Sophie Lau > Recent Status Updates

Sarya finally feels human after Observer invites her to his planet: "She bites and laughs, and sings music and laughs and cries and laughs, and drinks and coughs and laughs and drinks and coughs and laughs and it does not take long at all for aa pleasant fuzz to settle over her brain" (Jordon 366). This quote uses repetition to emphasize the happiness that Sarya feels during her time on the planet.

Music in the greater galaxy is used as a dangerous trait, and it is said that "...some xenologists note that every known [Firebringer] species is typically obsessed with music composition and consumption." (Bradbury 362) "Firebringers are a term for species that wreak havoc to the peace in the universe, and humans are one of them. I think describing these everyday human activities can help us put them in perspective.

This book uses humor as a way to contrast different personalities: "I bet you could ask this ship to make you a sandwich and it would harvest your intestines to do it" (Jordan 352). The introduction of new characters into this story gives more feeling and empathy to the tone of the story and shows that there is calm after everything that Sarya has been through.

Sarya has to make a tough decision in this part of the book. She has to choose between her body, or her mind, and she is forced to leave her body to the Network, who is attempting to destroy her. Now that she has left the weight of her physical body, she was able to go further into the universe than before. I think this proves that putting your mental state over physicality can be beneficial.

The Observer and Sarya are now on similar levels of intelligence, which can be described as "...using the hundreds of thousands of identical bodies that are interspersed through millions of drones." (Jordan 324) These two characters' consciences are millions of different small intelligences that make up a whole mind. Sarya's character has grown to share power with the Network, the controller of the universe.

I'm really excited that Sarya has gotten more power through the Network. She pulls her consciousness back to her body with a claustrophobic description: "Time accelerates as she pulls herself back, folding herself small enough to fit into her original brain again. She squints and shields her eyes, annoyed at their limitations" (Jordan 311). Her newfound skill (basically astral projection) help give her more control.

This book connects really strongly with me, not at all because of relatability, but Sarya’s conversation with the Network paints a picture with my favorite kind of writing- descriptive existentialism. It puts me in the characters’ experiences, showing the billions of intelligences that were killed within centuries, making it feel like mere seconds. This scene gave me a positively sinking feeling, and I loved it!

Montag imagined Mildred reaction to the bombs going off: "She saw her own face reflected there, in a mirror instead of a crystal ball, and it was such a wildly empty face, all by itself in the room" (Bradbury 152). Mildred's blind ignorance towards her life led her to care more about her "parlor," which she held to greater value besides Montag. Once she finally realized the life she had been living, it was too late.

Make up for week 11/14-11/20

It was hard to get back into reading this book after taking so much time off, but I think that my reading pace will go back to what it used to be once school starts again. In the pages I read, I found that the rebel outcasts were able to be more compassionate for one another, and they used literary references such as "Don't judge a book by its cover," (Bradbury 148)

Once Montag reaches the forest, a man named Granger claims that him and his friends are the books that they've read: "And this other fellow is Charles Darwin, and this one in Schopenhauer, and this one in Einstein, and this one her at my elbow in Mr. Albert Schweitzer" (Bradbury 145). Bradbury used this phrasing to demonstrate that they had to become the books to assure their safety.

I re-read this weeks' section. Bradbury describes the helicopters looking for Montag to look "...like butterflies puzzled by autumn" (Bradbury 131). This simile is used to further describe the activity of the copters, and what they can be compared to.

I re-read this week's section again today. Bradbury uses similes to describe the people emerging from their homes to locate Montag: "He imagined thousands on thousands of faces peering into yards... ...like grey animals peering from electric caves" (Bradbury 132).

Montag starts to think more about what he would do when faced with death: "What could he say in a single word, a few words, that would sear all their faces and wake them up?" (Bradbury 128) Bradbury uses the statement "wake them up" to show that Montag wants to make people think more about how strange society is, and to justify what he had done.

I didn’t read much today because I was re-reading for book clubs. In the pages I reread, Beatty exposed his crime nonchalantly to Montag: “Bang, you’re ready to blow up the world, chop off heads, knock down women and children, destroy authority. I know, I’ve been through it all” (Bradbury 102). By saying this, he is calmly announcing that he has also read books, which shows possible crimes.

