pre-essay socratic seminar

TOPICS:

• Montag as dynamic character
• Montag as role model
• Themes of the book
• Writing techniques/ literary elements
• Symbolism
• Author tones & reader moods
• What Bradbury's predictions say about our society and us
• Individual and group psychology of the characters
• Preston's scribblings
• How we write
• What we should write about

ESSAY (due on your blogs by 11:59 PM PDT Sunday, April 9):

OPTION 1: Describe the difference in Ray Bradbury's tone with regard to Clarisse & Beatty. Support your analysis with examples of Bradbury's diction and detail.

OPTION 2: Analyze Bradbury's language, especially his figures of speech and his syntax, to convey how Montag's inner world differed from the world around him.

OPTION 3: Analyze the language and rhetorical devices that Dr. Preston uses to convey his point of view about reading. (Essay HERE)

***You may write more than one essay for additional credit, practice, and the betterment of humanity.

NOTES:

• In Preston's essay he points out a different interpretation of Hamlet and says that in school we usually only get one meaning.  It makes me wonder what other meanings we might have missed in the things we've read?
• I read for the plot, and when I read Preston's essay it got me thinking about the themes
• I read the book before and I hated it -- because I love books -- but this time when I read it, I got to think through it and find the deeper meaning, so I guess now I hate it less. 
• In the beginning of the book, when Montag met Clarisse, I wanted her to stay.  Why did she inspire him and then: BAM! Why did the author kill her?
• The author wanted us to know something else was possible
• Maybe she didn't get hit by a car
• Maybe "they" killed her
• Maybe she's in hiding with the other readers
• Mildred said she was dead, and Mildred didn't pay attention to anything
• Maybe she was smarter sooner-- anyone who was still in the city died in the end anyway

•  Montag may have been a role model, but not in the right way... maybe you shouldn't break safety rules
• He took drastic action though
• He stepped out of his comfort zone-- it was edgy but he was inspired
• He is self-reliant (as much as I hate that essay); he did what he wanted to do 
• I don't think he was a good role model. He did what he did without thinking.  He is impulsive. He could've gotten Faber hurt. He didn't stop when Faber told him to.

• I connect this book to events in the world-- we read about the bombing the day before the bombing in Syria
• I want to burn Trump's book
• (widespread disagreement/ cooler heads prevailed)