"The Use of 'Dover Beach' in 'Fahrenheit 451'"

In Ray Bradbury's book Fahrenheit 451, at one point the protagonist, Montag, reads a bit of poetry aloud to his wife's friends. The poetry he reads is from the poem Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold. The excerpt he reads evokes a strong emotional response from one of his wife's friends. I believe that Ray Bradbury chose this poem because of its tone in particular. The first stanza he reads refers to the "Sea of Faith" and how it has shriveled and dried. I also think this is an analogy to the state of the world that Montag lives in. Like the "Sea of Faith," other waters have also dried. The "Sea of Knowledge," the "Sea of Dreams," the "Sea of Imagination," and the "Sea of Creativity" have also disappeared.

The severe emotional response that Mrs. Phelps displayed to this poem I think came from the fact that she wasn't truly happy. The way that the poem shows the world was so powerful and relatable that she couldn't handle her composure anymore and broke down. This very real emotion was so raw and unchecked that it frightened her and in turn made her angry towards Montag and poetry.

"The Culture and Tech of Oryx and Crake"

Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake makes several powerful points about technology and culture. The world that she describes has become twisted and cruel; the protagonist and his friend Crake grow up watching child pornography, executions, and graphic surgeries on the media. This is a bold statement about our media today and how it seems that every day more profanity, violence, and sexually explicit material finds its way into our homes through TVs and the internet. Another point she makes is in the way that the world is run by huge corporations. I thought this was particularly powerful due to the way that we can see that in a less obvious way today. In the western countries of our world there are several extremely powerful corporations that pull a lot of strings in things like media, business, and even the government.