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Whether fifty years in the future, or out in deep space, Ray Bradbury manages to escape reality and teach readers to rise up against the government and its censorship towards its people. Stories, such as Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, show how people do as the government say, but know that it is wrong; yet still do it. Although Ray Bradbury lived in times of tyranny and censorship, he pulls away from the social norm by denying the average way of life and shedding light onto the mind of many brain-washed Americans.
Ray Douglass Bradbury was born August 22nd, 1920, in Waukegan, Illinois. His father’s name was Leonard Spaulding and his mother’s name was Esther Bradbury. On September 27th, 1947, Ray married Marguerite Susan McClare and had four children. The four children’s names were Susan, Ramona, Bettina, and Alexandra. Bradbury wrote under many pseudonyms including, but not limited to, D.R. Banat, Leonard Douglas, and Brett Sterling (Commire 13). As a kid, Ray Bradbury couldn’t afford anything relating to science-fiction. He would often only write in private, rarely showing to people. Kids would make fun of him and call him “Flash Gordon” or even Buck Rogers. Once he turned twelve, he started to enjoy comics and the writing styles of Poe, Carter, and Burroughs. Among his science-fiction writings, he wrote political cartoons, or comics with “historical value” (Weller). Bradbury says, “I told all my friends I was going to go down to the nearest radio station to become an actor. My friends snorted and said, Do you know anyone down there? I said no. They said, Do you have any pull with anyone? I said no. I’ll just hang around and they’ll discover how talented I am. So I went to the radio station, hung around for two wee...
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...Gale Research Inc., 1995.
Johnson, Wayne L. “The Invasion Stories of Ray Bradbury.” Critical Encounters. Frederick Ungar Publishing Company, 1978. 23-40. RPT. In Short Story Criticism, Ed, Anna J. Sheets. Vol. 29. Detroit: Gale Research, 1998. Literature Research Center. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.
McGiveron, Rafeeq O. “Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.” Explicator 54.3 (Spring (1996)): 177-180. RPT. In Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 235. Detroit: Gale, 2007. Literature Resource Center. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.
Sisario, Peter. “A Study of the Allusions in Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.” English Journal 59.2 (1970): 201-205. RPT. In Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Deborah A. Stanly. Vol. 98. Detroit: Gale Research, 1997. Literature Resource Center. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.
Weller, Sam. Ray Bradbury the Art of Fiction No. 203. Paris Review. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.
Imagine a world where you could not read or own any books. How would you feel if you had someone burn your house because you have books hidden within the walls? One of the most prevalent themes in Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451 is the idea of censorship. In Bradbury's fictional world, owning books is illegal. A fireman's job is not putting out fires like one may assume. In Fahrenheit 451, a fireman has the job of starting fires. Firefighters start fires in homes containing books. If this were reality, there would be no homes to live in. Books have become an integral part of American life. However, the theme of censorship is still relevant in American life.
In the 1950’s Ray Bradbury wrote the novel Fahrenheit 451 which pointed out his views on censorship, and those views are still effectively received today. His story shows a society obsessed with technology, which is not all that different to present day’s society. His choice to include a variety of literary techniques to help the reader grasp the novels true meanings.
Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. 60th Anniversary Edition. New York, NY: A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1951. 001-158. Print.
The author of “Fahrenheit 451”, Ray Bradbury connects many issues in his society to a distant future where everyone can not read and question any aspect of their society do to the advanced technology in which the government controls everyone. Bradbury comes to this conclusion because as growing up he has always been fascinated by sci fi books and space adventures. As a young author Bradbury struggled to make a living out his writing. He first made the news articles in the LA times and then his most famous novel is Fahrenheit 451 .The novel concludes many aspects but the major conflicts that stood out to me were multiple marriages , addiction, and teen violence.
Bibliography:.. Works Cited Meyer, M., Ed., (1999). Bedford Introduction to Literature, 5th Ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin.
