Introduction: My Introduction to Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 has become a novel that I enjoy re-reading. My relationship with this book has changed over the years. From being an angry fifteen-year-old rebel without war that hated to be preached at to an artist and teacher that thrives in creativity and pushes for the individuals I teach to find their voices. Lately, there have been things that have subjected Education to question the novels being read which is ringing true from Bradbury’s point-of-view. As young scholar, I felt this book was hitting me in the head to be different, but for an aspiring artist, this was something I did not need anyone to tell me. It was taken personally as my own charge in life for myself to be the best independent artist I could be. After a few bad choices and missteps in life, I became an older college student that had to humble himself and re-read this book again due to an assignment. There was another great awakening for knowledge within myself, spoiler alert, as Montag question the fabric of his viewed reality. The book unlocked a clearer understanding that I just did not understand at 15. Fifteen years or so later, I am working with the novel trying to enlighten the future minds of the day. Take a moment and journey with me on Caliph’s 5 ways the book is better than the two cinematic version released. This is to not say that they are terrible. All iterations are good within its own right, but as we will discover within this article, the movies seem to hit the high notes but lose its meaning or way.
