Top Ten Tips to Reading a Poem

This list is important to me because this is how I read poetry and enjoy it. It requires an environment where you feel calm and a snack to stimulate the brain.

  1. Prepare your mind to read poetry. Time your reading just right so that you are ready to think about what you are reading.
  2. Find a quiet space
  3. Read it once, then read it again out loud to hear the rhymes and rhythm.
  4. Look up vocab words
  5. Digest it
  6. After reading, ponder the meaning of the poem for a while. You can get up and walk around. While walking think about how this poem could relate to your life.
  7.  Have a piece of minimum 48-hour day-old bread with you to chew while reading.
  8. After reading, if you still don’t know what it is about, talk to someone who you regard as a peer.
  9. With this newfound understanding, try to retain the information and use it to create a better self.
  10. Finish eating your bread.

 

Protagonist Brainstorm

What does your protagonist want?

  • In my story, my character is pressured to become perfect. In this society, flaws are what they look like. However, my character has grown-up with a figure that tells her that there is more in the world. So instead of wanting only to be pretty, she wants to be a writer, to tell the stories that her father told her about the world before.
  • I don’t know about the writer part, maybe she wants to be a teacher, because all of the society is really focused on herself, maybe she is different because she wants to help other people instead of being really self-centered.

What obstacles stand in your protagonist’s way?

  • In my story, the society is who enforces the laws. They all want to become this ideal citizen because after that they get to live a life of luxury and fame.
  • Lack of Knowledge affects my main character because she knows all the stories that her father has told her, but anything else society has forgotten, or completely
  • Family Members and Said “Friends” also prevent her from breaking rules, because they all think she is beautiful and she is their way to the top. Pretty much they force her to do activities to make her more beautiful so that they can be recognized as helpers of her success.
  • Mirrors restrict my character because these mirrors are programmed to show flaws in the character’s look. These mirrors are placed everywhere, I am also thinking that they could possibly have camera’s to make sure the society follows through.
  • Pictures/Videos of these beautiful robot women that show society exactly what they want you to be. They also show the end result of the system that the society is going through. “You go through the system and you will become perfect.” – (for example)
  • Major lack of individuality, because the only thing that characters can do is fix themselves, instead of finding things that make them happy.
  • Lack of happiness, because they are always focused on how they look bad, and how to make them look better.
  • Live in a huge city, massive video billboards depicting the people that have made it to the top, constant reminders of what people want to be.

Specific Characteristics of your protagonist (appearance, special skills/abilities, knowledge)

  • My character is curious, she wants more in her life. She also is extremely beautiful, she is the ideal citizen already, however, it is only on the outside. Inside, she questions society, wants to learn,  and understands how corrupt the government is.
  • What if the mother was like her daughter, questioning, and then the government shut her down and pretty much traumatized her so much that she won’t talk about it, maybe she has features that tell how she was shut down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mildred’s Role In Fahrenheit 451

In Fahrenheit 451, Mildred represents a standard government programmed citizen. Mildred is the ideal government pawn because she represents everything wrong within society. For instance, Mildred doesn’t ask “why?”. She absorbs everything around her without questioning and thinking. An example of Mildred and other citizens not thinking is when they watch television, Mildred obsesses over her “family” because they give her joy and distract her from the world. The government has promoted television for their benefit, which helps citizens hide from the unknown and unpleasant world. Citizens can hide away and watch hollow and shallow entertainment, which requires no thinking. Furthermore, I think that the idea of not questioning society is taught early in a child’s life. One of the points that Clarisse made was, “But do you know, we never ask questions, or at least most don’t; they just run the answers at you, bing, bing, bing… It’s a lot of funnels and a lot of water poured down the spout and out the bottom, and them telling us it’s wine and it’s not.” (Bradbury, 27). She is making the point that students don’t question the world or society. Students have to believe information at school and, they don’t have any evidence on why they are correct. Citizens are unaware of their surroundings and themselves. Watching Montag’s character evolve I’ve noticed that he has easy access to literature, so though I want to blame the citizens’ lack of awareness solely on the government, I can’t. Being told that books were pointless, time-wasting, and false, citizens don’t take advantage of reading because they think books and knowledge cause unhappiness. However, they choose to watch television, knowingly avoid confronting their lives and the world around them. Being curious about and accepting the world and its ideas are a vital part of what all citizens in Fahrenheit 451 are missing, and what Montag is just starting to get back.

 

Image Citation-

Tims, Jojo. “This is Mildred.” Pinterest, https://www.pinterest.com/pin/56435801567002904/. Accessed 08 Feb. 2021.