Dystopian fiction, is a very popular genre, which depicts worlds where society has broken down and generally devalues human beings. There is always a reason to write a dystopian novel. In the modern day world, there are a lot of dystopian fiction writers, for example Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, Lois Lowry and etc., but one of the best dystopian fiction writers is Ray Douglas Bradbury. He wrote Fahrenheit 451, one of the most popular dystopian novels ever written. Bradbury was afraid of the technology and was against the mass-media propaganda in the USA, but it all started from the time period he lived in. Ray Bradbury’s cause for writing a dystopian novel about burning books, was the development of the technology, during his life.
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In this futuristic dystopian society, people are brainwashed with the use of television. Bradbury used the book as an example of propaganda in the USA. “Fahrenheit 451 is, for certain, a book that squarely addresses the proliferation of mass media in America,”(Weller, 2013). Fahrenheit 451 was published in 1953, right after the WWII. The USA had been massively using propaganda to increase the support for the war and to get more people to join the army. The American government in the WWII was using the same media as in the Fahrenheit 451, but more, to show how good the American army was, though more than 400,000 American soldiers died during the war. Sam Weller( 2013) insisted that Fahrenheit 451 was a book about the growing threat of mass media and technology in our world. With the development of the technology, the propaganda could be spread more easily. Bradbury was trying to hide this message in the book, as he lived through WWII and he saw the propaganda in the USA, he understood that with the development of technology(television and radio), propaganda became much more easier to spread. This is another reason why Ray Bradbury wrote the book about burning
Many science fiction writers are concerned with the idea of censorship and how it could show up in a futuristic society. This is exactly what the legendary author, Ray Bradbury did in 1953 when he published a novel called “Fahrenheit 451”. It is written in the third person limited point of view and the genre of this novel is science fiction. In the 1950’s, the United States was dealing with the McCarthy hearings and the aftermath of World War II, which Bradbury used to incorporate in his novel. The central theme in this novel is censorship, so by Bradbury using metaphors and symbols he is able to show the dangers of the government having too much control.
Bradbury’s stories follow a similar genre which is a dystopian feeling where the characters realize what the world has come to be (“Fahrenheit”). Fahrenheit 451, takes place in a dystopia or “... a dehumanizing environment… where the state keeps citizens in thrall be denying them the kinds of positive, useful intellectual stimuli found in books” (Huntington 107). A dystopia is a future where life is appalling. In their attempt to make a perfect future, the government instead created a dystopia where people are destroying their only sense of truth, joy and humanity (Hamblen). Bradbury is trying to convey that, “Dystopian novels show that any attempt at establishing utopia will only make matters much worse” (Dietz).
Dystopian films want to scare the audience about the future, so these controls are blown out of proportion to scare the audience and shown them a worst case scenario. The control that is being used in Fahrenheit 451 is government control. Government control is used in the text, as the firefighters of the society, start to burn all the books in society. This book burning is called censorship. Censorship is used in Fahrenheit 451 so that no citizens in society have information about history and stories.
• “It didn’t come from the Government down. There was no dictum, no declaration, no censorship, to start with, no! Technology, mass exploitation. . .” (Bradbury 58) • *many types of technologies have replaced books in Bradbury’s future.
To support his claim, Weller adds that Bradbury’s article for The Nation in 1953 clearly shows that censorship was at the “forefront of his mind” when he wrote the novel. Thus, he successfully clarifies the controversial issue regarding the theme of censorship in Fahrenheit 451. A memorable saying I picked up from this article is, “Fahrenheit 451 is less about Big Brother and more about Little Sister” (Bradbury). By this, Weller explains that in Bradbury’s fictional universe, “Big Brother is less instrumental in the censorship of books than the citizens themselves who no longer care about the joy of reading.” Although Huxley’s Brave New World is similar to Fahrenheit 451, I prefer the latter, because it is simpler and easier to relate it to the world today.
