Ray Bradbury's Genius
analytical Essay
1222 words
Ray Bradbury's Genius Rocket. That must have been Ray Bradbury's first word. The word "rocket" is the basis for any and all science fiction novels. Without such a diverse tool, science fiction would not be half as popular as it is today. Mr. Bradbury isn't the greatest sci-fi writer of all time, but he is most assuredly one of the top 20, (at least I think so). Born Ray Douglas Bradbury on August 22, 1920 in a little town known as Waukegan in Illinois. In 1926, Mr. Bradbury's family moved to Tucson Illinois where his father searched for work. During the next fourteen years, Mr. Bradbury moved between the two cities six times (wow). In 1934, however, Mr. Bradbury moved to Los Angeles, California. He proceeded to graduate for L.A. High and sold newspapers while critiquing his writing skills with his personal typewriter. Loving his newfound talent, he began selling his short stories to magazines that gave him widespread recognition throughout the country. He received the award of Best American Short Stories in 1945 for "The Big Black and White Game". From there he began writing short story novels and has been very successful ever since (Internet source). The purpose of this essay for me was to find out what the worlds' critics thought and wrote of Mr. Bradbury. I have found much and have in many ways enlightened myself in the sense of everyone having their own opinion of people. Thus it begins … The Martian Chronicles are a classic example of the true nature of science fiction. The first short story begins with the first of three expeditions to Mars in the year 1999. Led by Capt. Nathaniel York and his assistant, the two men land on Mars only to meet their deaths at the hands of a jealous Martian h... ... middle of paper ... ...r, and that this day and age isn't one for imagination. A shame, many may learn what humanity is all about if they could only dream. Bibliography: Works Cited 1. Riley, Carolyn (Editor); Contemporary Literary Criticism V. 1, Gale Research Company 1973. Pages used: 42, 43 2. Magill, Frank N. (Editor); Cyclopedia of World Authors 2 V. 1, Salem Press 1989. Pages used: 235-238. 3. Magill, Frank N. (Editor); Survey of Science Fiction Literature V.3, Salem Press 1979. Pages used: 1348-52. 4. Magill, Frank N. (Editor); Magill's survey of American Literature V. 1, Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 1991. Pages used: 246-258. 5. Magill, Frank N. (Editor); Cyclopedia of Literary Characters 2 V.3, Salem Press 1990. Pages used: 979. 6. Ray Bradbury Biography; http://209.130.6.102/bradbury/biograpgy.htm. Date used: 5-11-00. (2 pages)
In this essay, the author
- Explains that ray bradbury isn't the greatest sci-fi writer of all time, but he is most assuredly one of the top 20.
- Explains that the martian chronicles are a classic example of the true nature of science fiction.
- Analyzes how the fourth and final expedition lands on mars in 2005, not knowing exactly what happened to the previous expeditions, but confidant that this third time is a "charm."
- Analyzes how bradbury's imagination makes up for his lack of learning. dandelion wine is an all-out thriller, and something wicked this way comes is a deep look into human evils.
- Analyzes how the book quotes a columnist favorable to bradbury and another who was truly outraged.
- Opines that mr. bradbury was a poor writer who could not base his material on scientific knowledge, but he had an unique style.
- Opines that riley, carolyn (editor); contemporary literary criticism v. 1, gale research company 1973.
- Explains that magill, frank n. (editor); cyclopedia of world authors 2 v. 1, salem press 1989.
- States that magill, frank n. (editor); survey of science fiction literature v.3, salem press 1979.
- Explains that magill's survey of american literature v. 1, marshall cavendish corporation, 1991.
- Explains that magill, frank n. (editor); cyclopedia of literary characters 2 v.3, salem press 1990.
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In this essay, the author
- Compares the ethical and moral messages and themes in the classic science-fiction novel do androids dream of electric sheep? and the popular 80's movie blade runner.
- Explains that philip k. dick was a well respected science-fiction prolific writer and an extremely well-read scholar, but his life-style was not respected. he worked closely with the blade runner producers who changed the title from do androids dream of electric sheep?
- Analyzes how the movie defaces rick deckard's character by depicting him as a melancholy cop who only does his job because he is forced to.
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- Analyzes how philip k. dick and his fans criticized blade runner's flaws. the movie was more for enjoyment and pleasure, while the novel made people think about their humanity and religion.
- Explains wilson's "divine invasions: a life of philip k. dick." magill book reviews.
- Analyzes how dick, philip k., interviewed america's most brilliant science-fiction writer, ridley scott, and hampton francher.
