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Brianna Byard
Mrs. Baker
Lit Analysis
24 November 2015
Seize the Day
Mahatma Gandhi once said, Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were
to live forever. Individuals live in a society where there is a schedule of living and an agenda
on how to do it. Many are seeking the opportunity in life to seize the moment. Living with the
mindset of carpe diem allows those individuals to seek a greater desire to do spontaneous acts.
In the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and the film The Dead

Poets Society, characters

are pushed to seize the day, live in the moment, and experience the greatness of these actions.
Whether young or old, in love or doubtful, virtually every person has been compelled to
seize the day. Montag, the main character in the novel Fahrenheit 451, begins to question the
forbiddenness of books in his society. It is illegal to own or read books. Do you ever read any
of the books you burn? He laughed. Thats against the law!(Bradbury 8). With the help of
another character, Montag is persuaded to question the true meaning of the law. He concluded
that it was wrong; he was living in a puppet society and it was his time to break free of it.
Life for people is often defined by the impulsive things they do. Knox, a character in the

film The Dead Poets Society, takes a chance and lives in the moment. Following his intuition
and ignoring the ensuing consequences, Knox leaves his preparatory to go to a public high
school and express his love for a girl. I dont care, I love you Chris(Dead). Knox is

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overcome with these emotions that cause him to go out on a whim and find his girl. He lived in
the moment to enjoy life.

For every action there is a reaction; a common idea explaining scientific events, but also
goes hand in hand to illustrate carpe diem. In Montags case, he was united with a new people
who disregarded the societys laws on books and inevitably was chased out of a nuclear bomb
zone, in other words, death. Knox was able to win the girls heart and take her on a date. These
characters went against every structure of their schedule or society in order to live in the
moment. Regardless of their scenarios, each character was able to experience the greatness of
seizing the day.
Learning to live as if one can exist forever, or living as if one will die tomorrow creates a
wide range of interpretation amongst different people. In the novel, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray
Bradbury and the film Dead Poets Society, Montag and Knox both experienced the motivation of
wanting to live in the moment. They were pushed past their fears, reservations, and
apprehensions to seize the day. Depicting whether or not it was their time to take advantage of
the
moment; they decided to do so with the mindset of carpe diem. Fulfilling the desire to live in
the moment is up to the individual.

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Works Cited
Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine Publishing Group. 1953. Print.
Dead Poets Society. Dir. Peter Weir. Perf. Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, and Ethan
Hawke. Buena Vista Pictures, 1989. DVD.