Fahrenheit 451 Essay, Research Paper

Ray Bradbury?s Fahrenheit 451

?It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed,? begins Fahrenheit 451 (1). This opening of Bradbury?s novel immediately evokes the consequences of the careless use of new technology and modern-man?s refusal to recognize these consequences (de Koster 44). The book Fahrenheit 451 is one of only two novels that Ray Bradbury has written, the other being Something Wicked This Way Comes. (Many believe that Dandelion Wine and The Martian Chronicles are novels when in fact they are just collections of different stories put together by connected themes.) The idea for the story comes from a story called the ?The Fireman? published in Galaxy. The premise for the book is rather farfetched-that firemen in some future state no longer fight fires but set them, having become extensions of a political program aimed at stamping out all literature (Johnson 85). It was written when Senator Joseph McCarthy was trying to destroy the rebellious elements in the U.S. ?Using broad attacks, innuendo, and guilt by association, they had made Hollywood one of their major targets, convinced it was a hotbed of communists sympathizers and saboteurs?(de Koster 26). This was known as the McCarthy era. Bradbury admits that the book Fahrenheit 451 was an attack on McCarthyism (personal attacks on individuals on a wide scale, usually based on false accusations) even though this wasn?t very clear. ?In Fahrenheit 451 Bradbury mourns no only the government?s determination to tell people what to think and to destroy those who show any signs of independent thought, but the people?s willingness to stop thinking-and reading-for themselves?(de Koster 12).

Ray Bradbury is an American author who is best known for his science fiction novels. His most effective writing style is when he combines his wonderful imagination and poetic style (Barron 213). Ray Bradbury was born in Waukegan, Illinois on August 22, 1920, a son of Leonard Spaulding Bradbury and Esther Marie Moberg Bradbury. His father was of English descent that had come to America in 1630. Ray, later on, would take on the family business, working with words, which had begun with his dad?s father and grandfather. Leonard, however, would run away from home at sixteen. When he returned to Waukegan he decided to work as a telephone lineman. His mother was brought into this earth in Stockholm, Sweden and moved to Massachusetts at the age of two. At the age of eight, her family moved to Waukegan, the place where she met and married Leonard. Twin brothers, Leonard and Samuel, were born in 1916. In 1918, Samuel died leaving Leonard as Ray?s only sibling. Ray?s greatest childhood memory was not of his first bike ride but of his first encounters of literature. The ending of the book, Fahrenheit 451, comes from this time in his life where Bradbury would read and memorize books just like Montag and the book people (de Koster 16). In 1934 the Bradbury family moved to Los Angeles, California.

Bradbury graduated from a Los Angeles High School in 1938. In his yearbook, this prediction was made about him ?Likes to write stories, Admired as a thespian, Headed for literary distinction?(Johnson 2). His formal education ended there, but he furthered it by himself — at night in the library and by day at his typewriter. He sold newspapers on Los Angeles street corners from 1938 to 1942. Bradbury’s first story publication was “Hollerbochen’s Dilemma,” printed in 1938 in Imagination, an amateur fan magazine. Bradbury’s first paid publication was “Pendulum” in 1941 to Super Science Stories. In 1942 Bradbury wrote “The Lake,” the story in which he discovered his distinctive writing style (Johnston and Jepsen 1). By 1943 he began writing full-time, contributing numerous short stories to periodicals. In 1945 his short story “The Big Black and White Game” was selected for Best American Short Stories. In 1947 Bradbury married Marguerite (Maggie) McClure, and that same year he gathered much of his material and published his first book, Dark Carnival, a collection of twenty-seven scary stories (de Koster 23). His reputation as a leading writer of science fiction was established with the publication of The Martian Chronicles in 1950. As much a work of social criticism as of science fiction, The Martian Chronicles reflects some American worries in the early atomic age of the 1950’s: the fear of nuclear war, the longing for a simpler life, reactions against racism and censorship, and fear of foreign political powers. After James Glunn read a review done by Christopher Isherwood, he remarked ?Isherwood ?discovered? Bradbury in the science fiction ghetto and announced his genius to the world? (de Koster 25). Another of Bradbury’s best-known works, the novel Fahrenheit 451 was released in 1953 and is set in a future when the written word is forbidden. Resisting a state that burns all the books, a group of rebels memorize entire works of literature and philosophy. The writing of Fahrenheit 451 was done in the UCLA library basement. It was written on a typewriter that you could rent for ten cents every half hour. He spent the next nine days down there and wrote the book for $9.50. This was wonderful for him because it gave him a chance to get away from the constant distraction of two girls wanting daddy to play with them. The period from the publishing of The Martian Chronicles (1950) to the publishing of Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962) represents the greatest time of Bradbury?s fiction. It is proof of Bradbury?s popularity that, even though short story collections don?t sell well almost every one of his short story collections is still in circulation (Johnson 3).