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In this essay, the author
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- Analyzes how the theme that has been attached to this story is directly relevant to it as depicted by the anonymous letters which the main character is busy writing secretly based on gossip and distributing them to the different houses.
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- Analyzes how the story presents a two-faced personality as the main character of miss adela. what she appears to be in the physical appearance is completely opposite of the true personality and character that actually is hers.
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- Analyzes how the woman's version of love is complicated because he claims to have a theory which doesn't come out clearly and leaves the reader more confused than understanding of the entire story she told.
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- Cites michelson, d. the historical reception of shirley jackson's "the lottery".
1090 wordsRead More - Sci Fi (Science Fiction) and Fantasyopinion essayWith our world progressing so quickly in science and technology it is fascinating to look back at the literature that was the inspiration for these advances. It is strange that this genre, filled with such outlandish plot lines and characters, could influence the real world. In a way it’s beautiful. When these brilliant minds of mankind are able to grab an idea from the fictional world and work together to make it a reality. For hundreds of years, people have dreamed of what they thought to be impossible but to quote Star Trek, “Things are only impossible until their not.”
In this essay, the author
- Opines that science fiction and fantasy have helped progress society in many ways. one cannot embrace the wild and imaginative plot lines without the ability to think creatively.
- Explains that ancient and medieval poetry and writings have elements of sci-fi/fantasy in them such as trips to the stars or under the ocean. mythology, even, can be seen as a form of fantasy.
- Opines that sci-fi and fantasy are becoming more and more widespread with movies based on comic books becoming popular among teenagers.
- Opines that science fiction is everywhere. technology that we take for granted today was dreamed about in sci-fi years before it came to exist in the real world.
- Explains that students at stanford university have developed a synthetic skin to speed up the healing process in humans. the patriotic disc is made of vibranuim and adamantium, two fictional substances that make the shield nearly indestructible.
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860 wordsRead More - H.G.Wells' The War of the Worldsanalytical essayAttacks from Martians, time travel, interplanetary travel and the impossible are possible within the realm of science fiction. The literary genre of science fiction houses some of the greatest pieces of literature of all time, by some of the greatest authors. Regarded among colleagues, as one of the finest is the inspirational, ingenious and influential writer H. G. Wells. Being the author of such classics as The Time Machine, The Island Of Dr. Moreau and The Invisible Man H. G. Wells is considered the father and primary developer of science fiction. A title Wells was catapulted into with the publication of the 1898 science fiction classic, The War of the Worlds.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that the literary genre of science fiction houses some of the greatest pieces of literature of all time, by the inspirational, ingenious and influential writer h. g. wells.
- Opines that the war of the worlds epitomizes what science fiction is and what it should be.
- Opines that science fiction as a genre of literature is an ancient art, one which is in mass quantity but lacking in the caliber of its predecessors.
- Explains that science fiction is a form of fantastic fiction that exploits the imaginative and profound perspectives of modern science.
- Explains that science fiction has been used since ancient times. early works of the babylonian era, such as gilgmesh epic, dealt with the search for ultimate knowledge and immortality.
- Explains that h. g. wells' the war of the worlds was also the creator of a minor sub-genre of science fiction, the epic genre.
- Explains that if the war of the worlds is the major developer of modern science fiction, it must belong to each of these categories.
- Analyzes how "the war of the worlds" depicts a conflict that involves the whole world. the title shows that the story is dealing with conflict which puts the entire world at risk.
- Narrates how in the last years of the nineteenth century this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligence’s greater than mans...intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic regarded this earth with envious eyes and slowly and surely drew their plans against us.
- Explains that the alien invaders of mars have been watching our planet "keenly and closely" and devising a plan against us.
- Narrates how they saw the martians feeding off his just-butchered corpse. they wondered if this was to be their fate, the fate of all humankind.
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- Explains that science fiction must have some form of scientifically based yet imaginary matter, which can take many forms. non-human beings take either of two forms: constructs, artificial creations such as androids and robots or products of unearthly evolution.
- Opines that those who have never seen a living martian cannot imagine the strange horror of its appearance.
- Analyzes how the disgusting alien is accepted as the imaginative, yet possible subject of the story.
- Opines that the difference between high quality science fiction and modern day sci-fi lies in 's ability to show and illustrate the change in morals, ideologies and beliefs within the lead protagonists.
- Analyzes how the narrator compares the human race to the martian invaders and discovers they are not much different.
