to insult Montag. Montag says that he appeared to not fear death. Montag had a flamethrower and Beatty pushed him to use it. Beatty called him an idiot for quoting poetry, and told him that he would bring in Faber too. Montag says that Beatty always told him “don’t face a problem, burn it” (Bradbury, 121.) Montag did to Beatty what Beatty did to him. He used a quotation against him. Beatty was an important character because he pushed Montag and antagonized him with a vast amount of knowledge behind him.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine, 2003. Print.

Fahrenheit 451 12 Faber

Faber is an old man that Montag met about a year before the story begins. He used to be an English professor and he appears to be knowledgeable. He has a lot of ideas, but he admits that he is something of a coward. He says that things have come to be the way they are in the story because of people like him who did not stand up and fight to keep people reading books. Faber has been alone with his thoughts for some time. When Montag shows up at his house, Faber can finally put some of his ideas out there. He explains many things to Montag. He tells Montag that people need quality of the information they get, time to think about it, and the right to act on what they learn. This is the philosophy that Faber has developed over his lifetime. He then attempts to use Montag to enforce it. He gives Montag his greatest invention, a two way earpiece that allows them to communicate. He tells him that this is the product of his cowardice. Faber’s purpose for this device seems to change. He uses it to control Montag at some points, but also uses it to make Montag think for himself. It is almost difficult to tell which one was actually his main intent. Either way Faber continues to show his cowardice. Faber fights his battles through Montag. He tries to fend off Beatty by talking through Montag. Montag is forced to kill Beatty because he threatened to trace the earpiece to Faber. Faber remains alive, but he can’t communicate with Montag for the time being because the earpiece was burnt. Montag goes to Faber’s house, and they work out their plans. Faber tells him that he is going to St. Louis to see a retired printer. He is finally getting out in the open. Faber proves to be an important character that influenced the main character to do many different things.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine, 2003. Print.

Fahrenheit 451 11 Clarisse

Clarisse McClellan is one of the most important characters in the story. She shows up very early and she leaves not too far along in the story too. She is a seventeen year old girl who is quite noticeably different than most people her age. She is different than others because she always talks to her uncle. Most people are taught everything from TV parlors, but Clarisse seems like she was mostly taught by her family. Clarisse first introduces herself to Montag by saying she is seventeen and crazy. She says “My uncle says the two always go together. When people ask your age, he said, always say seventeen and insane” (Bradbury, 7.) To most people she probably does seem crazy, but to the reader she is more like a normal person than any of the other characters. Clarisse is the first person that makes Montag think. As they are talking, Montag begins to laugh. Then Clarisse says “You laugh when I haven’t been funny and you answer right off. You never stop to think what I’ve asked you” (Bradbury, 8.) I think that was pretty much the moment that Montag began to change. Then before she leaves she asks Montag if he is happy, and he starts to think. The next time Montag runs into her she asks him about being a fireman. She says that he does not seem like a fireman, and that it does not seem right for him (Bradbury, 24.) Now Montag is going to question why he is a fireman. This leads him to books. He realizes that books are very important, and that he needs to stop burning them. Clarisse just about made an impact on Montag every time that they ran into each other. When he does not see her for awhile he finds that he misses talking to her. She has basically made him question his life and change it. Then he finds out that she has died. Clarisse came into the story and she basically set everything that happened into motion.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine, 2003. Print.

Fahrenheit 451 10 My opinion

I think that Fahrenheit 451 was a pretty good book. It was a much different story than The Old Man and the Sea and The Grapes of Wrath. This book was more like science fiction in a completely different world. I would give this book a seven out of ten. After the first few pages I did not think the book would be that great, but it did get better over time. It was an interesting story about life without books.
One good thing about this book is that it was short. That is my favorite type of book that I have to read for school. I specifically chose this book because it had the least amount of pages compared to the other books. I think it told a good story, and it summed it up with a good ending. There were not a lot of characters, but the few characters in the story were very impactful. I think this book is a classic, and there is a reason that we still have to read it. It has a message, and it gets it across.
I do not have a lot of problems with this book. One thing was that it was a little hard to follow at first. After a while it explains how the society came to be the way it is, so that cleared it all up. But the beginning pages were somewhat confusing. I also did not think that Montag was the best protagonist. He is just like any other average citizen. He does not really think for himself, and he does not have all the answers. He is not a hero with anything that makes him special. He can’t even control himself because he ends up spouting poetry at his wife’s friends which is really what got him in trouble. I think that even with these cons this book should continue to be read by people for years to come.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine, 2003. Print.

Fahrenheit 451 9 Mildred

Mildred Montag is the wife of the main character Guy Montag. They met a long time ago in Chicago, but neither of them could remember that until Montag did at the end of the story. Mildred is a typical person during the time she lives in. She does not really think for herself, and does not really have her own opinion. She spends all day in front of the parlor screen or with seashells in her ears. They have a room with three wall TVs taking up the room. Mildred says it would be great if they could get a fourth wall TV put in. She says “it’d be just like this room wasn’t ours at all, but all kinds of exotic people’s rooms” (Bradbury, 21.) Montag tells her that a fourth TV would be too expensive and that they are still paying off the third. Montag tells her that they just got the third one two months ago, and Mildred is surprised. Right after this Montag runs into Clarisse, and she has a dandelion. She says that if it rubs off on your chin it means that you are in love. She rubs it on hers, and it works. Then Montag tries and it does not work. Clarisse says “What a shame… You’re not in love with anyone.” Montag then gets defensive, and says he is in love, but he can’t make his face show it (Bradbury, 22.) Montag has realized that he does not love his wife, but Mildred most likely still has feelings for Montag. Mildred appears to do no serious thinking at all in the story. She may not know if she is in love with Montag. Montag thought that he was in love with her until he met Clarisse, so Mildred probably feels the same way that Montag used to feel. Mildred was not the most exciting character, but she did leave an impact on her husband. Montag kind of regrets the relationship he had with Mildred in the end.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine, 2003. Print.

Fahrenheit 451 8

It is a tough question to answer whether this book is an accurate representation of events in history because this book is in a fictional setting. I guess there could be points made that agree with history, but I would say it does not reflect historic events. Montag says “We’ve started and won two atomic wars since 1990” (Bradbury, 73.) This is technically not historically correct because we are past this year in the real world, but the book was written over fifty years ago.
Bradbury shows responsibility for Montag and his boss the fire chief, Beatty. Beatty seems like he was once in the same situation that Montag is in now. The difference seems to be that Beatty thinks on his own a lot better than Montag can. Montag has always had the parlor and seashells tell him what to do like most people, but now he knows that can’t continue. He can’t seem to drop this habit because he has Faber right in his ear telling him what to do. It is weird that Beatty can see the importance of books, but still work towards burning them like a mindless fireman. The relation that Montag and Beatty have is very interesting, but Montag ends it when he burns his fire chief.
I think the author must have been influenced to write this book by seeing people losing interest in books. That is basically what causes things to change in Fahrenheit 451. I think he wanted to show that people need to remain interested in books because they offer knowledge and other things that people can’t get any other way. I guess books are technically seeing a bad time today because of technology. Books are becoming useless because of the internet, and being able to just simply download books. I am not sure that much more could have been an influence to Bradbury. He most likely just had a story to tell and a message to give.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine, 2003. Print.

