The Importance of Literature

Mangano 1 Leah Mangano Mr. Valdes English 10 July 18, 2012 “The Importance of Literature” Fahrenheit 451: 1. Quote: “ ‘Come on, woman!’ The woman knelt among the books, touching the drenched leather and cardboard, reading the gilt titles with her fingers while her eyes accused Montag. ‘You can't ever have my books,’ she said.” (Bradbury 35) Explanation: The woman knew the firemen would never take her books away because she had read them. She had their knowledge and words inside her. Knowledge is something that no one can take away from you. Even though the books would be burned physically, the words and stories the books contained would live on inside her! The fact that this woman died with her book shows Montag that books must have something special that the government doesn't want them to know about. It also shows how important books are, even though today we seem to take them for granted. 2. Quote: “ ‘It's not just the woman that died,’ said Montag. ‘Last night I thought about all that kerosene I've used in the past ten years. And I thought about books. And for the first time I realized that a man was behind each one of the books. A man had to think them up. A man had to take a long time to put them down on paper. And I'd never even thought that thought before.’ ” (Bradbury 49) Explanation: Montag for the first time saw that he was not only destroying a Mangano 2 nonliving thing, but also destroying the person who wrote that book. He was destroying something that took maybe years and lots of thought and effort to make. He was destroying the author’s existence. Montag realized that maybe these books could help him solve his problems and figure out what to do with his life. This also shows how books aren't just pages, but a man and his time, efforts, and thoughts written down for a purpose. Literature is