- Analyzes how wells uses and prides himself on the use of scientific fact throughout the text, but no excerpt is more powerful than his scientific description of mars.
- Explains that the planet mars revolves around the sun at a mean distance of 140,000,000 miles and the light and heat it receives is barely half of that which reaches this world.
- Analyzes how h.g. wells has cleverly increased the apprehension within the reader, as the factual information gets them thinking, "this could really happen".
- Explains that the science fiction genre needs to represent the instant result or conflict caused by the newly introduced subject matter, which plays a vital role in the development of the protagonist's ability to realize faults.
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- Analyzes how the scene depicted by h.g. wells illustrates utter chaos as a result of the alien attack.
- Analyzes how the "sci-fi" stories have flooded the entertainment market over the past decade, but they don't represent the brilliance and eminence of the classic science fiction novel.
2757 wordsRead More - Life During the 1950s in Americaanalytical essay164-69. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 341. Detroit: Gale, 2013.Artemis Literary Sources. Web. 5 May 2014.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how the 1950s seemed like a perfect decade. the rise of suburbs outside cities led to an expansion of the middle class.
- Analyzes how ken kesey argued that american society was tainted due to the roles of fear, rejection of those who were different, and the struggle for control in one flew over the cuckoo's nest.
- Analyzes how american society was influenced by the socio-economic system, the fear of communism, and the fears of an arms race.
- Analyzes how galbraith's 1958 book, affluent society, highlighted the class difference between the old and new ideas of america. he was accused of being a communist for his writings denouncing capitalism.
- Explains how the fear of communism led to widespread paranoia which hindered the progress of society.
- Analyzes how kesey uses nurse ratched's log book to show the rewards and betrayal system that existed in society.
- Analyzes how the fear of the cold war, communism, and an arms race made america anxious in the 1950s.
- Explains that conformity was an overlying theme that shaped american society, and people conformed to society due to fear and societal pressures.
- Analyzes how counterculture and nonconformity in american society resulted in the rejection of people who were different.
- Analyzes how ken kesey depicted the patients on the ward as a counterculture group in one flew over the cuckoo's nest.
- Analyzes how kesey used a fictional representation of the patients' struggle for power on the ward in order to portray nurse ratched's rule as communist.
- Illustrates the conditions in ken kesey's novel, one flew over the cuckoo’s nest. patients would rather die than be confined to the ward.
- Explains that "the effect of world war ii" 1950s vol. 4. danbury: grolier, scholastic library publishing, 2005.
- Explains that contemporary literary criticism, ed. jeffrey w. hunter, is published by gale. artemis literary sources.
1948 wordsRead More - Themes in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Menanalytical essayKellman, Steven G. "Magill's Survey of American Literature." Kellman, Steven G. Magill's Survey of American Literature. Pasadena: Salem Press, Inc, 2007.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how john steinbeck, an american novelist, is well-known for his familiar themes of depression and loneliness.
- Analyzes how lennie small, a mentally impaired man, travels with george because no one else understands him like he does.
- Analyzes how lennie and george have dreams of owning their own piece of land together. they can't buy land to tend and just go days without tending it.
- Analyzes how george milton is a hard-working man who travels beside lennie, yet he would rather travel by himself.
- Explains that if they were alone, they could go get a job, work, an' no trouble, and when the end of the month come, take their fifty bucks and go into town.
- Analyzes how george views lennie as a brother, friend, and partner in crime, but without him, he's lonely. he needs his friendship and is lonely after taking it away from himself.
- Analyzes how after killing lennie, there is a shift in george’s attitude.
- Compares candy, an elderly physically disabled ranch hand with stooped shoulders and a missing right hand, to george and lennie. candy is the owner of an old, distressed dog.
- Analyzes how candy seeks refuge and friendship within george and lennie. he offers to give them a payment and help with their dream of the farm, if they assure him that he will be able to go with them.
- Explains that crooks is a rare character in of mice and men because of his skin color. he is isolated by the others because he is an african american man among several caucasian men.
- Analyzes how the great depression of the 1930s was catastrophic for all workers, but blacks suffered worse, pushed out of unskilled jobs before the depression.
- Analyzes how sustar shows detail about the work force and its hardship during the 1930s. isolation and loneliness seems to be very defined within the character of crooks, as well as others throughout the novel.
- Analyzes how crook's skin doesn't keep his hopes to own his own piece of land back like the others. just like lennie and george, he wants a piece.