Fahrenheit 451 7

The author uses a couple of techniques in the book. One of them would be mystery. I can never really tell where the story is going. Montag makes some wild and irrational decisions in the book that take it in completely different directions. It was easy to tell that Montag, Beatty, and the other firemen were stopping at Montag’s house at the end of chapter two, but I did not fully expect Montag to kill anyone at that point. It was not completely unforeseen that Montag would kill Beatty, but he also killed the other firemen. I did not think the book was heading in that direction, but then Montag was on the run. This is where Bradbury brought another technique, suspense, into the book. I did not know what was going to happen after Montag left Faber’s house and the mechanical dog showed up. It stopped in front of the house for a moment. It was full of suspense in that moment because I could not tell if the hound was going to go for Faber or go the other direction for Montag. The next moment of suspense came shortly after. Montag was being chased by a car that appeared to be police trying to kill him. In the very last second Montag gets away and finds that they were just kids. It was a high moment of both suspense and mystery. If he would have been caught then the story would have taken another dramatic change. But it turned out to be kids, and he continued to stay frosty while being wanted by the police. It was still a mystery where he would go next, but he went to the railroad tracks. I would say another technique used is in the story is the setting. It is in a future where people think what they are told to think, and books are illegal. All of these techniques in combination make this book what it is.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine, 2003. Print.

Fahrenheit 451 6

I think there are a few reasons why we still read this book. One reason is its strong message. It is a warning that we should keep thinking for ourselves because knowledge and books are important. Books let us visit places and learn things that we can’t visit or learn in real life. The people in Fahrenheit 451 did not need to visit places or gain knowledge that books offer because they were told that they did not want to by the parlor every day. We read this book to show us how things would be if we did not think for ourselves.
Another reason to read the book is for the characters. Guy Montag is a normal person during the time, and he begins to question the way things work and what his purpose is. He shows a semi-easily susceptible mind to what people tell him, but conquers this in the end. There is also Clariss McClellan, who was the first person to make Montag question the world around him. She makes Montag realize that he is not happy, but almost emotionless. Montag is almost devastated when he finds that she is dead. Then there is Montag’s wife Mildred that was basically brainwashed all throughout the story. Montag regrets that his relationship with his wife was not very good because he could not relate to Mildred anymore. He wishes it could have been better, but he will never see her again. Another character is Beatty, Montag’s fire chief. He becomes Montag’s enemy during the story because his beliefs are so much different. Beatty quotes the books that Montag reads, and uses them against him. He antagonizes Montag to the point where he has to burn him to death. The last reoccurring character in the story is Faber. He is Montag’s partner in bringing books back for reading. Montag wants to work with him to put books in firemen’s houses to frame them. Faber eventually tells Montag that they will meet another time, and says where he will be. All the characters make an importance in the story that is very timeless.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine, 2003. Print.

Fahrenheit 451 5

It is hard to say how this book represents its time period because it is in a fictional setting, but all the events seem to be in correlation. The society is shown to have made reading books illegal. Over the course of the story more information is gathered about how this environment was created. The people slowly started to give their interest in schooling and learning, and it lead to the citizens becoming completely mindless. It is like their minds do not develop at all from when they come into the world because they do not learn anything, and they are constantly told what to think from parlors. The people have basically no personality because everyone is told the same things, and that makes them all almost the same people. The issues they are faced with are not that important. Most of the people just do not bother themselves with anything going on in the world. When it comes to the war the people do not even think about it. Even when one woman’s husband is in the war she does not think about it. Politics are even worse. The people vote for president based entirely on meaningless physical traits.
This book signifies the world that comes when people stop thinking and give up books. It is a warning not to let this happen in real life. This world in the story came to be because the people gave up books on their own. They also stopped going to school. They just brought it entirely on themselves, and now it is on their children. The people are not thinking literally because it is too much of a burden. They let the parlors and seashells in their ears tell them what they need to know instead of them telling themselves. I do not think that a society like this will ever come in real life. I think people will not be too quick to give up thinking on their own.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine, 2003. Print.

Fahrenheit 451 4

The hero in Fahrenheit 451 is Guy Montag. He is a fireman just like his father and grandfather. He realizes in the book that he may have just been chosen as a fireman because of how he looks. He noticed that all the other firemen all have the same physical characteristics. Montag has lived in ignorance all his life until the events in the book. He notices that everybody is brainwashed, and that any opinion that almost anyone has on anything is completely superficial. Montag is the character that goes through the biggest change in the story. He goes from being just as ignorant as everyone else to someone who sees things as they are. He knows that the people are living in the dark, and he wants to change that. He wants to bring books back into everyday society in hope of making people use their brains more and gain an amount of substance to them. He does not get this goal accomplished in the book because he ends up burning his fellow firemen, and he has to run away. Montag does not really accomplish anything in the story. He goes through a change, kills his friends, and runs away. He does not do anything worthwhile that really makes a difference, but in the end he is going to help rebuild the city. During the bulk of the story Montag just seems overwhelmed by everything, and he is under strong influence from both Faber and Beatty. At the end he actually seems like he can live on his own without anyone guiding him or telling him what to do. Montag was struggling through the whole story to find out what his purpose was, and he thought he could find it in books. At the end of the story he finds that reading books was almost his purpose because he is put in charge of remembering a book he has read. Montag’s purpose in life is to remember the book of Ecclesiastes to tell generations to come.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine, 2003. Print.

Fahrenheit 451 3

There are many themes throughout Fahrenheit 451. One theme is the importance of knowledge and unimportance of ignorance. The people in the story have no idea how important knowledge is because they do not read books, learn important information, or even better their intelligence with any worthwhile information. The people have the minds of children, but more so the minds of ignorant people who have lived their entire lives without learning anything. They are living this way because they do not necessarily have the right to pursue knowledge. They can pursue knowledge just not in books, and Faber explains this to Montag. He says “Most of us can’t rush around, talk to everyone, know all the cities in the world, we haven’t time, money or that many friends… the only way the average chap will ever see ninety-nine per cent of them is in a book” (Bradbury, 86.) Technically the people can search for knowledge, but they do not have the potential to get it anywhere except for books. And they do not have books to get the knowledge from, so they have no options left but to be ignorant. Then they satisfy people’s urge to gain knowledge by giving them useless facts to memorize. This is an awful system that nothing good can come from, and Bradbury uses this to educate.
The author clearly understands human nature. Everyone is born in ignorance, and we try to conquer it over time. We believe we conquer it when we gain new information, and become more intelligent. Bradbury shows that it is human nature to want knowledge. The society knows this in the story, and they replace important knowledge with tedious facts. Politics are superimposed by appearances. Children learn nothing from their parents, and everything from parlors. This book shows a good deal of human nature because it is based on the real world, and interpreted into a future world where almost a lot of aspects of life are completely different.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine, 2003. Print.

Fahrenheit 451 2

There are a few conflicts in the story, but one of the more important ones is Montag against society. Society has become mindless, expressionless, and absorbs whatever they are told. This conflict was caused because of Clarisse talking to Montag, and him starting to question things. Before he was like everyone else. They were mindless, and walked around without knowing it. Faber said “If you hide your ignorance, no one will hit you and you’ll never learn. Montag walked around everyday hiding his ignorance, and one day Clariss showed Montag that he was truly ignorant and realized that people need to change. Montag is talking to some of his wife’s friends and he brings up children. One woman says this about taking care of her kids “I plunk the children in school nine days out of ten. I put up with them when they come home three days a month; it’s not bad at all. You leave them into the ‘parlor’ and turn the switch. It’s like washing clothes: stuff laundry in and slam the lid” (Bradbury, 96.) This is a big part of the brainwashing. The parents have no part in teaching their kids. After this they talk politics, and their entire political opinions are based on appearances. Montag becomes completely outraged by all of this.
The losses of the conflict start when Montag was little. At some point he was brainwashed just like everyone else. The gain comes when he realizes that he was brainwashed. After this, Montag wants to bring everyone out of the darkness. He gets another loss when he loses Clarisse. Then he gains when he teams up with Faber. After this is a loss because Beatty finds out he has books, and Montag kills him. Montag has to run away, and live with the people on the railroad. This is both a loss and a gain. It is a loss because he could not live with the rest of society, but it became a gain when the city was bombed.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine, 2003. Print.