The author uses metaphors to describe the visceral details of Beatty after he got his revenge: "He saw Beatty, a torch, not moving, fluttering out in the grass" (Bradbury 116).

This book just got good. After Beatty taunts and teases Montag for several pages, Montag finally broke. It felt really satisfying to read about Montag’s revenge on his job, boss, and that dreaded guard dog. I finished reading right after all the events, and I’m really excited to see where he goes next.

Bradbury uses metaphors to create visual descriptions: "Faber was a grey moth asleep in his ear, for the moment" (Bradbury 101). This quote is one of any metaphor descriptions to show the reader what each event looks/feels like.

One of Mildred's friends, Mrs. Bowles, reacted very angrily to Montag's poetry reading. "I've always said, poetry and tears, poetry and suicide and crying and awful feelings, poetry and sickness: all that mush!" (Bradbury 97) The women's reactions to the reading show the effects of reading about tough situations, including gaining more empathy, and a thicker skin to events, but still having empathy.

The reactions of Mildred to the war really show us the lack of empathy from citizens. When she and her friends describe the conditions of the war, they call it a “quick war,” which shows the lack of humanity in their emotions towards other people and events. (Bradbury 90)

Mildred's strange way of reacting to Montag is expressed: "Mildred stopped screaming as quickly as she started" (Bradbury 73). I thought it was really strange how she switched so fast from upset to calm, and it could be showing the effects that burning books had on peoples' emotions and social cues.

Beatty's ideals for this society have a strong lack of humanity. Instead of working to understand/clarify controversial topics, he believes that completely abolishing certain aspects of life is a better solution. He seems to lack the natural human ability to question existence, which is why many other citizens have slowly devolved down into a simple nothingness.

Beatty explains to Montag how books started to become more general: "Magazines became a nice blend of vanilla tapioca. Books, so the damned snobbish critics said, were dishwater" (Bradbury 55). I like how Bradbury uses various metaphors to describe the watering-down of literature in this society.

Make up for 10/24-10/30

I continued to re-read, and I went back to the part where Montag witnessed the woman standing amongst her burnt books. The way he acted/felt when he read one small line from a book told me that he was starting to notice the strange society that he was living in, and how no one else was questioning it except the people who owned the books.

I went back and reread some parts of the first portion, and I noticed that Montag discusses his relationship with Mildred with Clarisse, saying: "'Now you explain,' she said, 'why you haven't any daughters like me if you love children so much?'" (Bradbury 26) I find it strange that although Montag really wanted children, he still had a reason to stay with Mildred.

Montag's beliefs differentiated him from his coworkers, because he was willing to question the norms of his job: "[he] tried to imagine ... just how it would feel. I mean, to have firemen burn our houses and our books" (Bradbury 31). Him questioning his work also could be due to Clarisse making him spiral.

Montag’s interactions with his wife seem very dry. Although they say that they had been together for 10 years, they act very stiff around each other. I think that his fascination with Clarisse is due to comparing her and Mildred, which makes Montag feel a sense of adrenaline and interest in Clarisse, contrasted by the dull relationship he has with Mildred.

The effect that Clarisse has on Montag becomes more obvious throughout his interactions with the people at his workplace. The author writes that, "he opened his mouth and it was Clarisse McClellan saying, 'Didn't firemen prevent fires rather than stoke them up and get them going?'" (Bradbury 31)

As Sarya drifts in a space of nothingness, an entity named the Network literally hands her the universe. "I should not have to tell you this, says the Network, but do not throw the universe" (Jordan 286). I read more about Sarya's new interactions with the Network, and I loved the dynamic between them, mostly because of how they seem to argue and agree with each other at the same time.

The way that Clarisse speaks is often very fast and informed. The author writes "Let's talk about something else. Have you ever smelled old leaves? Don't they smell like cinnamon?" (Bradbury 26) I find it strange how she switches subjects so quickly.

Montag seemed really strange around Clarisse, and it sounded very strange. As the book progresses, I noticed that there is an overwhelming amount of figurative language, and it makes it quite grueling to read.