"I was not predicting the future, I was trying to prevent it" (Bradbury). The world illustrated in Fahrenheit 451 isn 't that far off from our own. Technology has become a very influential part of everyone 's lives, and has control over people’s actions and thoughts. Ray Bradbury uses the themes mass media, conformity vs. individuality, and censorship in his dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451, to capture a futuristic world in which books are illegal and technology is consuming society. Mass media is a significant theme throughout the book, Fahrenheit 451.
Dystopian fictions are influenced by the authors’ personal experiences and thoughts. Ray Bradbury’s negative view on technology, book burnings, witch hunts, and censorship led him to writing his dystopian novel. To begin with, Ray Bradbury’s negative view on technology led to writing Fahrenheit 451. According to Cliffnotes (n.d.), Ray Bradbury lived through the golden age of television and radio.
Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, is a uniquely shocking and provocative novel about a dystopian society set in a future where reading is outlawed, thinking is considered a sin, technology is at its prime, and human interaction is scarce. Through his main protagonist, Guy Montag, Bradbury brings attention to the dangers of a controlled society, and the problems that can arise from censorship. As a fireman, it is Guy's job to destroy books, and start fires rather than put them out. After meeting a series of unusual characters, a spark is ignited in Montag and he develops a desire for knowledge and a want to protect the books. Bradbury's novel teaches its readers how too much censorship and control can lead to further damage and the repetition of history’s mistakes through the use of symbolism, imagery, and motif.
In the fictional novel "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury, the two character Montag and Clarisse, lived in the future where the government is corrupted. As time evolve and the world is changing, the sense of logic become twisted in this society. The world in "Fahrenheit 451" is a place where the idea of "firemen put fires out" appeared to be "long ago" (Bradbury 25). Firemen in this society no longer put out fire, but instead going to start them. The action of a firemen spraying "kerosene" over burning fire is described as an "amazing conductor playing all the symphonies" suggest that this society is twisted (Bradbury 2).
Fahrenheit 451 a dystopian novel full of social commentary and so much more, comparing reality in a commentary to our real problems as a society. In every example presented in this essay a clear picture of a dystopian society is painted. From Fahrenheit 451 to District 9 every author revealed major characteristics that all dystopian societies have. I main set of characteristics were common in every example which was propaganda and corruption which would lead to abuse of power. These types of books and films allows us to experience a society which is degrading and unfair and allow us to appreciate the still messed up society we live in now.
Books are banned and burned. Feelings begin to fade. All written imagination and controversial thoughts are considered illegal crimes. Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian novel written by Ray Bradbury in the early 1950’s. The novel primarily focuses on a fictional U.S society within the 21st century, where books and literature are illegal.
Ray Bradbury actually has “argued till the cows come home that Fahrenheit 451 is not about government censorship. In his mind, the novel is about the scary potential for TV to replace books, causing us to forget how to think for ourselves. ”(Shmoop Editorial Team) Fahrenheit 451 becomes a classic Anzaldua 3 and Ray Bradbury’s best-known work because of “its exploration of themes of censorship and conformity. In 2007, Bradbury himself disputed that censorship was the main theme of Fahrenheit 451, instead explaining the book as a story about how television drives away interest in reading: "Television gives you the dates of Napoleon, but not who he was.
451 is a number that all firefighters know by heart in Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451. That number is the temperature that book paper catches on fire. 451 is on a shoulder badge of the firemen and is on the main character Guy Montag shoulder. Montag is a fireman who is pain to burn books that are reported in households. While in today's society, firemen help prevent fires from causing more damage to houses; that is not the case in Fahrenheit 451.
Amid the 1950s, Bradbury was unbelievably worried about the eventual fate of the United States and what life would resemble for American natives. There were moves by individuals like, Senator Joseph McCarthy, who were instrumental in shaping councils to explore individuals under suspicion of being hostile to American or somehow unsupportive of the standards of the American Dream and the entrepreneur framework in operation in America. Hence, this got to be evident in Bradbury 's tragic future vision of Fahrenheit 451. Fahrenheit 451 still reverberates with perusers and is loaded with nerves.
Annotated Works Cited Eller, Edward E. " An overview of Fahrenheit 451. " Literature Resource Center. Detroit: Gale, 2014.