This essay was written to the novel, Fahrenheit 451. It talks about the hope in life, and how hope can be seen in the smallest of things, and the largest things. Hope is everywhere, some people just have to look harder for it.
Without hope in the world, life would be just another chore to complete -- cleaning joy from the world one day at a time. Hope is needed for love and learning; it is the power behind life. In Fahrenheit 451, Montag hopes for a world of love and knowledge, a place where there is a reason for living. The need for hope drives the world; it is a need to look towards the next day and see something better; a need to see a new world in the future.
Hope can be seen in so many small places during life -- a gift from a friend, or the knowledge that you are alive. In the novel Fahrenheit 451, it says that the firemen are "custodians of our peace of mind." The people in the city are convinced that the firemen keep them safe; they are bias against the people in love with knowledge and books, and this shows no hope for the people who want this safe feeling. Yet a man of knowledge, Faber, says "I sit here and know I am alive," a reference to Des Cartes "I think therefore I am." This shows hope that some people want to learn; people who want to have knowledge are still alive and working towards a better world.
As hope is seen in the small places in life, there can also be moments of hope that change your life and perspective on life. Clarisse, a seventeen year old girl who Montag just met, asked him as they were walking home, "Are you happy?” His response to himself was a gut reaction, quick and thoughtless, "Of course I'm happy! What does she think? I'm not?" Our whole life can go from having no hope in the world to seeing the opportunity we are given with life; we question ourselves and suddenly we have a goal -- a goal to succeed, to improve, to change. Montag begins to question whether or not he is happy and his perspective of life changes into something that has hope for the future.
Hope can be seen in many people, young or old. Montag's seventeen year old friend, Clarisse, often walks him to and from work while they talk about life, love, or anything that pops in their head. Once when he saw her alone walking in the rain; Montag asks her what she is up to now and she simply says, "I'm still crazy. The rain feels good. I love to walk in it." He replies saying that didn't think he would like it. Rain, or water, represents life; by saying that she loves to walk in it, Clarisse is saying that she loves life and it feels good to live in it. At the time, Montag's mind has barely begun to look at life as something that has hope, so him saying that he doesn't think he would like walking in life shows that he doesn't have hope for his life yet.
A phoenix represents life and how we are born and reborn again to another life; the hope of a new world and life. In John 3, Jesus says to a Pharisee, "Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again." Montag's life is like the phoenix or the people of God, they both have hope for a new world and life; they want a clean slate to start over, to create a new. As Montag and his friends walk towards the city with the hope of starting over, they are creating a new life; they are hoping for a new world.
