Column Discussion

Out of all the articles in the packet I chose one of the most serious, inspiring and moving columns in there. I chose "On Christmas, we cheer heroes who run into chaos at the Boston Marathon" by Mike Lupica. Why? Because I read so many columns and many had great points but this one? This had a resounding impact.

The Boston Marathon was a tragedy that impacted every American out there. It spread fear into every women, man and child that could truly understand what this attack meant: 9/11 wasn't the end, and neither will the Boston Marathon bombing. This article addresses this fact. Lupica, starts the article off with history, talking about the reasons people are attracted to sports. For the memories, they want to see a second morph into a moment that will be burned onto their minds forever. As the piece moves towards the heart of the article, it hits a more melancholy note. Lupica puts it into perfect terms, "That was all about memory too, because of what happened at the finish line, on the day when Boston always feel as if the world has come to the most famous road race in the world: when all you hear, from Hopkinton to the finish line on Boylston St., are cheers, like that is the soundtrack of not just the city but its suburbs, the cheers that only stopped when the bombs went off and lives were lost and others were altered forever because those bombs blew off arms and legs as if people who had come to watch the finish of the Marathon had been blown up by the roadside bombs in Iraq." He ties in the memories of sport to another meaning. An emotional tie to loss and tragedy, emphasized by the last simile in which he relates America, a place thought of as free, safe, full of opportunities, to Iraq where Americans are fighting a war.

Using this initial point Lupica puts the men and women that ran into the streets to help into their deserved roles; heroes. They ran in to help without knowing how many bombs were left, they had no guarantee that when they rushed out to help they wouldn't also be injured. Its a great thing Lupica did, painting these people as true heroes because they sacrificed as much as any police officer, firefighter and soldier out there.

I chose this article because Lupica made a point that should have been made. The men and women that chose strangers' lives over their own were heroes and that this terrifying moment will be remember in history as the day Americans showed the best of themselves.

Timeline:

1. Montag is a normal member of society, and comments on how Clarisse thinks too much in this censored society.
2. Beatty talks about how everything is shortened and censored so there is no room or need for thought
3. Montag realizes there is something to books, that possibly makes people happier, trying to break through the censorship.
4. Beatty attempts to rebut Montag’s realization by saying books can be used for people as well as against people.
5. Montag joins up with Faber to try and stop this censorship, but Beatty keeps trying to stop them.
6. After killing Beatty, Montag runs away where he meets a group of men, who open his mind to the world of books, thoughts and literacy.

Textual Evidence:

Part 1:

• “‘You think too many things,’ said Montag uneasily,” (Bradbury 6).
• “‘School is shortened, discipline relaxed, philosophers, histories, languages dropped, English and spelling gradually gradually neglected, finally almost completely ignored. Life is immediate, the job counts, pleasure lies all about the work. Why learn anything save pressing buttons, pulling switches, fitting nuts and bolts?’”(Bradbury 53).

Part 2:

• “‘We have everything we need to be happy, but we aren’t happy. Something’s missing. I look around. The only thing I positively knew was gone was the books I’d burned in ten or twelve years,’”(Bradbury 78).
• “‘Oh, you were scared silly,’ said Beatty, ‘for I was doing a terrible thing in using the very books you clung to, to rebut you on every hand, on every point! What traitors books can be,”(Bradbury 104).

Part 3:

• “It's strange, I don’t miss her, it’s strange I don’t feel much of anything,’ said Montag. ‘Even if she dies, I realized a moment ago, I don’t think I’ll feel sad. It isn’t right. Something must be wrong with me,’” (Bradbury 148).
• “The chase is still running.”...”They’re faking. You threw them off at the river. They can’t admit it. They know they can hold their audience only so long. The show’s got to have a snap ending, quick! If they started searching the whole d*** river it might take all night. So they’re sniffing a scapegoat to end things with a bang,”(Bradbury 141).

This theme contributes to the progression of the story because it shows how Montag changes his views of the society, also how he wants to change himself.

In today’s society, this theme could be seen as people trying to stop others from making their own decisions, North Korea being an example. People are forced to think as one country, not individuals when a dictator takes absolute authority.