Fahrenheit 451 1

Fahrenheit 451 shows that Bradbury has a strong value for books. Books are a large part of the story with many symbols. The main character, Montag, reads books in a sense of revolt and knowledge. He is revolting against his occupation and the law. It is illegal to read books, and his job is to burn them. He has seen during his life and his work that people who read books are much different than others. When Montag has to burn a woman’s house that is holding books, he tries to help the woman get out of there. She refuses to leave and actually starts the fire herself. Montag wants to understand how something could cause a person to have no fear of death. He starts to read books, and he wants a sort of revolution to come.
The author also shows his attitude of the future. He actually showed how it is possible for this story to become reality. It was written over fifty years ago and it has not happened yet, but is a somewhat practical idea. It was the people that stopped reading books. Bradbury says that people soon stopped educating themselves. This then got to the point where books became completely illegal. The book is also realistic in the wars. Montag says “We’ve started and won two atomic wars since 1990” (Bradbury, 73.) The year must not be far from 1990 by the way he says it. They also go into another war shortly after. Bradbury must have really believed that atomic wars were not only going to be imminent, but soon a constant repetition that does not end. I do not think this type of society will ever actually happen, but I believe that education can deplete over generations and that atomic wars are possible. People will not be so easy to give up books and meaningful knowledge as long as they are instilled with how important knowledge is. Everyone needs to be taught this like Clarisse, and then it will not be a problem.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine, 2003. Print.

Fahrenheit 451 Chapter 3

The final chapter of Fahrenheit 451 is called “Burning Bright.” This chapter was mostly about Montag on the run. He found out that he had to burn his house because they found out he had books. He burned his house, and took a certain joy from it too. Then Beatty told Montag he was going to take him to jail, and trace the radio that was in his ear to catch Faber. Montag then turned, said “We never burned right…” and used the flamethrower on Beatty (Bradbury, 119.) Montag justified this by saying that Beatty had no fear of dying in his last moments, and using something Beatty said. “You always said, don’t face a problem, burn it” (Bradbury, 121.) After this, Montag is on the run. He then stumbles across the railroad where the intellectuals live who read books. Their plan is to pass on the tales and knowledge in books by telling stories to the generations to come. Then atomic bombs are dropped on the city Montag has just left. The men plan to rebuild the city, and Montag comes up with what he will say when they reach the city. It is something from the book he was in charge of remembering and it fit the situation. It says “And on either side of the river was there a tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month; And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (Bradbury, 165.) This was a good way to finish up the chapter and the book. Everybody that is in the city is now gone, and the people who lived on the railroad tracks are now what is left. Their plan can now be put into action of passing on the importance of books and knowledge. Montag has lost everyone he knew, or thought he knew, and now he is going to be part of a new society.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine, 2003. Print.

Fahrenheit 451 Chapter 2

The second chapter is “The Sieve and the Sand.” This chapter was more interesting than the first because the story has developed some sort of progression from the beginning. There is a certain amount of depth to the story that allows it to make sense now. Montag has completely changed, and he is in an internal conflict with what he should do. He goes to see an old man he ran into a long time ago to talk to him. This man, Faber, was the first person he met that read books, and Montag knew that he would listen to him. Montag is now stuck with the idea that he wants change. The world is completely messed up. Montag says “We’ve started and won two atomic wars since 1990… I’ve heard rumors; the world is starving, but we’re well fed” (Bradbury, 73.) Montag suspects that he can learn how to change things from books. Faber says “Most of us can’t rush around, talk to everyone, know all the cities of the world, we haven’t time, money or that many friends… the only way the average chap will ever see ninety-nine per cent of them is in a book” (Bradbury, 86.) He also says that there are three things missing, and they do not need books to get them. The problem is that the people gave them up a long time ago of their own free will. Generations later the people do not know what it is like to have these things, so they do not know if they would prefer it. Faber and Montag are trying to find a way to make the people accept these things back in their lives. Meanwhile Montag is also struggling with Beatty’s vast knowledge. Beatty must have read a lot of books because he quotes books often. Faber and Beatty are similar, but they fight different causes. Whereas Faber appears to be like Montag where he has kept his revolutionary ideas, Beatty is like Montag if he read all the books and gave into the society they live in now. I do not know where the story is heading now, but I think that Montag is going to side with Faber.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine, 2003. Print.

Fahrenheit 451 Chapter 1

The first chapter of the book is entitled “The Hearth and the Salamander”. A hearth is a part of a fireplace that usually symbolizes home, and the salamander is an official fireman symbol probably because it used to be believed that they were unaffected by fire. This chapter focuses on Guy Montag as a fireman. He is responsible for burning literature, and in this chapter he is starting to question his job. He talked to a seventeen year old girl, Clarisse, who told him that firemen used to put out fires. There job changed over the years for a number of reasons. The first is that all houses have been made fireproof. Montag’s chief, Beatty, takes it upon himself to explain the history of firemen to him. Somehow things have changed to the point that people do not do any deep thinking. Thinking has become a bother to people that keeps them from happiness. Their intelligence only consists of memorizing tedious facts. The only thing they have to learn is how to do a simple job. Beatty explains “why learn anything save pressing buttons, pulling switches, fitting nuts and bolts?” (Bradbury, 55-56) Everyone has become mindless and impersonal. Montag soon realizes he does not even know his own wife. They can’t even remember how or where they met. Montag’s wife sits in front of televised walls all day with seashells in her ears. She has actually become a lip reader because of this. She is a mindless woman with no distinguishing characteristics. Clarisse has come and shown Montag that he is not in love and he is not happy. Montag is now hoping that maybe he can find happiness in books
This first chapter was very interesting. At first I did not like it very much, but it is getting better. I expect it to keep getting better, and it should turn out to be an alright book by the time that I finish it.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine, 2003. Print.

