Danielle Elisha F. Ching
2013-68141
Upon watching
the episode, there’s this one question that keeps bugging me: In the story, why does everyone discourage reading as if it would bring any reader
into harm? Particularly with Mrs. Helen Bemis’ behavior towards Mr. Henry
Bemis, she told him that oppressing his hunger for reading would also be for
his own good. She even called her husband, a man who reads, a fool. Why is that so? Well, the answer to my
question lies in the understanding of the story’s setting.
The episode was
set in the 1950’s, just after World War II—a post-apocalyptic era wherein people
are in fear of global annihilation caused by nuclear weapons. There’s also the
issue of anti-intellectualism, which is the hostility towards any kind of
intellectual pursuit. The government considered intellectuals as threats to
society.
If ever I’m going
to tweak the story to make an updated version of the episode, I’ll exchange Mr.
Bemis’ addiction to books with addiction to naked and porn pictures of other
women. The reason is that anti-intellectualism is no longer an issue today;
instead, a husband’s infidelity is a major issue to a wife. Instead of reading literary and classic works
inside the vault, Mr. Bemis will be browsing porn magazines. He can’t go over
them in the restroom since there’s always a bee line at the office, and his
wife’s always tailing him at home. After the nuclear blast, instead of finding
a library of classic books, he’ll find a library full of porn magazines. But
soon enough, his life won’t last long since the aftereffects of a nuclear blast
will severely damage his health. He’ll die. The End.
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