“There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.”(Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451). A quote by the author Ray Bradbury, author of the praised and criticized Fahrenheit 451. About a dystopian future, that is scarily similar to some of todays ideas, one of these ideas is the censoring of books but not other media such as movies or shows, or the compacting of books so that we will not lose interest. The book was highly praised because of the story line and the deeper meaning that was conveyed, but this did not matter as it was first banned in Foxworth, Mississippi in 1999 because of language used including gods name, it was also the most iconic banning in Irvine, CA when a school blacked out words they believed where profane or inappropriate, this was in 1992. These banning’s are examples of authority figures trying to restrict the ideas that this book includes, I do not believe this book should be banned, this is because of the inciteful look Bradbury provides on todays youth and the obsession many have with t.v. or social media, the other ideas such as the banning of books that are often known for their individuality. But it is not just the story but the characters that solidify the insanity behind the banning of these books but the idea that a book, Specifically about the dangers of banning books, gets banned. So in short I do not believe Fahrenheit 451 should have been banned.
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It was still early in the sleepy town of Bismarck North Dakota, students ranging from ages 5 to 11 were gathering together before school so that the icy winds would not freeze them over, the snow blowing against the multi-colored huddles of children making them look like odd penguins. Of course, not everyone will always choose to join these huddles, some people like my friends and I would resort to climbing the 20-foot-tall ice covered trees. It might not have kept us particularly warm but it was a distraction from the cold that enveloped the playground.
Like most days during the winter I and 2 other friends had elected to climb the tallest evergreen so we would be able to see when our other friends had arrived, at this point we had realized our friends were acting different so we had planned to ask when they arrived. But when we saw them skip towards the school we for some reason also decided it was a great idea to try and scare them as they arrived. So we hid in the ice fort we had created the day before. My friends Grace and Kira on the left and me on the right, it was seconds before we decided to jump out that we heard them talking and being little 9-year old’s we listened. We found out why they were acting so weird. Looking back to this now 4 years later I see that the people we at one point considered friends were really just our ‘friends’ because they wanted to create drama, they would spread, rumors lie to teachers and try to turn us against each other, but 4 years ago I really did not understand that this was not a healthy friendship, I thought it was normal and it still bothers me to this day that I could let them deceive me into hurting a true friend. When the bell rang we were still in shock and almost got left outside in the cold snowy atmosphere, it was not until about 3 months later thought that we decided to address this. But by the time I had decided to address it I had been exiled by my friends and left to flounder on my own, and because the school was so small there was no other groups that I could fit into. I liked sports but I did not want to only play sports, I loved science but no one else really did, I loved playing video games with my friends and family but didn’t want to only talk about video games, this was the same with reading, drawing, and so many other groups. I was essentially a loner I was pushed away or left on my own this happened for about the next weeks, I at one point gave up I remembered that the tree was still there and for the next few weeks would just climb the tree and watch the once friends of mine play and occasionally point at me and begin laughing and mocking me. During that time there were days where I did not even want to go to school anymore, which was odd because even then I loved school, now days I still love school and love the group of people I have found even if I sometimes feel as if I don’t always fit in, but that is what makes it great, they don’t push me away unlike my old friends. I no longer resort to a tree to keep me from the psychologically tormenting comments, actions and glares of other people. But the worst part of this story is not the sadistic taunts or esteem crushing rumors made up by the once friends of mine, but the fact that even to this day I am still worried of friends like that reappearing in my life, in the first weeks of middle school I would sit with other people but I would never speak, never look up from my food or engage any form of conversation, it was not until around midway through last year that I really started making an effort in social situations, but I am getting ahead of myself, we will move to about 2 months before I was told I was going to be moving to Indiana. Snow now melted creating muddy sand areas all around the playground, the same playground that would have once was a sanctuary was now a muddy mess of older kids trying to jump from tire swing to the metal beams that supported the swings, people would gather around and ‘bet’ on who could do this thee most amount of times before they either chickened out or fell in the mud, my least favorite person that I have ever crossed paths with, Josh Schwartz, often winning, but that is a whole different story from my life. This muddy sport often attracted more than just your normal athlete as I could easily do it winning several times myself only to be stopped by the bell. This was because it required a more strategic than athletic approach. But this sport often caused fighting in the different groups of people, so as long as no one else threatened to join me at the top of the play area, I would watch and try to sum up the courage to talk to any of my once friends. But that was when something amazing happened, on one day nearing the end of this ‘amazing’ way to pass time I looked over at my tree, and something normally not there caught my attention it was about the size of a note card but it was neon colored making it easy to see. At that point I was wondering who had been in my tree, was it a note, who was it for, these thoughts distracted me until I looked around again realizing I had ran all the way over to the trees without realizing and were only about 5 inches from the note, it was a bright neon blue note the same color as the sky, it had been ripped slightly and it sat of all places, in MY tree, the tree that everyone avoided because they were always too busy to go through the wooded area often forgetting its very existence, but what most interested me is what it said Dear Abbi, Hopefully you receive this note Me Ethan and Bruce were wondering If you wanted to be on our team for the upcoming science group contest _ yes or _no Please leave the note here so we can find it Gabe Bruce & Ethan The note of course was talking about the upcoming science contest that would be based around the topic of survival, it was to go with the fifth-grade novel we were reading, Hatchet, of course I had completely forgotten about the contest, but it did not surprise me that someone was asking to be on my team for something like this as I had the highest science scores and was the student that always had answers