The Obsolete Man was also difficult for me to watch due to Muggle technology in a Wizarding school, but nonetheless, I persisted. Sometimes I enjoy the lack of technological advancement because nothing beats the crisp smell of books and it feels nice to step back in time, for lack of a better expression. But I do miss phones and Internet and how immediately accessible things are.
Also, some Wizarding books scream at you. Not a fan of that. I prefer to read in silence, thank you very much.
After having read this rare book, Fahrenheit 451, I must say – good Lord! If those firemen every tried burning my books, it would be over my dead body! I am not going through that again. On a more serious note, however, the idea of such a society is truly terrifying. No books? The notion is mind boggling. Why, books are such a part of my existence I would be nothing without them, nothing at all! It makes me queasy just to think of it. It’s absurd, that books should be outlawed. But then again, it isn’t. Just a minor glance at this world I live in promises such a future. There are far too many similarities between this world and the one of that book. Unsettling, to say the least!
Once I finished the book, my mind was certainly uneasy. I thought I might wind down by watching a few episodes of The Twilight Zone (a foolish idea, in retrospect). I tuned in first to “Time Enough At Last” and then “The Obsolete Man” and again, good Lord! Nothing at all there to put my mind at ease!
That night, my mind kept turning with these horrible thoughts. Time, time, time – it never slows down, never stops ticking away. That poor man in “Time Enough At Last” couldn’t catch a moment to read and once he did – his glasses break! Do I myself have enough time to restore my library? Lord knows I’m getting up there in age – I can’t remember the last time every hair on my head wasn’t gray! I very well might keel over picking through a bin of old books without even having half of my library restored. And the idea of obsolescence in “The Obsolete Man” is horrifying. Will I, a dusty book collector, one day become obsolete, as well? Will they do me in like poor Romney Wordsworth?
Of course, all of these silly thoughts were not so terrible in the daylight. I certainly have enough time to get my library in order. And of course I won’t be made obsolete. How ridiculous!
But still, unsettling.
It was tricky watching the two Twilight Zone episodes due to the lack of technology here at Hogwarts. That’s the one thing I dislike about my otherwise perfect school. I mean, why hasn’t the Wizarding World adapted to using phones to contact people? Are the owls really necessary when there’s an easier way? I truly don’t understand.
From what I was able to watch, both episodes focused on books and the freedom to learn. I found myself particularly sympathetic to Henry Bemis in Time Enough At Last because he finally was able to read in peace and quiet, but ended up breaking his glasses. My friend Harry does that constantly and without me, he would be doomed. It’s not hard to memorize the Oculus Reparo spell. Poor Henry Bemis would have benefitted from some magic after his own glasses shattered.