Ray Bradbury has been awarded by many different magazines and corporations in many different fields, but mostly the awards have been for science fiction. He has been awarded the O. Henry Memorial Award, the Benjamin Franklin Award, the Aviation-Space Writer’s Association Award for best space article in an American Magazine, the World Fantasy Award for lifetime achievement, and the Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction Writers of America. His animated film about the history of flight, Icarus Montgolfier Wright, was nominated for an Academy Award, and his teleplay of The Halloween Tree won an Emmy.

Ray Bradbury’s writing has been honored in many ways, but perhaps the most unusual was when an Apollo astronaut named the Dandelion Crater on the Moon after Bradbury’s novel Dandelion Wine. Outside of his literary achievements, Ray Bradbury was the idea consultant and wrote the basic scenario for the United States Pavilion at the 1964 New York World’s Fair. He conceived the metaphors for Spaceship Earth, EPCOT, Disney World. Ray Bradbury currently lives in California and is still actively writing and lecturing (Johnson and Jepsen 1). When asked about immortality Bradbury believes his daughters and grandchildren is all the immortality he needs. When asked about death he says, ?Death provokes you into creativity. The sense of death has been with me always. It?s a wall there and you bounce life off of it. And you create because there is the threat of extinction, so every new book is a triumph over darkness? (de Koster 30).

The publication of The Martian Chronicles established Bradbury?s mainstream reputation as American?s foremost science-fiction writer; therefore, when the book Fahrenheit 451 was published just 3 years later it confirmed the hype of the first book. There is no doubt that these two books were the greatest and best-known books that Bradbury has written. Some critics think that Fahrenheit 451 is too vague and sentimental, but it is still one of the greatest science fiction satires of our times. It is written in response to the cold war atmosphere after WWII. Its sarcasm is directed at the destruction of intelligence in America today (Mogen 105). There is one metaphor that stands out above all others; it is the metaphor of the idea of a natural cycle, symbolized by the Phoenix. The Phoenix was a ancient, mythical bird of Egypt that would burn itself to death and then resurrect itself from its ashes to a new youth. Through Granger, Bradbury expresses hope that mankind will realize its faults and stop the supposedly endless cycle of destruction and rebirth. Granger is the leader of the book people. This group of men memorized some of the greatest works of literature, which would be written again when literature was once again allowed. Guy is told to memorize the Book of Ecclesiastes, which asserts the need to submit to the natural order of things (Sisario 202-5). ?Throughout his novel Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury uses imagery of hands, making them significant reflectors of conscience. Using this imagery Bradbury seems to be suggesting that actions speak louder than words? (McGiveron 177). Montag?s hands, according to Bradbury, ?were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history? (3). Montag, however, has been taking books from the forbidden libraries he burns. When we finally witness this, Montag’s hands reflect the sudden realization of his conscience:

Montag’s hand closed like a mouth, crushed the book with wild devotion, with an insanity of mindlessness to his chest. Montag had done nothing. His hand had done it all, his hand with a brain of its own, with a conscience and a curiosity in each trembling finger, had turned thief. Now it plunged the book back under his arm, pressed it tight to sweating armpit, rushed out empty… He gazed, shaken, at that white hand. (37-8)

His hand had not actually been possessed. On the contrary, Montag, unwilling to recognize his mistakes as his own, projects them into his hands. It is doubtful, though, that our hands will ever simply reflect the conscience as Montag’s so conveniently do, but it is equally doubtless that they should. Another one of the major themes in the story is metamorphosis. During the course of the book Montag changes from a fireman who burns books to a person who memorized Ecclesiastes and becomes a walking book himself. Without machines this book would be worthless because they are one of the most important aspects to the books evolution. Montag is comfortable with many of the machines that surround him, but some like the medical technicians equipment set of a red flag inside of him. His greatest enemy, though, is the dreadful Mechanical Hound, who as time passes and Montag becomes more aware of the truth, suspects him more and more. At this point in the novel the hound represent the persistent pursuit of the State (Johnson 87). When asked about the warnings of Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury says:

When I wrote my novel Fahrenheit 451 during the years from 1949 to 1953, we were living at the heart of what is known as the McCarthy era. We were very close to panic and wholesale book burning. I never believed we would go all out and destroy ourselves in this fashion. I have always believed in the power of our American society to rectify error without having to resort to destruction. Sometimes it takes a long time to swing the pendulum back in the direction of sanity. But the pendulum did swing. McCarthy is dead, and the era that carried his name buried with him. (de Koster 104)

If Fahrenheit 451 gains its power from its American frame of reference, the satire applies to reoccurring events in all societies, where peoples thoughts result in the destruction of individuality and imagination for the common good. Bradbury?s horror at Hitler inspired the original conception of the book. Even though Hitler is defeated and McCarthy?s era done with they will always have successors who carry out ideas of a tyranny. ?Fahrenheit 451 ultimately warns that tyranny and thought control always come under the disguise of fulfilling ideals, whether the be those of Fascism, Communism, or the American Dream? (Mogen 107). This is also a book of growth. This book contains many sections where Montag is going through a state of consciousness raising. He begins a fireman destroying books just as he is told without question, but he ends up a rebel against the system doing his part to keep the history of literature alive. But this does little but move the plot along. His world actually seems closer to the present than to the future. This is not realized in the overall structure, but it is shone through little details sprinkled here and there. Mostly it is found in the lives of many of the characters-Guy?s wife trying to commit suicide and is stuck in front of a television night and day, Clarisse acts just like many of the hippie girls in the sixties, and the old woman rebelling against the firemen as they try to burn her books reminiscent of the American citizen in the 60?s and 70?s rebelling against our central government. It hard to think of how Bradbury could have come up with many of these concepts in the early fifties (Johnson 86).

This book can be called great for many aspects including its great use of science fiction, satire, and the social criticisms that accompany it. There are also some low points for kids my age. Many times this book can hit a low point and it seems like it goes on forever. Some of the words and concepts used in this book can also confuse many kids, under the high school level, without a great vocabulary. Often there are times where the author will go on a rampage of huge college level words and concepts and I was just left in the dust. The book itself has many hidden meanings and tons of symbolism. I have seen and gone through books that have analysis and criticisms on Fahrenheit 451 that are longer than the book itself. There are many action sequences that appear every now and again that will definitely keep you interested. For instance, it is pretty enticing when it is talking about the group of kids driving up and down the street trying to run down Guy. The best part of the book for teenagers who read this is ?the chase? (where the helicopters and vehicles are following Montag all over the city and finally just forget about him and attack and innocent bystander that they made out to the audience as Montag) going on towards the end with the mechanical hound. Overall this book is an awesome title for someone wanting a challenging book, and it deserves the title of classic.

323