Columnists

This weekend I had to read 6 columns by the following authors, Mike Lupica, Robin Givhan, and Dave Barry. They each had their own was of writing. Mike Lupica was all for sports. Robin Givhan is the girls fashion police/critic. And Dave Barry definitely shoots for humor.

I overall like all the columns considering they are meant to get my interest and be very entertaining. But I do not find too much interest in the sports type of columns. I know that's not everyone just me. I'm only giving MY opinion. Now I Am sure plenty of other sports fantasized people out there do find them to be very passionate. Then also Robin, I did like her second writing of "What will Kate Middleton's wedding dress look like?". It may be because I am a girl and huge royal weddings are very interesting to me haha!


But my favorite column out of all of them would have to be Dave Barry. He is able to write in a humorous way to give attention to all readers with common attractions. For example the dog article, EVERYONE who has a dog can relate to the happiness and comfort dogs give you. And then he persuades almost everyone who don't have dogs to get one because they are great! And I like the kind of writing cause it attracts me and keeps me interested to what they have to say. And Dave Barry is for sure known for that!

Theme: Farhenheit 451

Theme: Individual self-expression is important.

Timeline:

• At first Montag is just a pawn in the game and doesn’t question the system.
• “What incredible power of identification the girl had; she was like the eager watcher of a marionette show, anticipating each flicker of an eyelid, each gesture of his hand, each flick of a finger, the moment before it began,”(Bradbury 11/9).
• “We are living in a time when flowers are trying to live on flowers, instead of growing on good rain and black loam.”(Bradbury 83/79).
• “Yet somehow we think we can grow, feeding on flowers and fireworks, without completing the cycle back to reality,”(Bradbury 83/79).
• When Montag kills Beatty he becomes his own person.
• “‘Everyone must leave something behind when he dies…’”(156/149).

The theme is important to our understanding of the story because it shows how Montag is a dynamic character and how he changes his views on the government and his thoughts and actions while trying to do the right thing.

Our theme connects to modern day society because we are allowed to express ourselves freely and generally do as we choose. Unlike in Fahrenheit 451, where everything is censored, most of society today is attempting to dissuade censorship. We try to avoid censorship in general and we don’t enforce as strict of rules as they do in Fahrenheit, however there are some things that the government still does not allow for our well being. It is important for us to be aware of this theme because we need to pay attention to what the government is doing and how we act towards important issues.

Chris Allgor

Olivia Seiller   

Rama Mehendale

Sean Sullivan

Spencer Hathaway

Fahrenheit 451: Overview

Last week I finished Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. It was quite odd but very intriguing at the same time. Ray captures the ways of living in a utopian society of sameness. In the community everything is run but strict code. And the main one is that books are outlawed. And if you were ever to be caught with a book in your house the firemen are sent to go put it on fire. Wow how does that sound for a change?! There are many twist and turn in this book, but I do have to say, in my opinion, I think the story can be off sometimes... weird if you'd want to say. But hey, that's okay cause it gives us a new perspective of what life would be like without books.

The protagonist is Montag and the antagonist in Captain Beatty (Montag's fire chief) Throughtout the book Montag is able to prove himself as a dynamic character by how he starts seeing and attempting to make a difference of how society is run. This is an awesome thing because by the end of the book there is anew beginning. This is able to give Montag to start fresh, and being able to build up a new community and bring back alllll the knowledge that books give us.

Even though at sometimes in reading Fahrenheit 451 I did get confused, overall all I thought it was a well written book on Ray Bradbury's part. It was definitely weird, but enjoyable. This novel captures how even if we fall apart we are always able to build up the next time even stronger.