Time You Enjoy Wasting Is Not Wasted Time

I originally started to write this post over a month ago. But then Erin was born and for some reason I was a little too busy to read or think about writing about reading. Then I started blogging again as we settled into a sort of routine, but neglected to finish (or even start it really) this little project. However I was just linked to as a Big Read blogger, and there is nothing more motivating than having someone else remind you of things you said you were going to do. I suppose the only other thing I should mention before I get started is that I am writing my reactions to certain situations/thoughts raised by this book and do not intend to get into plot summaries and such. So without further ado…

The Hearth and the Salamander

Many of the concepts of this novel are frightfully accurate portrayals, not of a far away future, but of the world we are living in today. Mildred lives entirely in a world of entertainment. Her ‘family’ is the cast of some vaguely interactive soap-opera that she views on giant wall sized televisions. When she isn’t in front of the Walls she is listening to her SeaShells. A 50″ flat screen and the iPod aren’t too far off the mark. We are slaves to entertainment and like Mildred we live within our own little worlds. My family gave up on broadcast television quite a while ago and I found out two big things: I don’t miss it at all, however I do feel left out of many conversations with other people. I am sometimes surprised when the big thing to talk about is something that happened last night on some show.

The biggest theme of course is that books are illegal. While that may not be the case, I know many people who do not read and if they do it certainly isn’t for leisure. Why is that, I wonder? The issue of censorship in a broader sense is even more real. Our news is brought to us by a few very large corporations, the same ones that provide us with our entertainment. Everything we are fed is very sanitized and bland. There are no real opposing views presented. We are easily distracted by a pop singers seemingly drunk performance or some other drivel and yet the really thought-provoking issues are left unsaid or under-reported. It is in these corporations best interest to keep us happy consumers whose biggest thought is about a failed dance routine and not the suffering of people in this and other countries. Like Mildred, we dare not delve to deep into the meaning of what is going on around us, for that would detract from our entertainment.

I was interested by Guy’s plea that a new Wall would cost him one-third of his yearly salary at $2,000. I thought, $6,000 a year? And I thought I had trouble making ends meet. But then I poked around a bit and my un-scientific research leads me to believe that was a very decent salary if we remember the book was written in 1950. So being a fireman would seem to be a good job, which is how Mildred has three Walls already, but she still wants the fourth. It made me think how much of my budget goes towards entertainment? My estimate is around 10%, but I know people who routinely spend at least 30% which would put them in league with the Montag’s.

I wonder if Clarisse’s death is an accident?

Beatty makes an interesting explanation for the ways things are in that world. His explanation is 20 pages long, which is just about one-third of Part One. An interesting thing about it to me is how relevant his story is. It is too easy to self-censor oneself so as to not offend anyone. But what happens when the censorship is all encompassing?