Fahrenheit 451’s relevance to today can be very detailed and prophetic when we take a deep look into our American society. Although we are not living in a communist setting with extreme war waging on, we have gained technologies similar to the ones Bradbury spoke of in Fahrenheit 451 and a stubborn civilization that holds an absence on the little things we should enjoy. Bradbury sees the future of America as a dystopia, yet we still hold problematic issues without the title of disaster, as it is well hidden under our Democracy today. Fahrenheit 451 is much like our world today which includes television, the loss of free speech, and the loss of the education and use of books.
In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury uses "artificial stimulus", such as television and radio, to provide the reader with a feeling of how isolated the public is and how their minds are being controlled by this conformist government in the twenty-first century. He uses technology, like the Mechanical Hound and also drugs, to show the oppressiveness of the government in his novel. Ray Bradbury chooses to write this book after seeing many of his fellow writers and other entertainers being "blacklisted" by Senator Joseph McCarthy in the early 1950's. While he couldn't just openly oppose this behavior, for he would surely be censored, Bradbury writes about an exaggerated version of his own government in which books are burned along with the houses that harbors them. This is to demonstrate to the readers how letting the government censor their art could lead to more drastic measures. Such as editing one line in a book; then a page; then the whole book is condemned and burned along side the many other books and ideas that do not agree with the government. This then leads to the eventual condemnation of all books and forms of entertainment, which is not "politically correct" and/or agreeable to the government's ideas.
Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 2189.
In today’s world, there is an abundance of social problems relating to those from the novel Fahrenheit 451. In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the protagonist Montag exhibits drastic character development throughout the course of the novel. Montag lives in a world where books are banned from society and no one is able to read them. Furthermore, Montag has to find a way to survive and not be like the rest of society. This society that Montag lives has became so use to how they live that it has affected them in many ways. Bradbury’s purpose of Fahrenheit 451 was to leave a powerful message for readers today to see how our world and the novel’s world connect through texting while driving, censorship and addiction.
e a world where books were banned and all words were censored. Freedom of speech has always been considered to be the most fundamental of the human rights. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury emphasizes the importance of freedom of speech by giving readers a glimpse of how the world would be if written works were prohibited. The novel is considered to be a classic because it can usually be linked to society. The novel’s relevance is connected to its themes and its overall message. The themes of loneliness, alienation, conformity, and paranoia play a crucial role in the novel by showing how censorship can transform society negatively.
Kerr, Calum A. “Literary Contexts in Novels: Ray Bradbury’s ‘Fahrenheit 451.’” (2008) Literary Reference Center. Web. 1 March 2011.
Kennedy, X J., and Dana Gioia. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Sixth ed. New York: Harper Collins College Publishers, 1995. Print.
Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 leads from an average beginning by introducing a new world for readers to become enveloped in, followed by the protagonist’s descent into not conforming to society’s rules, then the story spirals out of control and leaves readers speechless by the actions taken by the main character and the government of this society. This structure reinforces the author’s main point of how knowledge is a powerful entity that would force anyone to break censorship on a society.
Of all literary works regarding dystopian societies, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is perhaps one of the most bluntly shocking, insightful, and relatable of them. Set in a United States of the future, this novel contains a government that has banned books and a society that constantly watches television. However, Guy Montag, a fireman (one who burns books as opposed to actually putting out fires) discovers books and a spark of desire for knowledge is ignited within him. Unfortunately his boss, the belligerent Captain Beatty, catches on to his newfound thirst for literature. A man of great duplicity, Beatty sets up Montag to ultimately have his home destroyed and to be expulsed from the city. On the other hand, Beatty is a much rounder character than initially apparent. Beatty himself was once an ardent reader, and he even uses literature to his advantage against Montag. Moreover, Beatty is a critical character in Fahrenheit 451 because of his morbid cruelty, obscene hypocrisy, and overall regret for his life.
Paradowski, Robert J. “Ray Bradbury.” Critical Survey Of Long Fiction, Fourth Edition (2010): 1-9. Literary Reference Center. Web. 30 Jan. 2014.