Grapes of Wrath 21 the Wilsons

The Wilsons are a couple who the Joads run into along their trip to California. Grampa is dying, so the Wilsons do the right thing and let him die in a nice place. The Joads then return the favor by fixing their car, and combining forces on the way to California. If the Joads did not show up then the Wilsons would have probably been stuck where they were on the highway. The only way they could have made it to California without the Joads is if another car picked them up or if they fixed their car. They did not have any money so they would not be able to fix their car, and not many people would stop to pick them up. The Wilsons would have been in an awful situation without the Joads. The Joads got them to California which is where they disbanded. Sairy Wilson started to get sick, so she could not go on. Sairy and her husband, Ivy, had to stay, and make it on their own. Because Sairy was sick they felt they were just making things harder for the Joads. She did not want to be a burden to the family that just drove them across the country. This showed that the Wilsons really were nice people. The Wilsons and the Joads both helped each other and got along. They both showed to one another that they were genuinely nice people. They were just heading to California to get work and live life. They worked together and got there in one piece. It is not known what happened to the Wilsons, but they most likely had some tough times in California. Sairy was already sick, so her husband was probably the only one that would even be able to work. The chance of them finding a job is very small too. It would be difficult with the couple having a sick member to go around looking for work. But the Wilsons are so nice that they did not want to bother the Joads with their inconvenience.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

Grapes of Wrath 20 Pa

Pa was the leader of the Joad family, but now his land has been taken from him. He tries hard to remain the head of the family, but this role is being passed onto Ma. He plans to take the Joads to California, and on the way he loses his power. First he is unable to drive the car on the trip. Then he is useless at finding a job in California. He is ashamed that he can’t do the simple task of finding work. Pa slowly becomes more and more quiet, and this forces Ma to lead the family. Pa is becoming quiet because he is losing his place. He used to be able to tell people what to do and it would happen. But now he has nothing to tell them. They are in foreign land and he knows nothing about cars. Ma knows how to take care of her family, so she assumes the role. Most of the characters seem to be building more character, but Pa is deteriorating in character. Tom has been in jail, and he is the most eligible worker. Al is the car master. Ma is the homemaker. Rose of Sharon actually loses her husband and baby, so she has to cope. Pa finally shows character in the end of the story. Rose of Sharon is having her baby and a flood is eminent. Pa says they must dig a ditch. He gets all the men working in a big climactic event to save the family. Pa has everyone digging has much and as fast as they can. They do not want this water to ruin anything. This baby that Rose of Sharon is going to symbolize everything they have worked for and everything to come. Pa is working in one last effort to protect his family from danger. Pa does not do much in most of the story, but he does everything he can at the end. He is a man who wants to help his family.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

Grapes of Wrath 19 Connie

Connie is nineteen years old and married to Rose of Sharon. He appears to be an alright person at first. He has already gotten Rose of Sharon pregnant, and he goes to California with the Joads. He is going to study radios, and help the whole family out. They all expect Connie to eventually be able to afford ice for the whole family. Soon after they arrive in California Connie shows a small amount of moral fiber. He sees that things are not looking good for the family, and he leaves them. It was a little unexpected. Connie left his pregnant wife without telling anyone, and never returned. Connie is clearly not a Joad. Any member of the Joad family would have stuck it out when things were bad. Al meets Aggie Wainwright and falls in love with her. He plans to marry her, and stick it out with her. Connie was too selfish to stay with the family. The only person who was shocked by Connie leaving was Rose of Sharon. She is still young and naïve. She believed that they were truly in love, and they would always be together. She wanted to live the perfect life in California. Connie would get a great job, and their baby would be born in a nice place. They would get to raise their child the way it should have been raised. But in the end the baby is never alive. This is really a good thing for a couple of reasons. This baby would have no father, and it would have been born in a bad area of California at a bad time. This was also good because Rose of Sharon had another purpose. She needed to help the old starving man that they run into in the end of the story. If Rose of Sharon had the baby she probably would not have helped this man that was dying. For a few reasons it was good that Connie left.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

Grapes of Wrath 18 Noah

Noah is probably the least significant of the Joads. He does not do much in the story other than leave to live his own life. He was the first born, and his life did not come to a good start. It says that Pa was ashamed of what he did. He used his own hands as forceps to bring Noah into the world, and he pulled the baby out of shape. Ma pushed the baby back into shape, but Pa has always felt bad. Noah is basically emotionless. He has no anger, no cares, and he is very quiet. Noah has never been angry. “He looked in wonder at angry people, wonder and uneasiness, as normal people look at the insane” (Steinbeck, 78.) He can still do the same things that any other normal person can do, but he is different. Noah was not stupid, but he was strange. When they get to California Noah leaves the family. It is a very weird event. Nothing that anybody could say would have stopped him. He does not say goodbye to anybody but Tom, who has to tell the rest of the family where he went. Noah tells Tom “You know how it is, Tom. You know how the folks are nice to me. But they don’t really care for me” (Steinbeck, 208.) He says that he can’t leave the water, and he will not starve because he can catch fish. Noah says “Fella can’t starve beside a nice river” (Steinbeck, 208.) This is the last time that Noah is seen in the story. It does not say if anything happens to him, or if he even survives by the river. I think that Noah lives the life that he wants. He lives a nice, peaceful life near the water, and keeps to himself the whole time. No one comes to bother him; he catches all the fish he can eat; and gets exactly what he wants out of life.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

Grapes of Wrath 17 Uncle John

Uncle John is a character who has gone through a change and become lonely before the story has even begun. He was married at one time. One day his wife said her stomach hurt, and Uncle John needed to call a doctor. He said she probably just ate too much, and refused to call a doctor. Uncle John says “she groaned all night, an’ she died next afternoon” (Steinbeck, 224.) He thinks that he killed her, and now he is bad luck. Uncle John then says “I got a feelin’ I’m bringin’ bad luck to my own folks. I got a feelin’ I oughta go away an’ let ‘em be. I ain’t comf’table bein’ like this” (Steinbeck, 224.) Uncle John feels so bad he can’t even live with himself. He says that he tries to make up for it by being good, but he always ends up getting drunk. He just numbs the pain he feels. He goes to Casy for help because he does not know what to do. Casy tells him that it is only a sin if he thinks it is. He says nobody else can interfere with a man’s life, and that he knows this “a man got to do what he got to do” (Steinbeck, 224.) Uncle John listens to Casy, and tells him that he has to think about what he told him. Uncle John was probably a carefree man before his wife died. He owned his own land; he was married; and he lived for himself. He changes when his wife died, and now he wants to help people, mostly children he says. He probably took in the rest of the family when they were kicked off their land because he wanted to make up for his sin. This is really the only act of kindness he appears to show in the story, but he appears to really want to help people. He used to be a “sinful” man, but he is changing.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

Grapes of Wrath 16 Selfishness and Selflessness

Selfishness and selflessness are in constant competition in The Grapes of Wrath. The Joads are mostly on the latter of this, but each individual shows much of the former. The family Joad as a whole is mostly helpful to the fellow man, but each member of the family is mostly thinking about themselves. They all have their own plans for the future, and they do not involve each other. Al wants to work with cars, get married, and leave his family. Rose of Sharon mostly wanted to live with Connie while he studied radios, and eventually get ice. Connie appears to be the most selfish when he completely abandons the Joads and never shows up again. The preacher is the least selfish because he actually wants to help others. He organizes a strike, and wants to help fight the poverty that has hit the country. The rest of the Joad family just simply appears to want to work the farms and live the way they used to back in Sallisaw. Selflessness appears as a big theme in chapter fifteen. Mae, the gas station worker, really does a nice deed and helps a family in need that is heading west. Al also helps Floyd Knowles with his car, and in return he tells him where to find work. This showed that selflessness does not go unrewarded. The biggest act of selflessness is definitely the in the ending. Rose of Sharon fails to bring new life into the world, so she ends up saving an old life. She goes above and beyond what even someone who is very giving would do. Selfishness shows up a lot actually in the migrants. It is not entirely because of them that the wages keep lowering, but it is partially their fault. If they did not keep coming and accepting it then the wages would go down. They simply have no restraint to keep away from a job that pays anything. They have to feed their family, but if they hold off for a while the payout could be much better. Selfishness is in a large-scale battle with selflessness throughout the entire story.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

