APPLIED MODERNISM

     Fahrenheit 451 is a Modernist work. It's considered a Modernist work because a battle of inner self vs. outer self takes place, the government is corrupt, and the rules are broken.

     The battle of inner self vs. outer self begins when Montag meets Clarisse. She tells him that there is more to life and that he is different than others. Montag then begins to wonder why books were so important to people and ends up snatching a book without anyone knowing. He then has to keep this a secret and be on high alert. Throughout the novel Montag battles with himself, for example, after he killed Beatty he realized that he shouldn't have done it because it was what Beatty wanted all along. Another battle he fought with himself was when he questioned whether or not he missed his wife Mildred when she died.

     The fact that the government was corrupt also made this a Modernist work. Things such as the parlor walls and the seashells were put out by the government to distract the public and make them not worry about what they were doing. The government also made laws to prevent the public from owning books because it would make them think, and the government did not want people doing that. Perhaps the most extreme example of the government's corruptness came when the police made the mechanical hound take down an innocent person so that nobody would know that Montag escaped.

     During the Modernist period rules were broken. The very first thing that the novel says is, "If they give you ruled paper, write the other way." That quote basically says to not follow the crowd, be different. It foreshadows that rules will be broken later in the novel. Montag does break the rules and keeps a collection of books even though it's against the law. He pays the price for breaking the rules at first, but in the end he gets what he wanted.

     In conclusion, Modernism was a time period where people broke rules, had a corrupt government, and battled their inner selves vs. their outer selves. Fahrenheit 451 includes all of these things and therefore makes it a Modernist work.

MY MODERNIST

My modernist is George Bernard Shaw. I chose him for two reasons. The first reason is I like that he was a free thinker. Secondly I liked that he addressed world problems in his plays.

THE FIRST SEVEN YEARS

After I finished reading the story I couldn't figure out what the author's purpose was. I don't see what the story is trying to tell us. It would be nice if somebody would show me a deeper meaning of the story.

VOCAB: SPRING LIST #5

brouhaha: A noisy and overexcited display of interest
 cloy: Disgust or sicken (someone) with an excess of sweetness
 demeanor: Outward behavior or bearing
 deference: Humble submission and respect
 enigmatic: Difficult to interpret or understand
 definitive: final - conclusive 
 bumptious: cocky
 choleric: Bad-tempered or irritable.
 bulwark: A defensive wall
 curtail: shorten - reduce 
 adamant:  uncompromising
 profligate: wasteful
 mawkish:Having a faint sickly flavor 
 thwart: prevent
 onus: burden  - responsibility 
 requisite: necessary -required
 mollify:- soothe - pacify  
 sartorial:  relating to tailoring, clothes
 presentiment: premonition  - hunch 
 impromptu: Done without being planned
 forbearance: patience - endurance - tolerance
 remit: Cancel or refrain

I AM HERE

My progress towards my SMART goal for the first grading period is doing great in my opinion. The thing I am most proud of is the video I made for my Fahrenheit 451 project. I put in a lot of work into making that video and I'll be happy when it's shown to the class. Next grading period I hope to excel passed where I am right now and post some great work.

FAHRENHEIT 451 PROJECT

ESSAY POSTGAME ANALYSIS

One thing I think I did well on this essay is follow and answer the prompt nicely. Something that I didn't like about my essay is how short it is. I had a bad case of writer's block and I didn't know how to put my thoughts onto the paper. Overall I would give myself a B.

PARLOR POETRY

I believe that Bradbury made Montag read "Dover Beach" to the women in the parlor in order to bring out the part of them that actually cares about important things. He wanted to show them that books can bring out emotions. I would have read this poem to the women in the parlor:
Watch
By Frank Outlaw

Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.

I chose this poem because it would make them realize that everything they do in life effects their destiny. It would make them think about all the life mistakes they had made.

MY F451

 Firemen in the story start fires as opposed to putting them out. Guy Montag is fireman who loves his job and  is happy with his life until he meets a girl named Clarisse. Clarisse tells Montag that that life has more meaning than what people realize. Montag then begins to think about things in a way that he hadn't done before. He changes into a new person. One night when him and the other firemen get a call to go burn some books he is astonished when the owner of the books decides to be burned in her house with the books. Montag wonders what is so special about books that can make a person do such a thing, so he snatches a book from the owner's house. He adds it to the stash of his other books he has hidden in his house. Montag remembers an old english professor named Faber that he met a long time ago and he plans to talk to him to learn more about books. Once at Faber's, they devise a plan to plant books in the firestations so that the stations have to be burned. Montag's boss, Captain Beatty, knows that Montag has a book and let's him hold onto it for a while hoping to realize that people don't need books. When Montag doesn't burn the book, Beatty brings Montag and the other firemen out to burn Montag's house down. After the house has been burnt, Montag is tired of what Beatty says and burns him to death, even though later he realizes that's what Beatty wanted all along. Montag runs away out of the city and ends up running into a group of old teachers who have books memorized in their heads. He decides to join their lifestyle and memorize a book himself. Later the city gets being bombed due to the war that was currently going on and him and the group walk to what's left of the city and want to rebuild, the right way.

TO MODERN OR POST MODERN

The quote is saying that fiction does not help in dark times. When David Foster Wallace says, "You burn with hunger for food that does not exist", he is basically saying that fiction give people a false perception of hope or happiness. Fiction may act as a temporary escape, but in all, it doesn't help.

SPRING VOCAB #2

PRAETORIAN- forming or resembling the Roman Imperial bodyguard

SIEVE- a person who can't keep a secret

VEILED- having or wearing a veil or a conceiling cover

SACCHARINE- relating to or resembling that of sugar

HARLEQUIN- a character in comedy with a shaved head, masked face, tights and wooden sword.

TOIL- long strenuous fatiguing labor

DELINQUENTS- guilty of a misdeed or offense 

GIBBER- to speak meaninglessly

INSIDIOUS- intended to entrap or beguile

STREWN- to scatter or sprinkle.
PATRONAGE- the act of buying something
CADENCE- pace
SUFFUSED- to spread through or over
CENTRIFUGE- a machine that separates substances by spinning fast
DENTIFRICE- toothpaste
LEISURE- time free of work or duty
VESSEL- a craft for traveling on water
PHONOGRAPH- record player
PROFUSION- an abundance of something

THE TIME OF MY LIFE

I spent my time reading Fahrenheit 451. I could have just sat around and talked, but I wanted to do something productive. There are a lot of distractions outside of school, so I wanted to get as much of the reading done as possible in an environment where I could focus.