English Question 5: Fahrenheit 451

What is the mood of this novel? Do you find this novel saddens you in any way? Why?

I would say the mood of the novel starts out very pessimistic. Guy and his wife do not seem to have any affection for each other, and the very fact that, intentionally or unintentionally, she tried to kill herself was somewhat disturbing. I think that toward the mid-end you start getting a vision of hope for Guy, but otherwise the novel is pretty pessimistic. The novel is not light-hearted in any way, and I think that the part that saddens me the most is when you hear of Clarisse’s death. Another thing is when the old woman lights the match and sets her house on fire with herself still inside. Both cases are a sad fact of life called death. In these cases they seemed unnecessary in the case of the old woman or perhaps not fair in both cases, but the reason it makes you sad is the fact that you really don’t know what is going to happen next, or whether this will be your last day on Earth or not. Then you can make another connection and state what people don’t like to hear and that is that they are not in control of their own life. God is in control and people don’t want to acknowledge that there is indeed a higher being. Another reason people don’t like to talk about death is the fact that it terrifies them, and people are afraid of change and the unknown. With fear of the unknown comes a whole list of things that contribute to many different problems and conflicts in life.



This video can really be applied to this blog. It's like a wake-up call to death. And it reiterates that your life does count, and that this could be your last day on earth. It shows the reality of how short and unpredictable our life span is and emphasises that God is really in control of everything.

http://static.flickr.com/28/42054260_5ca45268f0.jpg


http://youtube.com/watch?v=EDjLgxwN-2g