Of Fiction and Reality

Books had once been our core source of entertainment, hobby and knowledge. We were once very dependent on them that even our very own lifestyles were once patterned after them. But our dependence on them is slowly fading.  Why should we even bother to stay up all day and night looking for information in that old dusty library when we could already have what we need in just one click? Viola; copy, paste, print!

At first, I really looked at the novel as a pain in my neck. The first pages were so abstract I just couldn’t seem to get hold of the gist of the story. But as I go on to the next chapter, I was prettily captivated by Montag’s dilemma that I just couldn’t wait for the next pages to pass and humor me. The setting of Ray Bradbury’s novel is somewhat similar yet somewhat different to our current setting.

It’s a bit disturbing to know that the firemen in Montag’s world were the ones who start fire. Ruining houses or establishments is their job and the smell of kerosene is their perfume. In our world, our firemen are the ones who are heroic enough to save properties, and lives even at their very own expense.

The characters in the novel are like robots that always follow what the society dictates them to do. They never did question the system, while in our world, we are capable of expressing our concerns and we are always capable of questioning the system whenever we feel that there is a need for change.

The novels family setting also bothers me. Couples marry not because they want to bare children. They marry because they just feel like marrying; they don’t even do it out of love! In our world, couples that were united under the sanctity of marriage committed their selves to their partners because they couldn’t find someone better to spend their whole life with. They do it to procreate and for their love for each other.

I just couldn’t understand the personality of the characters in the novel, Mildred for instance. She is very complex though her daily activities seem so simple. She is very ecstatic whenever she watches the “family” in their parlor. She is equally ecstatic whenever she is around her friends, but with Montag? She is very bitter to Montag; I just couldn’t imagine what their marriage life looks like. And she is also very dependent to sleeping pills. All of us have a very complex personality but I guess all of us are capable of reducing our set of differences.

The hound! The society they lived in is full of violence. The hound is always there to track those guilty people who still possess books. It is always on the go, ready to track down people and even end their lives. In our society, our policemen are also after those notorious people who are insensitively committing crimes. But despite the fact that they are labeled as criminals they are still respected as humans so as they are still entitled to their human rights. We track down criminals as we put them by following a certain procedure and trying hard not to even harm them. No violence as long as possible.

Books! The people in the novel are not allowed to own even a single book.  If they do so, their properties are mercilessly burned and converted to ashes. Their government just put it as a favor for the population because absence of books means freedom from rational thinking. They took advantage of the weakness of the people; laziness. In our current situation, we are not prohibited to own books. We are even free to build our very own library if we just want to.  We are also free to be rational thinkers. I can’t imagine living in a society wherein books are prohibited. What would happen to people like me who finds pleasure in reading books? Burned to ashes?  I can’t imagine myself abiding to all those things imposed by the society even if I know that there is something going wrong.

Reading Fahrenheit 451 made me aware of the sudden changes that we are now facing. Books are now slowly fading! Gone are those times when students would always rush their ways into the library and borrow some books for their assignments and for further readings. Why? You would surely see them in front of a not so big screen; typing, and clicking. And a minute later you see a smile painted on their face. Satisfaction written all over their faces and then the printer would start producing the output.

Books are taken for granted  nowadays because of the continuous technology modernization. And maybe those events that happened in the fictional world of Montag would soon be our reality.

A Baby No More

As an eleven year old child, I was very small that people mistook me of being a third grader. Of course, it blew off my self-esteem for my folks were treating me like a baby. They would not take me seriously and would sometimes counter my ideas with a cruel “look at who’s talking”.
Now as a bit grown up, looking back to what happened to me five years ago, puzzles me. I am supposedly on top of the class in terms of academics but how come I just earned a little of their respects. Does size really matter?
I remember asking my mother to stop sending and fetching me at school out of depression. I courageously carry my bag full of books up and down the stairs to and fro our second floor classroom. My mother insisted on doing it for me but stubbornly I said no. I wanted to be like my classmates who effortlessly go up and down the stairs with their bulky backpacks.
Yes, I was successful in showing them that I am no longer a baby. But gaining their respects costed me my health. I suffered an asthma attack!
Remembering those times makes me want to laugh out loud. How could I be so pathetic! But what do children do?

Faithful Believer

I am brought up in a Catholic family. Unlike other Catholics, my family is not one of those you could consider as a faithful devotee.
When I enter the gates of high school, I still can’t lead the Holy Rosary Prayer without looking at the prayer guide.
I could still remember the reaction of one of my classmates when I declined on the offer of leading the prayer during our celebration of the Holy Rosary Month. Distaste was written all over her face and she even told me that I am just a Catholic by name but not by heart. Of course I felt offended, and defended myself. That classmate of mine has no right to tell me that. She could and would never understand me. We were brought up by two different families that shared only one common religion.
For me, faith is not measured by how well you memorize a prayer. It is measured by the strength of your faith. It is measured by how long and how strong you could cling on to your belief.