Laycock-Final

Societal Structures

George: I just hate how this society works. Why can't we live in a place where everyone is treated the same.

Montag: Well George, the word “utopia” is literally Greek for “no place” as the man who coined the term, Thomas More, wanted to point out that there is no such place as the one you speak of. The world is an imperfect place, and there will never be a place where no one is treated unfairly.

George: I suppose that is true, where I come from no one would stop to consider what mental problems people might have, they were judged by their peers without consideration for the problems they have.

Montag: That's funny because where I come from it was the people who were inquisitive and intelligent who were discriminated against. The government wanted to make the people dumb and the people went with it. The people's floccinaucinihilipilification of books was caused by their apathy. So, books became anathema, and then were totally outlawed.

George: Wow, I didn’t expect such an overblown, pompous, and yet eloquent response. You must feel very strongly about this issue.

Montag: Of course. I have been the one of the few who has opposed the government and the reigning attitude of antidisestablishmentarianism.

George: Well the place I came from was also corrupted by the will of the people. The people willfully hurt each other and this caused great ruin among the whole country. The government did absolutely nothing to help. It was like the government just didn’t care about what happened to the people. The people became too worn out to do anything about it. They were almost as bad as the government. This caused many of the people to hate people who were less useful, and that includes people who have mental handicaps.

Montag: Obviously you also have strong opinions on this subject. I truly wish that my people would realize what a blessing books truly are. They enlighten the reader to the secrets of the world. Even fictional works have a lesson you can learn from them. Since discovering the true worth of books I have been reading so much and I have learned so many things that I didn’t know, and no one else even remembers these things. Its so sad that I am the only one who has this knowledge, and no one wants to learn either. My country is pathetic. They refuse to see the light and just hide in the shadows of ignorance. After all ignorance is bliss.

George: Well your problem seems much different then mine, however I can see that the root of the problems is the same. The root of the problem is that people are just not accepting enough. They cannot accept things that are different from what they know. This is the real problem. Change is too hard to bring to people they just can’t accept it.

Montag: I agree, the people in my country were simply too afraid of the unknown to be able go out of their comfort zone in hopes of finding something better. They were content where they were and were afraid that anything they did would just make it worse. They believe that they can’t truly become happy, so they reject change when it comes to them.

George: Again, though the root cause is the same the way it works is so different. The people in my country all say that they want things to change, but their actions belay their true intent. They really do like this world where the strong can rule the weak. That means that if you can gain any measure of power you can become like a small lord and rule over people and have a place where you are in charge and that is it. Period.

Montag: Strength wasn’t really a factor in my world, no one cared about how strong you were. No one cared about anything but their own comfort. In fact my people got married and wouldn’t really even know their spouse. They were more interested in TV programs and the radio.

George: The radio. What a great invention, but even that couldn’t help the misery felt in my country but a little bit. We were suffering so badly that people took solace in hurting each other, which as I said earlier is what caused our downfall in the first place. This vicious cycle will just keep repeating until we all die and the world is swept clean of all people.

Montag: Don’t be so pessimistic friend, not all people in the world are trying to hide from change. I met a group of people in my country who were dedicated to literature even though it had been banned. They memorized as many books as they could so that when the time came they could spread their knowledge and bring people back to true happiness.

George: Well, I suppose not everyone I met was terrible. Candy was an awful fine man. He was nice to both me and Lennie. He even comforted me after Lennie… died.

Montag: Your friend died, that’s terrible! I’m very sorry for you. Though I suppose my wife died during my own misadventures. But, as I said that doesn’t mean much I didn’t really know her. The true tragedy was when Clarisse died. It was unfortunate I didn’t ever get to know her better. She was a brilliant girl and would have been very happy to see how the world is changing. Things are somehow managing to get better and I hope that soon the whole world will see the light that is literature. That is significant literature.
George: Thank you for helping me I really do feel much better now. I realize that not every thing is so terrible as it appears, and I think that I can help make the world a better place. I think that I can advocate for those who are like Lennie, before what happened to him happens to them.

Montag: Well I am certainly glad that I could be of assistance. I am also glad to have met someone with whom I can share my opinions. You are certainly very understanding. Thank you for listening to my “overblown and pompous” speeches.

George: No problem, even though they were like that they were very enlightening, I hope we can speak again sometime.

Montag: Of course. Goodbye.

George: Goodbye.