Journal Entry Quarter 2: 4

          In my reading of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, I have noticed a reflection of American Literature as a whole. Through each of the time periods, Americans have rejected, rebelled against, and redefined the styles and ideas of previous literary movements. These literary revolutions have occurred with the shifting ideals of the culture as a whole, and with those of most individuals. Each time period redefines what "being an American" means, by redefining the American Dream, by redefining success and happiness. The American Dream is always the idea that an individual can reach their goals without some supervisor, employer, Jedi Master type looming over them, smacking them with a ruler every time they slip a toe out of line. Each person has the freedom to arbitrarily decide when they will be satisfied, successful, and happy. It is the nature of every new generation to see the very opposite of the previous one as happiness. Between Puritanism and Rationalism, there lies rebellion against the passive nature of predestination, while the people begin to invest themselves in Revolutionary thought, and the shaping of a nation. From Rationalism to Romanticism, people rejected the theories of logic and real-world evidence-based thought, for whimsical tales directed at a moral, as the citizens seek to better there lives, and develop a taste for luxury. For each time period there is a new trend in the culture. For each is a new version of the American Dream.
          This rejection of the old idea of happiness is among the most prevalent motifs in Fahrenheit 451. As main character Guy Montag begins to see that his world has lost the beauty of knowing in favor of ignorance, he personal rebells. He hides away books behind a vent. He turns the flamethrower on his boss, burning him to charcoal. He escapes the city on the run from the mechanical Hound, running as if he is not so much saving himself, but saving what he has discovered. Within that one novel, the American tendency to discover and remake and rebel is revealed. Guy was generally happy before his eyes were opened by the wonderfully rebellious knowledge of a girl who dared to stare at the sky and watch the wind send leaves rolling, cart-wheeling, across the lawns. He is forced to redefine his American Dream, much the way our Literature has been forced to change as we redefine the idea in the world of reality.