- Analyzes how steinbeck helps each character show an insight to loneliness, the need for relationships, and the loss of dreams.
- Cites bradbury, malcolm, eric mottran, and jean franco. the penguin companion to american literature.
- Cites litcharts, ebscohost, steinbeck, john, sustar, lee, and socialist worker.
1108 wordsRead More - Theme Analysis of Killings by Andre Dubusanalytical essayMeyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 2189.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes dubus' portrayal of matt as a kind, loving father and husband who is now faced with extreme guilt and questions of morality after taking the life of his son's murderer, richard strout.
- Analyzes how "killings" evokes emotion and suspense as the plot unfolds in sequence. the title encourages readers to question who and what has happened.
- Analyzes how matt fowler's anguish and guilt are felt after he kills richard strout. the story ends with two physical killings and a moral death.
- Explains meyer, michael, and dubus, andre, in the bedford introduction to literature.
753 wordsRead More - The War of the Worlds: The True Story of His Worldanalytical essayA revolutionary of his time, H.G. Wells influenced centuries to come with his science-fiction literature. Wells was born September 21st, 1866, in Bromley, England, during the third stage of The Victorian Era. It was a period of self-doubt and a lack of nationalism for the British, but also a time of discovery and advancement in the scientific world (Masterworks).The early twentieth century was a critical time in London’s history for political and scientific development. Many spirited debates were ignited during this time that altered the natural order of things. An innovator of his time, H.G. Wells was influenced by his socialist political views, the London of his prime, and the controversy between creationism and evolution, as evident in his science fiction novel The War of the Worlds.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that h.g. wells was influenced by his socialist political views, the london of his prime, and the controversy between creationism and evolution in his science fiction novel the war of the worlds.
- Analyzes how wells' impoverished background served as the basis for his adoption of socialist ideals later in life.
- Analyzes how wells' novel, the war of the worlds, takes place in woking, surrey, and surrounding english suburbs.
- Analyzes how evolution played into wells' creation of the possibility of life being created on mars with the public's fear.
- Analyzes how the prominent ideas in the war of the worlds deriving from london's late 1800s to its early 20th century are accredited as discontent for imperialism, incorporation of environment, and application of evolutionary concepts.
- Analyzes the marxist critique of h g wells' the war of the worlds.
- Analyzes how darwinism came back into society with its theories of natural selection, survival of the fittest, and development of life.
- Cites coren, michael, dunbar, brian, guthke, karl s., and atkins. the last frontier imagining other worlds, from the copernican revolution to modern science fiction.
- Explains the theme of social darwinism in the science fiction encyclopedia. wells, h. g., and glenn yeffeth.
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In this essay, the author
- Analyzes robert anderson's essay, "misery made me a fiend," which argues that victor abandons the rules of nature and society to create beings that are created with idealized forms of reproduction and death.
- Analyzes how social reproduction is corrupted by victor's rejection of his creation, his abandonment of its ill countenance and image, instead of what it was created for, an "improved" human.
- Analyzes how victor's isolation represents the societal change shelley explores from both industrial and romanticism fueled individualism. both correlate forms of power to isolation or separation, something we find throughout frankenstein.
- Analyzes how mary shelley's frankenstein criticizes the impacts of industrial revolution and romantic era-inspired individualism on the community and individual.
- Analyzes how mary shelley's theistic investigation of scientific materialism and transgressive autonomy in frankenstein and robert owens' early writings influenced their writings.
1689 wordsRead More - Songs about Lifeanalytical essayAbrams, M.H. and Greenblatt, Stephen eds. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Seventh Edition. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2001.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how blake arouses readers' minds and leads them to find their own answers and conclusions to his poems in songs of innocence and experience (1789 and 1794).
- Analyzes how blake asks the little lamb, "little lamb, who made thee?" and leads the reader to an indirect answer to his question. the vague background provides an idea of the creator, but not enough to match him with god from the biblical texts.
- Analyzes how blake's poem, "the little black boy," addresses the idea that blacks are inferior to whites. blake supports this social problem in that the little black boy wants to be just like the english boy.
- Analyzes how blake addresses racial differences in "the chimney sweeper" from songs of innocence. the poem is promiscuous and leaves many questions unanswered.
- Explains that abrams, m.h. and greenblatt, stephen eds. the norton anthology of english literature: seventh edition.
- Analyzes how blake's "the garden of love" is a poem relating to experience. the poems are unique in their simple structure and simple choice of words, but complex concepts on life and life experiences.
699 wordsRead More