ipl-logo

The Controversial Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury

927 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Argumentative on fahrenheit 451

Ray Bradbury was the author of countless stories, but perhaps his most iconic is the controversial Fahrenheit 451. This frequently banned book about the banning of books outlines a dystopian future where television and radio have replaced reading and walking and the government is most certainly not the friend of the learned. Bradbury created a world at once fantastic and believable that resonates even more in today’s age of smartphones and video streaming.

The question that comes to many readers’ minds is this: What prompted Bradbury, in the 1950s, to write a book about intrusive technology? To find the answer, it is necessary to look at both his childhood and the events surrounding the book’s publication in 1953.

Ray Bradbury was born …show more content…

The book depicts a future where reading is “bad” and no one is interested in doing it. In the real world, the number of adults who read for pleasure has been falling for a long time. According to the National Endowment of the Arts, the number of reading adults fell by 7% between 1992 and 2002. As predicted by Ray Bradbury, this decline has been attributed to the rise of technology. He also succeeded in predicting such things as the rise of the flat screen television through his “parlor walls” and earbuds through his “thimble radios”. He had seen great innovation in his life. He simply changed the inventions to a logical future form. Most importantly, though, his predictions depicted a world obsessed with screens, such as the one we live in today. The roots of this addiction were already apparent to him early in the age of television. People had begun to form routines around TV programs and multitask with technology. This prompted him to write Fahrenheit 451 as a warning of what could happen if those habits continued.
Ray Bradbury put a lot of himself into his book. Every facet of the story was drawn from some change he saw occurring around him. He witnessed the dramatic shift radio and television were bringing to the lives of many people and, as a cautionary statement, he illustrated a world of extreme tech use. The only question now is this: Will we listen to his advice, or continue to abandon literature for the television, computers, and

Show More
Related
807 Words | 4 Pages

"(Biography.com Editors) Ray Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451 to show how television was taking over and the importance of a book and how strongly he feels towards these ideas of preserving books and their knowledge. Finally to come to a close to Ray Bradbury’s smart mind and ideas to share about the ignorance of some and wanting to open the eyes of others. He makes great points in his book and how he reacts to all the censorship he has had to battle to maintain his books his raw words without

Read More
566 Words | 3 Pages

Ju Hee Kim Mrs. Maxwell AP Literature 9 August 2015 Censorship? Technology? Or Both? In the scholarly article, Sam Weller: Ray Bradbury’s 180 on Fahrenheit 451, Sam Weller clarifies the controversial theme of censorship in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.

Read More
1086 Words | 5 Pages

Some have named Ray Bradbury “the uncrowned king of the science-fiction writers” because of his imagination and beautiful way of making Fahrenheit 451 come to life. The book Fahrenheit 451 is one of the first books to deal with a future society filled with people who have lost their thirst for knowledge and for whom literature is a thing of the past. The author mainly portrays this world from the point of view of Montag, a man who has discovered the power that knowledge contains and is coming to grips with the fact that it is outlawed. However, the reader also gets to see what life is like for one of the people content in living a life lacking in independent thought and imagination through his wife, Millie.

Read More
210 Words | 1 Pages

One thing that really bothered or annoyed me was the fact that Bradbury used “man” instead of putting “person. Like were all books written by men?Other than that, I personally think this quote is really extensive because it shows how Montag shows guilt, I like how it compares a lifetime of work for writing certain books, and takes nothing but two minutes to destroy. In this society books are portrayed as being unacceptable. This society has a odd way of viewing everything. I think that television and movies are a much simpler investment in this society, If you think about it this society is kinda similar in a way to present day society, SO many people think that books are tedious but in reality they are just too lazy to search for a book that

Read More
538 Words | 3 Pages

Major problems exist in every civilization. The various issues that different civilizations deal with, such as hunger and homelessness, are diverse. Ray Bradbury writes of a horrible civilization. Despite how awful his civilization was, it had some similarities to the real world. There are many similarities between the society in Ray Bradbury's book Fahrenheit 451 and the contemporary world, including drug usage, state censorship, and technological use.

