"We are living in a time when flowers are trying to live on flowers, instead of growing on good rain and black loam......Yet somehow we think we can grow, feeding on flowers and fireworks, without completing the cycle back to reality."-Faber (83).
So far in the second part of the book, I noticed that the man Montag had met in the past has come up with some thought-provoking ideas about the meaning of books on everyday life. Montag mentions that he met an old English Professor in a park long ago, and they both ended up having a very interesting conversation. During their conversation Faber exclaimed, "I don't talk things, sir, I talk the meaning of things. I sit here and know I'm alive." (75). Some time passed, and Montag wanted help in learning to understand what he reads. This led him to call Faber, asking him how many copies of the Bible were left in the world. Faber responded negatively towards Montag's question, so Montag decided to go visit Faber and have a discussion with him face to face.
Montag explains to Faber, "Nobody listens any more. I can't talk to the walls because they're yelling at me. I can't talk to my wife; she listens to the walls. I just want someone to hear what I have to say. .....And I want you to teach me to understand what I read." (82). Faber tells Montag what three things are missing that Montag can't seem to make sense of. The three things are...
Number one: Books have quality. They contain pores, texture, and features. Why are books feared? Because they "show the pores in the face of life." (83).
Number two: "Leisure to digest it." (85). We need time to sort through and soak-in the information that the words in books reveal.
Number three: "The right to carry out actions based on what we learn from the interaction of the first two." (85).
What Faber says to Montag is from deep thought and much experience. Faber reveals that since books have become invisible, people do not stop to not just look, but to interpret or explain the meaning of what is happening around them. I found this part of the book very interesting, and I feel that Faber is going to play a large role in the upcoming events of the book.
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2 comments:
Hey Lindsay,
Nice job making observations and inferences about Faber and his effect on the novel. Your choice of quotes from the novel is also "spot on" and manages to express some of the main ideas from Fahrenheit 451. In my opinion, the following quote by Faber that you chose is the most effective: "I don't talk things, sir, I talk the meaning of things. I sit here and know I'm alive." This quote displays the true necessity of books in life. How is this necessity related to some of the themes found in Fahrenheit 451? What role do you think that Faber will play in the rest of the book?
Nice job here exploring important ideas from the novel. I, too, agree with Matt that your analysis is "spot on."
Regarding these things that Faber mentions: Do you see similarities to our world today? What would Faber's observations about our world be? Is our society missing some of the same things that the F451 society is?
Keep reading and thinking...
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