Grapes of Wrath 15 Chapter 15

Chapter fifteen is one of the better alternating chapters. It goes into the life of people working gas stations on highway 66. It shows that there are friendly people out there that are willing to help others in need. The chapter is mostly about Mae and Al at the gas station. It shows the people that come around and how Mae and Al are helpful to anyone that helps them, and if someone is friendly to them then they will be friendly back. A couple is coming by and “Mae knows. They’ll drink a five-cent soda and crab that it ain’t cold enough. The woman will use six paper napkins and drop them on the floor. The man will choke and try to put the blame on Mae… And Mae, when she is alone with Al, has a name for them. She calls them shitheels” (Steinbeck, 156.) These shitheels are people who have no respect for Mae and Al’s business, so they are not going to receive any in return. They like people that come to the gas station to hang out; talk to the workers; make purchases; and respect the business they run. These people are mostly truck drivers. They come in; act friendly; spend money; and tell stories. They dislike people who come in and do not help the business, but they will help a family in need. When a family shows up, the man comes out and asks to get water. Mae is upset, but she lets them. Mae is also hesitant to sell them bread for less than it is worth, but Al makes her give it to them because they are in need. Then Mae seems to show a profound hospitality. The man sees his boys eyeing the candy, and he asks how much they are. Mae says that they are two for a penny, so he buys them. After the family leaves, the truck driver says “them was nickel apiece candy” (Steinbeck, 161.) This really showed that Mae wanted to help this family. It also showed that if a family is in need and they respect the business then they are going to get a little help.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

Grapes of Wrath 14 Steinbeck's intent

I think The Grapes of Wrath accomplished exactly what Steinbeck wanted it to. It is supposed to show the struggle of farmers during the Dust Bowl migration. This is exactly what it does too. In the beginning it really shows how things are changing. People are being kicked off their land. The Joads have been living on their land in Oklahoma for several generations, and now they are being kicked off. This is enough to upset anybody, and it is happening to a large number of people. Muley Graves is probably one of the only people who stay on their land. It just means too much to him to leave it even if he has to live like some sort of animal. He says his family has been there for fifty years, and he is not going down without a fight. He says “I’ll take a couple—three of the sons-a-bitches along for company” (Steinbeck, 47.) If they try to take him off of his land he is just going to kill them. This story also shows the tragedy of the Dust Bowl by following the Joads. The banks have kicked them off of their land, so they go to California. When they get there they find that jobs are not easy to come by. Everyone is looking for work, and people that have jobs work for next to nothing. Everybody in California is has a deep hatred for the people migrating because the Californians are looking for work too. The way they see it is these migrants are coming and making things more difficult for them. But the migrants need work, and there is nowhere else for them to go. Steinbeck does a great job of showing how everybody is having a rough time during the Depression. Work is scarce, but everybody is after a job because everyone needs money to buy food to eat. Steinbeck definitely did a great job expressing the difficulties that were happening during this time period.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

Grapes of Wrath 13 the banks

If anybody of anything is the antagonist in this story it is the banks and the companies that kick the people off of their land. The banks are characterized as the most evil thing in the world. They have no remorse, and they do anything to make some extra cash. They appear to be playing with human lives, and just making things harder for them. The bank is some sort of farm monopoly that can change wages as they please. They do not just change the wages for one farm, but they change if for all the farms. And they change the wages to an amount that can’t even supply food for one person. The banks are clearly the enemy. A tenant said “Grampa killed Indians, Pa killed snakes for the land. Maybe we can kill banks—they’re worse than Indians and snakes. Maybe we got to fight to keep our land, like Pa and Grampa did” (Steinbeck, 34.) They are making farming impersonal, and all of the characters have a problem with this. They say it is like a robot is in the tractor. “He could not see the land as it was, he could not smell the land as it smelled… and because of this he could not cheer or whip, or curse, or encourage himself. He did not own or trust or beseech the land… He loved the land no more than the bank loved the land” (Steinbeck, 35-36.) The bank is taking the land away from several people, and making one person work all of it. He goes and works all the land, and makes three dollars a day doing it. The tenant says this to the man, “But for your three dollars a day fifteen or twenty families can’t eat at all. Nearly a hundred people have to go out and wander the roads for your three dollars a day” (Steinbeck, 37.) The man then says that he has to think about himself. He needs the money for his family and he can’t get caught up in thinking about that. The bank is just simply ruining many farmers’ lives.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

Grapes of Wrath 12 my opinion

I think that The Grapes of Wrath is a really good book. I usually do not say that for most books that I am forced to read, or even for most books that are this long. My rating for this book would be eight and a half out of ten. This book seems kind of boring, but I actually stayed entertained throughout the whole story. I think I liked it mostly because it seemed real. I could relate to the characters because I got to know them. In The Old Man and the Sea there was basically no substance to the story. There was an old man who went out to fish. The Grapes of Wrath follows an entire family as they actually do something. They try to make a better life for themselves, and the characters really progress through the story. This book also had a good ending. It was pretty gross, but I was satisfied with the ending. It ended showing that there are people who will do the right thing when someone is dying even if it is disgusting. The Old Man and the Sea had a pretty bad ending. Nothing particularly interesting happened, and it just ended. One of the only things I disliked about The Grapes of Wrath is that it was very long. My copy was four hundred fifty five pages long and the font is very small with little spacing. It took a long time to read through the whole story, and that makes it a little more difficult to remember what happened. I like that there are a lot of characters and all of their interactions appear very organic. They are also a hardworking family who has come to California to work. They are not looking for handouts. They want to earn their money, but they know what their work is worth. This is a book that I would recommend to others, and I think it should be required reading.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

Grapes of Wrath 11 another symbol

Another symbol is the turtle that is the focus of chapter three. This turtle is slowly making its way down the road. It says “as the embankment grew steeper and steeper, the more frantic were the efforts of the land turtle” (Steinbeck, 15.) Then a red ant comes and goes inside the turtle’s shell. The turtle snaps its appendages in, and crushes the ant. After this a sedan approaches, but gets out of the way before hitting the turtle. Then a truck comes to hit the turtle. It hits the turtle, but all it does is knock the turtle on its shell. The turtle gets back upright, and keeps moving. The turtle is a symbol mostly for the Joads, but also for all of the migrants heading west. The turtle keeps on moving, and does not stop even when things get harder like the Joads do. They experience many rough times, but they keep a positive attitude and never stop moving. The sedan that avoids the turtle represents good people that help the Joads, and the truck that tries to hit it is like the cops. The truck has no reason to hit the turtle other than some sort of schadenfreude that it gets from hurting it. It is like how the cops are obstructing justice, and making things more difficult for everyone. The cop that killed Casy had no motive to do so, but he still went through with it. After the truck passes the turtle gets up and keeps going which is like how Tom continues to keep Casy’s message alive after he dies. The turtle is definitely the most powerful symbol in the story. It does not seem like much upon first reading it, but it is symbolic of the entire story and foreshadows what is to come. There are many symbols in The Grapes of Wrath and they mostly all have strong meanings, but none of them compare to the land turtle in the beginning of the story.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

