I. Introduction
Ray Bradbury felt as though our society veered towards destruction. During the time period that he wrote Fahrenheit 451, the Holocaust and Communism spread throughout the globe. The spread of this gruesome genocide and feared system caused America to become a nation of little privacy and a plethora of accusations. McCarthy, the “senator form Wisconsin” (Vol) ability to ruin American lives was made possible by “the country’s general mood of insecurity and political paranoia following the triumphant conclusion of World War II” (Vol). Communist dominance in Eastern Europe and China caused “rumors” of “communist spies active in Canada” (Over) which led to “a frenzy to eliminate any ideas suspected of socialist or communist leanings, and as a result some ninety mostly harmless or even useful organizations were listed by the U.S. attorney general as wellsprings of communist doctrine” (Over). Along with this frenzy and list came “McCarthy’s infamous Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Senate Committee on Government Operations, aided by the FBI” which “held hearings to investigate persons with alleged ties to the Communist Party” (Vol). Sadly, “once an individual was brought up before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations…it was virtually impossible for them to defend themselves, and thousands of people—notably show business figures, writers, artists, and academics—either lost their jobs as a result, or were placed on blacklists that guaranteed they would no longer be able to find employment” (Vol). This investigation ruined innocent lives as it deprived many others of a free life. Along with the invasion of privacy, rights were violated:
The U.S. government responded to its fear of growing communist...
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“Overview: Fahrenheit 451: the Temperature at which Books Burn.” Literature and Its times: Profiles of 300 Notable Literary Works and the Historical Events that Influenced Them. Joyce Moss and George Wilson. Vol. 5: Civil Rights Movements to Future Times (1960-2000). Detroit: Gale, 1997. Literature Resource Center. Web. 14 Feb. 2011.
Reid, Robin Anne. "5." Ray Bradbury: a Critical Companion. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2000. 53-62. Print.
Sisario, Peter “A study of the Allusions in Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.” English Journal 59.2 (Feb. 1970): 201-205. Rpt. In Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Deborah A. Stanley. Vol. 98. Detroit: Gale Research, 1997. Literature Resource Center. Web. 31 Jan. 2011.
Sterling, Bruce. “Major Science Fiction Themes: Utopias and Dystopias.” Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Web. 26 Jan. 2011.
Imagine a world in which there are no books, and every piece of information you learn comes from a screen. In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, this nightmare is a reality. In Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag is a fireman who instead of putting out fires burns books. He eventually meets Clarisse who changes his outlook on life and inspires him to read books (which are outlawed). This leads to Guy being forced on the run from the government. The culture, themes, and characters in Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 construct a dystopian future that is terrifying to readers.
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.
Belloc, Hilaire. "A Companion to Mr. Wells's "Outline of History"." Twentieth Century Literary Criticism: Volume 6. Detroit, Michigan: Book Tower, 1982. 522. Print.
Kerr, Calum A. “Literary Contexts in Novels: Ray Bradbury’s ‘Fahrenheit 451.’” (2008) Literary Reference Center. Web. 1 March 2011.
Are you really happy? Or are you sad about something? Sad about life or money, or your job? Any of these things you can be sad of. Most likely you feel discontentment a few times a day and you still call yourself happy. These are the questions that Guy Montag asks himself in the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. In this book people are thinking they are happy with their lives. This is only because life is going so fast that they think they are but really there is things to be sad about. Montag has finally met Clarisse, the one person in his society that stops to smell the roses still. She is the one that gets him thinking about how his life really is sad and he was just moving too fast to see it. He realizes that he is sad about pretty much everything in his life and that the government tries to trick the people by listening to the parlor and the seashells. This is just to distract people from actual emotions. People are always in a hurry. They have 200 foot billboards for people driving because they are driving so fast that they need more time to see the advertisement. Now I am going to show you who are happy and not happy in the book and how our society today is also unhappy.
What do you believe? Would you sacrifice everything you’ve ever had to just read a book? Montag, the main character of Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451, learns to realize that there is more to living then staring at a screen. Guy Montag is initially a fireman who is tasked with burning books. However, he becomes disenchanted with the idea that books should be destroyed, flees his society, and joins a movement to preserve the content of books. Montag changes over a course of events, while finding his true self and helping others.
Guerin, Wilfred L., Earle Labor, Lee Morgan, Jeanne C. Reesman, and John R. Willingham. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. 125-156.
Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 is a novel about a materialistic society that has forgotten social interaction with each other. This materialistic society is where Bradbury believed society today is headed<THE TENSES HERE ARE A LITTLE CONFUSING.>. The materialistic society in Fahrenheit 451 created through Bradbury's cynic views of society<THIS IS A FRAGMENT SENTANCE.> His views of society are over-exaggerated in contrast with today's events, especially in the areas of censorship and media mediocrity.
Stillinger, Jack, Deidre Lynch, Stephen Greenblatt, and M H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume D. New York, N.Y: W.W. Norton & Co, 2006. Print.
Captain Beatty is perhaps one of the most critical characters in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451: he is expertly cruel and malicious, adroit at skewing the truth into a web of hypocrisies, and ultimately surrenders his own life. While Beatty attempts to continue the holocaust of books that his generation had started, in reality he is only depriving himself of a world of knowledge, imagination, and insight. Beatty proves that giving up ones dreams and aspirations may be the easy way out of conflicts and insecurities, but will quash the marvelous revolutions that can be brought upon by one with the will and determination to persevere.
Paradowski, Robert J. “Ray Bradbury.” Critical Survey Of Long Fiction, Fourth Edition (2010): 1-9. Literary Reference Center. Web. 30 Jan. 2014.
Ray Bradbury’s style of writing always included hidden meanings that present a central theme of the dangers of unchecked technology. Many factors in Ray Bradbury’s life had contributed to his style of writing and the themes that he wanted to present to society. Some factors that influenced Bradbury were events such as the Cold War and the writings of other writers such as Edgar Allen Poe. Bradbury’s style of writing was shaped by many factors in his life such as world events, his techniques learned from famous writers, and the progress of society. From life to death Bradbury’s world was always filled with war and government propaganda that attempted to sway the thoughts of citizens about the dangers of foreign threats (Schofelt, Cordon, “Science fiction writer Ray Bradbury: 1920-2012”). Bradbury’s writings were always influenced by the constant reminder of these governments ideology filling his ears. Bradbury’s writing was also influenced by the writings of other writers such as Edgar Allen Poe. His inspiration as a child began with Poe and was forever changed by his style of gothic writing and the morals that Poe always presented to his readers ("Planetary Pariahs: Bradbury and the Influence of Edgar Allan Poe."). Bradbury’s best known works were considered science fiction and always presented a story of the dangers of unchecked technology (Mataconis "Ray Bradbury And The Real Lesson Of Fahrenheit 451."). All these factor into how Bradbury would style his writing and the major themes he presents to his readers.