Monday, April 03, 2006

Farenheit 451 vs 1984

Farenheit 451: By Ray Bradbury
1984: By George Orwell

The following contains spoilers from both books so consider yourself warned.

Setting:
1984 would have to win on this one. 1984's world was described in great detail in every little aspect. From the apartments with the telescreens to the prole's ghetto streets, to the little offices in the ministry of truth? to the mysterious contents of room 101.

Characters:
This one is a close call. Beatty in 451 is the equivalent of O'Brien in 1984. 1984 has more characters, such as the shop owner, all his friends at work, and his fellow neighbors. 451 has less characters but many of them are just as good. But because of 1984's great attention to detail and more fleshed out characters, 1984 is the winner here. Again.

Story:
1984: A regular citizen embarks on a search to break the rules of society and to find a way to combat this world that he lives in. In the end, there is no hope, for this utopian society cannot be stopped.
451: A fireman realizes that the books he burns hold the key to the past and the "real" world. He tries to save books and stop the firemen and gets hunted down by his government. In the end he barely manages to escape.
Winner: Another close call. Farenheit's story had better pacing, and kicked off pretty early in the book when Montag questions the firemen's motives. 1984's story however takes a looong time to start, while the author explains the world for a long, long time. Both stories are very good but I'm going to have to go with Farenheit 451 on this for the better pacing and some very good scenes. This one could've went either way.

Writing:
1984 is written well. Farenheit is written in more of a loose manner where the author express thoughts, feelings, and actions in fragments of sentences. I thought he went a little overboard sometimes writing like this.
Both are well written but I think that 1984 deserves the prize here. 1984 was described in every aspect and you could picture every scene perfectly.

Overall winner:
1984 > Farenheit 451
The world-the story-the characters-everything just fits perfectly together in 1984.

Farenheit is still good though. It has more action-like-suspense scenes which makes it perhaps more "exciting" to read. It's also much shorter than 1984.

The end.

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6 Comments:

At 4/08/2006 3:48 PM, Blogger ifedajay said...

Whew, good thing I didn't read this blooggg...I just thought i'd say hi!

So, I like the part where Montag says...well...I guess I didn't get there yet...ahahha

 
At 4/10/2006 7:52 PM, Blogger ifedajay said...

Well...I have to completely agree...1984 is much better than Fahrenheit 451 (I hope that the time that passed between readings did nothing).

1984 was so much more psychologically intense, especially near the end at the torture scenes.

Also, in 1984, it is so much more devastating because you realize that there is no hope to be found.
However, 451 did seem to be more plausible in that there are some people who can find each other to fight back.

1984 was more of a shocker because it is of a world that seems so horribly terrible. The world in 451 at least has a chance to change.

I definitely have to agree that the characters in 1984 were way better...so much more defined.
I don't know if it's the level of writing or the audience that made the difference in writing style.

Oh yeah, the world of Fahrenheit 451 did seem like it could actually happen, unlike 1984...like something of a horror movie. It just seems like the people of 1984 should have a breakthrough where they realize that they can't keep doing their trickery and stuff.

Well, that's all, for now :)

Oh, and I found 451 to be somewhat of a letdown...I thought it would be more like 1984...

 
At 4/10/2006 9:00 PM, Blogger TheJBurger said...

Uh, just cuz the world in 1984 is impossible to beat makes it a better book?

Fahrenheit has a less chance of happening I think. Just think about the common sense of it. People would have the sense to even STOP. AND THINK about their world which Farhenheit says their citizens are incapable of because they're so full and stuffed with facts and etc. At least in 1984 the citizens have a right mind in common sense.

Fahrenheit world is not as drastic as 1984's and that's the only topic that makes Fahrenheit's world is more capable of happening.

 
At 4/10/2006 9:00 PM, Blogger TheJBurger said...

P.S. Ender's game is really interesting.

 
At 4/11/2006 12:01 AM, Blogger ifedajay said...

No! I don't mean only the world makes it better...I think mainly the writing style made 1984 much much better. It was a more in depth writing style...it made you get into the mind of the guy...I can't remember his name. Anyways

 
At 4/11/2006 12:01 AM, Blogger ifedajay said...

Oh yeah, Ender's game huh? Should I read it?

 

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