Grapes of Wrath 10 Symbols

There are many symbols in The Grapes of Wrath. One symbol is a black cloud that appears when Tom runs into Casy. Tom is saying that he is very nervous, and then someone says “They’s a great big ol’ black cloud a-sailin’ over. Bet she’s got thunder. That’s what’s itchin’ him—‘lectricity” (Steinbeck, 385.) This black cloud symbolized something much worse than “lectricity.” It symbolized Casy’s death. A cop shows up as the cloud is up, and beats Casy to death. Right after the event of Casy’s death “the black cloud had crossed the sky, a blob of dark against the stars. The night was quiet again” (Steinbeck, 387.) The cloud came with the reappearance of Casy and left with his disappearance.
Another symbol is Rose of Sharon’s baby and her pregnancy. She is pregnant from the beginning of the story until almost the end. The pregnancy is a symbol that things will work out, and everything will change for the Joads. This baby is going to have a good life in California where everything is supposed to be perfect. Then she has the baby and it was “a blue shriveled little mummy” (Steinbeck, 444.) At first it seems like this means their lives are ruined, but there is something else in store for them. Mrs. Wainwright says that the baby never breathed, and it was never alive (Steinbeck, 444.) Rose of Sharon was pregnant for another reason. This becomes apparent in the very last lines of the story. She ends up helping a man who is dying of starvation by breast feeding him. It is pretty gross, but it was a good ending in my opinion. I did not like where the story ended, but I did like how it ended. You do not find out what happens to Tom or Connie, but the ending was pretty satisfactory. Rose of Sharon’s baby was never alive, so they did not really lose a family member. Instead of bringing in a new life she saves an old one.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

Grapes of Wrath 9 Jim Casy

Of all the characters in The Grapes of Wrath, Jim Casy is probably my favorite. He is sort of portrayed as a voice of reason, and seen by other characters as a kind of weird retired preacher. He spends all of his time thinking, and usually just keeps to himself. He is nice, smart, and in some aspects inspirational because he causes Tom to change his entire way of thinking. It shows that he is nice because he gives prayers for people when they ask even though he is no longer a preacher. He gave up being a preacher because he believed he was too sinful. Casy is a character that deploys the theme that people have to work together in order for things to change. He did not start off as a thematic character, but as the story progressed he became an idealist to represent the theme. He said that he found he had no soul alone, but it was a piece of a great big soul (Steinbeck, 418.) He is all about helping others. He even takes the fault for fighting the cop, and goes to jail for someone else’s wrongdoing. Most likely he did even more thinking in prison which is probably what led him to organize the workers in a strike against the wages. If he would have continued to live he probably could have caused some kind of a revolution. But even though he was killed his radical ideas are passed on to Tom. I think this story would be very interesting if it was primarily in Casy’s perspective. It would be full of deep thought and ideas, and you would get to see how his ideas changed. You would also see what his plans were for his future and the future he wanted for others. It would also show what happened in jail and how he got the strike going. Even though the story was not from his perspective, Jim Casy was an important character.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

Grapes of Wrath 8

It is pretty easy to tell when The Grapes of Wrath takes place. It is during the intense drought of the 1930’s of the Great Depression. Even if you are unfamiliar with American history you can infer that the Great Depression was not a time of joy. There was suffering for almost all walks of life. The Grapes of Wrath follows one family through their struggle in this time, but you can see how awful it is for other families too. Steinbeck takes responsibility for the hospitality people can show to others in the same situation. The Joads run into the Wilson’s during their voyage, and the Wilson’s lend them a proper place to let Granpa die. The Joads then fix the Wilson’s car in return, and they head west together. The Joads give a lot of help to the Wilson’s during their travel. They do the driving and most likely pay for gas because the Wilson’s had no money. This all shows that people are willing to help to help others who are in need.
There is also the relationship between the mother and her family. Ma is the one who is in charge of the family. Whatever she says goes even if the others do not agree with her. She actually threatens to hurt the others because they do not agree with her. Ma is also very loving. She clearly cares for all of her children. She protects Rose of Sharon from the crazy woman at the camp who says everything is a sin. She also does her best to get her milk when she needs it. She also buys Ruthie and Winfield some treats even when they have practically no money. She goes out to the field to bring Tom food. She gives him money and has a hard time letting him go. She is exactly what a mother should be. Steinbeck truly shows a good amount of knowledge for these relationships.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

Grapes of Wrath 7

Steinbeck uses a few techniques to keep The Grapes of Wrath interesting. One thing he uses is a type of suspense. You do not know what is going to happen most of the time, but you always want things to get better. The Joads are constantly having bad luck, and not very often do things work out for them. It almost makes you want to keep reading until things get better and they get away from the shit they have to deal with.
This may not be engaging to most people, but every other chapter veers away from the main story and gives a little background information. I found it to be interesting to read all of those passages. Some were more interesting than others, but I still enjoyed a lot of them. I think it is a cool technique that was used in the book.
Another technique Steinbeck uses is strong dialogue. The conversation just feels natural between the characters. They talk about their problems, ideas, plans, emotions, and how they are going to make it through the day. The way they talk is also realistic in the way that is an old timey, southern language. It is all very engaging and very personal. It feels like you are there listening to the character talk to you. Sometimes there is repetition in the dialogue. They will talk about the same problem more than once, or explain an idea they have a few times. This is not really a problem because that is just how real people are. After four hundred pages you should hear some repetition.
Through reading the story you also get a great sense of what is going on. It is so descriptive that you form your own opinions of what people should do. You want people to do certain things and not do others because the story, in its entirety, is that engaging. The author makes certain things happen like Tom killing a cop, and the reader should really be able to grasp why that happens.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

Grapes of Wrath 6

There are a lot of reasons why we still read The Grapes of Wrath. It is a story of hard work, determination, and a large migration to the west. Considering most people alive today did not live at this time, the story teaches about the way many people had to get by in the 1930’s. They did not have the luxury or comfort to sit around eating snacks and watching television. They were working their asses off just trying to survive. This is an amazing story that should be read for generations to come. The characters are so realistic and the message will always be important. It is a message of family and togetherness. The Joads are a family who stick together from Oklahoma to California. Things always turn out better when people work together, whether it is family or otherwise. All people are supposed to work together. It does not matter if they are rich or poor, everyone needs to pull together to make this world a better place. It is not just for us, but also for our children to come. Steinbeck said this about The Grapes of Wrath “My whole work drive has been aimed at making people understand each other and then I deliberately write this book the aim of which is to cause hatred through partial understanding.” This is a book of understanding because it puts the reader in the footsteps of a family in an unbearable time. It is easy to tell why they do what they do. They really do everything that they do because they have to. They work together, and try to accomplish the difficulty that is life for an average person in the Dust Bowl. The final part of the book is really amazing. After Rose of Sharon has lost her baby they run into an old, starving man who needs milk. They have no money and almost no options. Rose of Sharon then proceeds to breast feed the man. This truly shows how rough the times are. It is similar to the potato famine in Ireland. They had no food and the people actually had to resort to eating grass because they had no other choice but to starve to death. There would actually be dead bodies with green around there mouths which really shows the unimaginable hell that was that time. It is worse than the times that are happening in Grapes of Wrath, but they are definitely comparable. They live in a rough time, and you have to sympathize with that. This story truly is a timeless classic.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

