One theme of this story is coming of age, which is revealed through Kevin’s experiences at school and home. In the story, Kevin feels caught between his interactions with his father at home and his teacher at school. Waldo, Kevin’s teacher, humiliates Kevin because his father helped him complete his homework, which is incorrect. Consider the character interaction at the end of the story between Kevin and his father:
“How did it go today?” his father asked.
“All right.” They kept silent until they reached the corner of their own street.
“What about the Latin?”
Kevin faltered, feeling a babyish desire to cry.
“How was it?”
“OK. Fine.”
“Good. I was a bit worried about it. It was done in a bit of a rush. Son, your Da’s a genius.” He smacked him with the paper again. Kevin laughed and slipped his hand into the warmth of his father’s overcoat pocket, deep to the elbow.
Kevin has the “babyish desire to cry,” but he doesn’t let his father know about the problems at school. His restraint shows that through this experience Kevin has matured, and he is protecting his father from feeling the humiliation from his school experience.
Answer:
Explanation:
This quotation connects to the theme because it represents the censorship that the government in the novel Fahrenheit 451 believes to be good. The quote is from Captain Beatty and it explains his point of view on censoring citizens. Captain Beatty believes that giving the civilians little knowledge of the world is best for the city and that if they were to gain knowledge, it would only create problems because the citizens would be able to question authority and make decisions that could cause harm to one another. This quote relates to the overall theme because it explains the force that Montag is working against and emphasizes his individuality because it describes the norm of society in believing that censorship yields the best results for a harmonic society. Montag is different because he questions society and begins to make his own decisions through gaining knowledge in books. He believes that in order to become happy, not only politically but in every aspect of life, he must explore the world and understand all sides of a question before he can make his own decision. Montag's desire to go against Captain Beatty's rules demonstrates the theme because his inclination to understand the world drives his goal and fuels his rebellion against the law in the interest of living a better life. Captain Beatty's opinion on the censorship of citizens is important to the theme because his opinion is what drives Montag to pursue knowledge in books and acts as an opposing force in the way of Montag's pursuit of a happy life. The quote demonstrates Beatty's reasons behind censoring the citizens. He believes that if the citizens were to gain knowledge they would worry and it would cause problems within the city. The quote connects to the theme by representing the reasoning behind censorship and the motivating force driving Montag to escape government restriction in order to pursue knowledge and understand the world.
Graphic Analysis:
I chose the image of a baby to represent this quote from Fahrenheit 451 because baby's needs are taken care of and they have no need to worry about the world. Babies are innocent and oblivious to the world around them. Their minds are not developed and therefore they don't have the ability to understand what is occurring around them. The baby represents the quote because it symbolizes the happiness Captain Beatty is talking about. The Captain says in order to keep people happy, they must not be worried. The baby represents this because it has no need to worry and doesn't have the ability to question it's surroundings. Babies have comfortable lives because they have all their needs taken care of similar to the citizens in Fahrenheit 451 who have food, shelter, and fancy technology to keep them busy. The happy baby is symbolic of the happy citizens because it doesn't understand life and doesn't question anything. The baby represents the politically happy, brainwashed members of society because as long as the citizens are kept satisfied with fancy technology and other distracting material goods, they stay happy and oblivious to their censorship, just like how babies are kept satisfied with distracting items such as pacifiers and rattle toys to keep them distracted from their real issue.
The quote is "he who laughs last laughs best" but it turns threw the fake reality that everything turns out good in the end.
I think that it can be true but not for everyone.