for anything science related. The other reason it did not surprise me was the fact that Gabe, Bruce and Ethan had always been my only form of competition which over time led to us being friends. I checked yes and set the note back where I found it. At the top of the evergreen. It was not for another 2 months that anything other than science or testing took place, in the end our group placed first in the athletic, puzzle, time based challenges and creative categories, only losing in trivia and technology, but the stories of those are not your reason for reading this so we will skip to the last 2 weeks of 5th grade, I had told the class I was moving and would be living in a totally different state. The old analog clock in our class room seemed to slow to a metaphorical crawl, 1:20… 1:21, I looked at the rest of the class, our teacher had stepped out maybe 10 seconds ago but it seemed as if years had passed by, she was about announce the theme of the end of year party when a teacher called her to the hall, everyone was staring at the door, the clock was the only noise that could be heard; tick…tick…tick…tick, when a sudden cough made almost everyone jump, the ticking resumed; tick…tick…tick…no tick, the clock froze and did not resume until a student tried to throw a pencil at it. The pencil only just missing the teacher landed on the floor as she opened the door. “The theme is neon,” she said,” and which one of you threw a pencil at the clock.” Everyone turned to point at Josh who sunk in his chair as the glares of students landed on him, the teacher proceeded to play a game of 20 questions all about the flying pencil. Many of us laughing as we went to join our groups in the corner of the room. I looked around for Kara and spotted her, she had long brown hair that went down to her lower back and black jeans on that made her bright blue shirt look like a neon light, she was standing with Ethan, Gabe and Bruce deciding on how to dress, both Kara and Ethan were athletes so they often talked with each other, the whole reason I knew Ethan was because of Kara, so it was no surprise that they were talking. Kara waved me over and asked what I was going to wear, of course she already knew so I had no clue why she was asking but I answered anyways, I was planning to wear a pink lacy dress and white flats, I however did not realize Gabe and Bruce were listening. So, when I arrived at 8 o’clock at the school along with my little brother I was surprised to see not only Kara but Ethan, Bruce and Gabe all wearing light pink in some way, Kara’s mom the yearbook coordinator took around 10 pictures of us when the doors opened, the school was decorated with black and neon lights, because it was my last day, Kara, Ethan, Bruce and Gabel made sure that nothing would make us have bad memories of the last day. That was until I heard crying, I separated myself from the others and tried to find the source of these cries, behind the stage, no. down the halls, no. Behind the balloons, yes. I found Byrne with a bowl of ice cream and crying as I approached her I realized Marissa was nowhere to be scene, neither was Jade. Byrne had been abandoned by them, I sat down and talked to her we talked for about an hour when we saw the note on the school bulletin board that read, Attention The old evergreen will be cut down this summer by order of the school board The tree was being cut down, the old tree that meant so much to everyone, all of us had memories of that tree as a perch, a place of refuge or a place of meeting with friends. I had only just opened my mouth when Byrne shouted for Gabe, Bruce, Ethan and Kara to all follow us, none of us knew what was happening. That was until she stopped a few feet from the tree ushering all of us up. We sat in the tree and talked, the wind had changed to a light breeze and the sky was clear we talked about middle school, we talked about everything from what had happened to the idea that aliens exist, and the oddest of all topics how small and petty we had all been. We had realized that the fighting we had done was petty and childish and would never do anything to help anyone in the future. A story of the unknown and the peculiar by author Ransom Riggs, also known as Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, recently has become a book of attention as it has recently became a major movie production. While waiting for this new movie to come out fans may enjoy reading a similar book, Cinder, by author Marissa Meyer. Both books are filled with action and emotion that drags in readers and spins a vivid story that is hard to pull away from.
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is about a young man Jacob Portman and the secrets of this grandfather “Abe”, as well as the stories of a group of peculiar children and their headmistress, Miss. Peregrine. After witnessing the death of his grandfather Abe, a peculiar unbeknownst to his family, Jacob follows his grandfather's last wishes that he go to the peculiar children in Wales. At first he finds nothing but once he finds the old home his grandfather had grew up in he begins to learn of the true past of his grandfather and the secret he wanted to tell but could not. Thought it will be hard to match up to the action of Miss. Peregrine's, Cinder does a pretty good job, based around the main character Cinder, but it is not the story as much as the entire series that captures fans attention and admiration, based around old fairy tales such as Cinderella and little red riding hood, but set in the future when overpopulation has lead a group of wealthy families to "colonize" on the moon which was only possible because of the advanced technology, but because of the magnetic fields and the difference between the two planets the moon “colonist” developed mutations that allowed them to tamper with others emotions and what they see, because of this, the strain between earth and the "colonist" has lead to dangerous diplomatic strain, as a unknown queen thought to be dead, even by herself, walks earth living with the lies of her past and her true origins. Cinder and Miss Peregrine's are both set with more of a science fiction undertone but both are full of extraordinary characters and personalities. Though set in different time periods they both tend to show a overall idea of mysterious life that lead to an amazing future. This is because both main characters went through their entire pasts without knowledge of their true capabilities until they were forced to. The two Characters though different are more alike than could be imagined, the they feelings through out the stories pull in the reader as both are full of many up and down moments ranging from deaths, insane action and surprise realizations. So in conclusion, if you enjoyed the book is Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, than you will love the intense action, imaginative characters and beautiful word building of Cinder by Marissa Meyers. |
Abbi MoenI am not intresting, I basiclly spend all my time playing an instrument, listening to music (Especially Twenty One Pilots, Fall Out Boy, MCR, Panic! At The Disco and Country Music), Drawing/Painting/etc. or reading. I was born in North Dakota, and lets be honest, NOTHING happens in ND, so I really only have my Black Belt or my Sparring/Form medals that make me interesting, and until I was 9 not much happened but it changed alot as soon as I became a black belt. But I am basiclly pretty boring unless listening to me play guitar and cello for hours on end sounds fun, I really don't think my life is that interesting. Categories |