Grapes of Wrath 5

This book is a perfect example of the time period. From the first page the reader can just about tell when the story takes place. It is in the time period of the Dust Bowl or the Dirty Thirties. The first chapter is not the most captivating, but it is very descriptive. It goes into great detail of the drought that is happening. The whole story is what most families were going through during the time. They are struggling to feed their families and get shelter.
This novel is like the definition of the social issues happening between the different classes of people during the time period. The rich hate the poor, and the poor hate the rich. There are the excessively rich who are hated by most. Then there are landowners. And finally there are the Poor, working people who go by many names, usually Reds or Okies. The very rich people are mostly with banks, and they are regulating the farms and constantly changing the wages. The landowners have no say in the wages, so they have to follow them. This causes the poor to be upset with the landowners, and the landowners to be upset with the rich. The poor workers also hate the rich too. Because of this chaos the poor start to hate each other. They are all fighting for jobs, and almost all of them take jobs no matter what it pays. The wages can just keep getting lower, and the only way this can change is from a massive strike. But everyone is living for the day, and just wants to feed their family. The whole socioeconomic system is flawed for an entire class of people that take up the majority of the population, and there is no sign of it changing.
This book is a symbol for people needing to work together for a better tomorrow. The preacher, Casy, realizes that people need to follow this idea, and he passes it onto Tom. In the beginning Tom is the exact opposite of the theme. He is living in the now, and he is living for himself. After he starts thinking about it, he realizes that people do need to come together and accomplish something big.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

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The Grapes of Wrath is probably one of very few books where the main character leaves and the story continues. The hero is Tom Joad. He is nice, friendly, proud, tough, and hardworking. If somebody messes with Tom he will not hesitate to put them in their place. As his brother Al said “Tom don’t take nothin’ from nobody… Tom, he’s quiet. But—look out!” (Steinbeck, 255) Ma seems to have a stronger relationship with Tom than any of his siblings. She still loves the rest of her children, but she seems to like Tom the most. Tom also changes a lot near the end of the story. He is not much of a deep thinker through the story, but he changes after Casy dies and he has to start living in the shadows. He has been thinking about the things that Casy said and becomes more philosophical. He used to just make it through day by day, but now that he is alone he thinks things through.
I would say Tom Joad is portrayed as someone who represents strong morals. If he believes something is the right thing to do, he will do it. It does not even matter if he has to break the law to do it. He actually kills two men because he believed it was the right thing to do. Tom also believes that the system has become corrupt. The poor people have come to California looking for steady work and a steady wage, but they are not getting it at all. The wages are being lowered constantly and prices are going up. Tom says that Casy told him that he went looking for his soul and found that he’s just got a little piece of a great big soul. (Steinbeck, 418) Tom has realized that he has the same type of soul. He knows that things can’t change until the people work together. It is like the government camp they were in. The people worked together and helped each other. The way to fix the whole thing for everybody is to live like they did in the government camp but on a larger scale.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

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This story shows that Steinbeck has a great understanding of human nature. The way people in the story act seems so real, and it really draws the reader in and makes it feel like you are right there with them. Just focusing on Tom you can see that is a prideful man. It is not mean, angry, or evil, but he has killed two men. It seems so reasonable why he killed them too. The first man he killed stabbed him, so he had no choice but to fight back. The other man was a cop. He came up and busted the preacher’s head open in front of Tom for no reason, so Tom killed him. I think if I was Tom I would have done exactly the same. Those men needed to die, and Tom was could not help but to make it happen.
As for themes the one that sticks out the most is a quote by Ma where she says that the poorer the people are the more helpful they are. She also says “If you’re in trouble or hurt or need—go to poor people. They’re the only ones that’ll help—the only ones” (Steinbeck, 376.) This seems like a very prevalent theme throughout the story. They will help, but only when they can. When Ma had food at the Hooverville many children gathered around. She was going to help them, but she had to help her family first. In the end there was not enough to feed all the kids. Then one child’s mother showed up, and took offense to the fact that Ma had food out. Ma was caught off guard by the way the woman took it, and it was kind of a misunderstanding. This whole event showed that the poor will help, but the can only help with their work. They can’t try to feed others because that does not work. The people see it as charity, and they are too proud for charity. When Al helped Floyd Knowles with his car things went alright. It worked out because he helped with manual labor, and people are glad to get that kind of help. It all shows that the poor are willing to help.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

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The Grapes of Wrath is mostly a story of hardships. There are definitely more losses than gains for the Joads. The conflict is that the Joads are looking for work and a place to settle down. Each individual member has their own plans, but their goal is to get steady work. From there they will take their own paths. The conflict seems to have started because of the banks. They are taking the land and”tractoring” the people off. Now they are forced to go someplace else that maybe was not affected by an extreme drought.
There are several losses in their voyage. There are deaths, fights, disappearances, and more. Fairly quickly on their journey Granpa dies. It does not seem to be a very significant event, but the family has lost an important member. At first the family seemed hopeful of California. They expect it to be perfect; they expect work instantly; and they expect hospitality. Then they hear stories of how they ask for more work than they need. They try to act like it will be alright, but they are starting to get upset on the inside. Then they lose Granma, Noah, and Connie. Granma dies, Noah leaves to live his own life, and Connie abandons them. Then a cop shows up at the Hooverville and Casy takes the blame for hurting him, and he goes to jail. Later Tom runs into him, and a cop kills him right in front of Tom’s eyes. Tom kills the cop, and has to live in the shadows.
The Joads do not get a lot of breaks. One gain they get is that they get into a government camp with no cops. It is the ideal place to live, and Tom gets work. They have dances and it is just a nice place to live. They soon realize that they cannot live there because they need work. Eventually they get jobs to pick peaches. This seems nice at first, but they find out the wage they were given was because of a strike going on, and it depletes after one day. From there they end up working cotton. This is a good job, but it does not last long. The fact of the matter is that the Joads work hard for everything, and it never really pays out for them.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

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A book as long as The Grapes of Wrath reveals many things about the author’s values. A major thing it reveals is family. The story follows the Joad family as a collective group. Some members of the family do not make it to the end, but they are still family. When Tom leaves he says “I’ll be ever’where¬¬—wherever you look. Wherever they’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever they’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there” (Steinbeck, 419.) Tom is basically always going to be with his family. The Joad family tries hard to stick together throughout their long travels. Granma and Granpa end up dying, Connie leaves, Noah lives on the river, and Tom has to run away. Other than them the family sticks together the whole time. The story shows that Steinbeck values a strong, loving family.
Steinbeck also shows a positive attitude toward the poor. The Joads along with every significant character is poor. They are all hardworking, friendly people who will do their best to help other people who are in the same boat as them. The rich people are landowning, cynical, and hateful towards all people that come to California to work. They seem to be completely ignorant to the situation the poor are in. They do not realize that these “Okies” or “Reds” have no choice but to live the way they do. The only work these people can get is on farms or any other manual labor and there is just nothing they can do about it. The only way any of this could change is if the rich and the landowners change things such as the wages. The Joads, along with a very large amount of other families and people, are in a mass conundrum that needs to be solved. Steinbeck shows that he values the poor by showing that it is the fault of the rich that things are the way they are.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

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The Old Man and the Sea is a fairly simple story with little action. There is a small amount of suspense throughout the story. The rising action of the story consists of an old man who has gone eighty four days without catching a fish, and goes three more days while at sea. The old man, Santiago, has gone eighty seven days without a catch before. He is basically in a rut. He went eighty seven days without a fish; then he had good fishing for three weeks; then he went another eighty seven days without fish. When the old man goes out to sea he hooks a giant fish. This leads to the climax. The climax was just when the huge marlin circled the old man. Santiago began trying to reel him in. At this point he is fighting strong hunger and really an extreme deprivation and exhaustion along with the largest fish he has ever seen. He puts forth a great effort and he defeats the fish. Now he is headed home which is the falling action. The old man has worked hard to catch the fish, and it is taken away from him not long after he killed it. The marlin is devoured by sharks that symbolize the sort of destructive, ferocious animosity of nature. They seem to show up because Santiago killed the fish. It is nature’s way of getting back at him. The sharks work as nature’s hit men, and they make the man go home with nothing but a fish skeleton. But this skeleton could change some things for the old man. With it he regains the respect and admiration of the other fishermen. I think this story would almost keep repeating itself after this except with a few things changed. I think that Santiago and Manolin would go fishing everyday even if they do not catch any fish. They would probably catch fish for the first three weeks just like before. After the three weeks I think that Santiago would pass away having lived a full life.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.

