Fahrenheit 451 - Aiden B.

A good story to has to be strong in almost all the elements that we learned about. Some of the elements need more or less depending on what type of story you are reading. A dramatic story would need more detail in the plot and conflict, character development, and themes. It might not need as much in the style or setting, depending on what the author wants the atmosphere to be. An action story would not need much in terms of themes or style, but the setting, plot, and character development would be much more important. A well balanced story should have a little of all the elements with a little extra depending on what kind of story it is. Fahrenheit 451 focuses a lot on the plot and conflict, the development of the character, Guy Montag, the character's narration/voice, and the setting. A book with a realistic setting is something that is important to me, and although Fahrenheit 451 is set a few hundred years into the future, it is still a completely believable story. That is one of the most important aspects of a book, how immersed the reader can get in it's world. The most important aspects of a story to me would be the development of the character, the plot, the setting, and voice it is told by. All of these make the story more interesting and immersive, and to me that is what makes a book worth the time.

This story is one that I would recommend to someone who likes a little drama in a future where the government has created fireproof houses, putting firefighters out of jobs. Instead they are tasked with burning books and other forms of literature as they had become "destructive" to the society. The story is set in the United States and follows one of the new “firemen”, a name that is literal now. The amount of detail the author put into making a backstory for the character and the setting makes the story that much more realistic. The beginning of the story is enough to make you want to read more, but doesn’t give you too much so that you can expect what is going to happen, in fact that was what the entire story was like. I can guess what is going to happen in some books, and when a book doesn’t let you do that it makes it a lot more interesting and attention-getting. The author, who is Ray Bradbury, wastes no time in getting to know the character and developing him. In the first few chapters, Montag has to witness his wife’s attempted suicide and then live on with her new self, after she is brought back. This happened immediately after Montag met the peculiar character of Clarisse. Clarisse would go on to be a major piece of the puzzle, she makes Montag question his own happiness and mentality, which in turn unfolds the rest of the story.

My favorite part of this story would have to be the character development. You start with a regular happy guy who does not question anything he does. Then the author transitions him into someone questioning his own emotions and everything around him. As Clarisse said, he was different than the rest of the firemen. He goes from the frying pan into the fire as he then has to deal with his wife's attempted suicide. After that he starts losing his feelings for the person he no longer knows as his wife. Then Montag has to watch as a woman decides to go with her books as they burn them both together, this happened at the same time that Clarisse went missing. Both of these things caused Montag to question a lot a sneak a book away from the woman's house. You can see the shift in his mentality in the next few pages where he talks about the woman to Mildred, his wife. He takes the day off of work and gets a lecture from one of his colleagues at the firehouse, Beatty. The lecture was about the history of the "firemen" and how most of them hit the wall that he had just hit, he talked about it like it was a normal thing. This continues throughout the book, and the amount of change that a single character can go through in a rather small book is impressive. 

Finally, I would have to say that this is a well written story that most people will enjoy. It is something that you can get wrapped up in and enjoy for a few hours or a few days, depending on your reading style. Nonetheless, it is enjoyable for a lot of people. I wouldn't say that it is for everyone, but you should give it a read if you have some free time.