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I think The Old Man and the Sea is alright as far as required reading goes, but it is still a required reading book. I would give it a four out of ten. There is close to an equal amount of pros to cons. The first pro is that this book was very short. Most of the books that we have to read are not under two hundred pages. This one was well under that amount. A con would be that this is a book. I do not like to read, especially over the summer, and especially when it is a book that I did not choose. Another pro is that this book was extremely simple. It followed one character while he performed the amazing feat of catching a fish and losing it. This is a book that can be summed up simply by the title. There is an old man and a sea, and that is just about it. The next con is that nothing really happens. There is an old Cuban, and he talks to himself at sea. He is lonely, and must resort to talking to either a fish or himself. There is minimal suspense and action because it is sacrificed to tell a simple story. I think this is a bold move because it sets a kind of bland mood to the story. It is almost like the story is being narrated by Ben Stein because it is so droll. The last con of this novel is the setting. It is in a time and place that I really can’t relate to. I have never been an aging Cuban man right after the turn of the century trying to catch fish. I have never even been fishing. I am a sixteen year old American living in the twenty first century who does not even like fish. I can’t relate to this story at all. This is really a story that people should have stopped reading a few decades back. It has little merit in today’s society, and it should be put to an end.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.

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There are only a few characters in The Old Man and the Sea. The main ones include Santiago, Manolin, and the fish. Manolin is not really around throughout the majority of the story, but even when he was not around Santiago still talked about him. He seems pretty insignificant and unimportant to the story, but he really plays a powerful role. Manolin is really the only person Santiago appears to come in contact with in his old age. Santiago is shunned by all of the other fishermen and even by Manolin’s parents. He appears to have no other friends or family left. This is most likely the root of his habitual conversation with himself. He comments to himself many times that he wishes Manolin was with him. He is clearly a lonely man. It is certain that the young boy’s parents have recently demanded he does not fish with Santiago. He is considered “Salao” by everyone in the area. He is the worst type of unlucky. In the last forty days Santiago has been a lone man on the sea with no one to talk to but himself. Manolin is probably the only thing left keeping the old man sane. Santiago’s constant wishes for his friend are probably all directed toward having a person to talk to. Besides keeping Santiago sane, Manolin’s other role in the story is motivating Santiago to survive. Santiago obviously has a lot of pride. If it was not for Manolin, Santiago probably would have kept fishing after the sharks ate his marlin. He would have just turned his boat around and went for another fish because he had nothing to lose. Manolin is the only person that Santiago has to live for besides himself. He would not let a fish beat him, but he might let starvation win. But the young boy was enough of a motive for him to return empty handed once again. Manolin really had an important role that shaped the entire story.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.

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Pride is a high or inordinate opinion of one's own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority, whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in bearing, conduct, etcetera according to dictionary.com. Santiago is a very prideful man, but in many aspects this led to his failure. His pride is a very strong characteristic of his, and it should be. He is a strong, courageous man who can’t let anything beat him. The old man had too much pride to give up fishing after eighty seven days of failed attempts. He went out every day, and every time he fished just like the day before. Then he decided he had to go out farther in the sea. He went out and hooked a marlin that was big and strong enough to pull his boat with him. He could have given up then; he could have given up when it dragged him for over a day; he could have given up after his hand cramped; but he never gave up. Santiago has most likely never given up on anything in his life. Santiago is somewhat a tragic hero because his pride led to his downfall. It led to his hand cramping, his loneliness at sea, and his fish being eaten by sharks. This is a story about pride. I believe it says people need to take pride in all their efforts even though Santiago’s pride was one of the largest factors in his downfall. Adrienne Rich said “pride is a tricky, glorious, double-edged feeling.” I think this is very close to the message about pride that Hemmingway was trying to convey. I think it is a good thing to have pride. Pride gives a feeling of self worth after an accomplished feat. It makes people do thorough, hard work. Pride can also cause people to never give up. This can be good or bad. Santiago’s pride causes him to not give up. This may have led to his failure, but I think it is better to be prideful in the long run.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.

"Pride | Define Pride at Dictionary.com." Dictionary.com | Find the Meanings and Definitions of Words at Dictionary.com. Web. 01 Aug. 2011. .

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This novel seems to be relatively accurate with the time period, but there is not really anything that shows it. There are a few references to Joe DiMaggio, but not much more. It is not based on a real event that happened, but instead just a fictional story created by Ernest Hemmingway. It is just simply an old man going out at sea to catch a fish.
Hemmingway shows responsibility for the group that Santiago and Manolin are in. They are good friends, but Santiago is more like a father or grandfather to the boy. They are nice and compassionate towards each other, and clearly have a good relationship. Near the end of the story when Santiago gets back home, Manolin is nothing but helpful to the old man. He runs out to get him coffee which shows that the boy is glad to see him back and just wants to help. Although there is a large age difference, these two are really good friends.
Another group the author takes responsibility for is adversaries. The old man and the marlin are in a struggle against one another, but Santiago shows respect for the fish. He says “the fish is my friend too… I have never seen or heard of such a fish. But I must kill him” (Hemmingway, 75.) He knows it will be a challenge, but he has to kill his friend the fish.
A lot of things probably influenced the author. Joe DiMaggio was a big influence for the main character. He talks about him having a bone spur, and how difficult it must be to live with that. This also persuades him to fight on when he gets a hand cramp. Another influence on the story is fishing. The whole story is centered on fishing, so this must have been pretty important to Hemmingway. He uses a lot of fishing jargon that he most likely picked up from a lifetime experience of fishing.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.

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The Old Man and the Sea uses many techniques to captivate the reader. The first thing that keeps the story interesting is its simplicity. It is very easy to read and it is a short novel. It is around one hundred pages, so it can be read quickly. Even though it is a quick read it leaves an impact. It tells a classic story in a minimal amount of pages.
There is also foreshadowing in the story. Manolin tells Santiago he is the best fisherman. He says there are many good fishermen, but there is only him. Then the old man says “I hope no fish will come along so great that he will prove us wrong” (Hemmingway, 23.) This event foreshadows that a fish of this magnitude will come along, but Santiago still beats the fish. He proves that he really is the best fisherman.
This story also grabs attention through symbolism. As the title suggests the story is about an old man and a sea. They both have stronger significances through their symbolism. Santiago symbolizes the power of man, and the sea symbolizes the power of nature. Santiago puts forth a good effort, but the sea can’t let him go home victorious. It shows that man can never beat nature.
Another thing the author uses in the story is a flashback. In present time Santiago is an old, unlucky man that has been shunned by the community. A little over half way through the story it goes back to when the old man was El Campeon. He is pitted against the strongest man on the docks in an arm wrestling match. It lasts a day long, and Santiago is the winner. This flashback shows that Santiago has grown old since his prime. In the flashback he says that he has found that he could beat anyone if he put his mind to it. He is much more humble in his old age, and it is Manolin who says Santiago could beat anyone now.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.