Read More
1073 Words | 5 Pages

In life, there is a reason behind every decision a person makes; Whether that decision be what to eat for breakfast, or how to respond to an email, one thing always remains constant… There are many factors that have a say in how every moment plays out. This same logic also applies to Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. In the story, Montag’s imminent arrest, Beatty’s constant taunting, and Beatty’s subconscious desire to die bring about Montag’s decision of murdering Beatty.

Read More
667 Words | 3 Pages

Owen Huet Mrs. Miller Honors World Literature 11 13 March, 2023 Summary of Literature Draft Ray Bradbury, the author of many books including Fahrenheit 451, was born on August 22, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois. He was one of the first authors to incorporate science fiction with a prose style. This sophisticated prose was described as economical yet poetic. His contributions to American literature earned him numerous awards, including a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation in 2007. He began writing during the 40s as a writer for pulp magazines.

Read More
289 Words | 2 Pages

Did Ray Bradbury write Fahrenheit 451 to warn people of the consequences we can encounter if we burn books? I wonder if he wrote it as a warning of what we can face in the future if we rely more on technology rather than books. I believe he wanted us to understand that books serve an important purpose in our lives and removing them can affect everybody as a society. Bradbury wanted us to understand that books are knowledge, they are power and without them, us as humans would lose a part of us. He also set a warning of what he thinks would happen if we keep getting led on by technology.

Read More
724 Words | 3 Pages

"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.

Read More
675 Words | 3 Pages

title Maslow’s hierarchy suggests that humans have a hierarchical set of requirements starting from the most basic physiological needs, security needs, social needs, esteem needs and the highest level of self-actualization needs. This theory can be applied to Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451. The novel, set in a dystopian future world where books are burned for their divisive nature and nonconformity is discouraged, follows Guy Montag, a fireman who rebels against these norms. The society portrayed in the book is meant to meet the characters' fundamental requirements for security, but is not successful in doing so. In its efforts to do so it infringes on the higher-level needs presented, social and esteem needs.

Read More
1359 Words | 6 Pages

The 1950s was not only a time of a growing threat of communism and the fear of nuclear war, but it was also a time of increasing satisfaction in the latest consumer product: the television. TVs captivated the American public to the point where books were being forgotten about. Though books were still being bought and sold, some never made it to the shelf because of the growing amount of government censorship. The government not only censored books, but they also censored movies, content on radios, and other creative works. This censorship controlled what the American public read, watched, and heard, which in turn limited the information available to the public.

Read More
710 Words | 3 Pages

Hwan Seong Pak Kelli Karg Grade 9 English 17/12/14 Title: Subtitle Fahrenheit 451 written by Ray Bradbury was published in 1953. The novel depicts a future society where books are devalued and firemen burn books. It is one of the representative dystopian fictions.

Read More
737 Words | 3 Pages

Fahrenheit 451 –Analytical Essay There are a few common aspects of the setting of Fahrenheit 451, a book by Ray Bradbury and today’s society. Just like any books being burned in Fahrenheit 451, our government holds certain information as classified and does not let it out to the general public. Both societies use censorship as a way of limiting knowledge. Oversight and surveillance continue to be allowed at an alarming rate and was a part of Bradbury’s concerns. Fitting in and being "normal” or mainstream are not as accepted in either setting.

Read More
1174 Words | 5 Pages

Technology and Its Control Over Society In many of his pieces, writings, and novels, Ray Bradbury reflects the immense reliance and close connection that humanity has with technology. He also depicts the dangerous effects that could come from having this relationship, such as a loss of independency and self-control over one’s mind and actions. If humanity were to continue to allow technology to have this disastrous power and control, society’s downfall is certain and destined to come.

Read More
1139 Words | 5 Pages

While Mildred’s characterization is an exaggeration, with today’s technologies she has become more relevant, relatable, and tragic. It is remarkable how much prescience Bradbury demonstrated in writing Fahrenheit 451. The Seashells Mildred uses resemble modern day earphones, and how she tunes out the world in favour of “an electronic ocean of sound” (19) predicted how people today would do the same while listening to music or podcasts on their mobile devices. Her TV walls are much like the numerous digital screens that permeate all parts of our lives and hold our attention. Or, the TV parlour and the scripted parts Mildred plays in the shows can be seen as an early concept for virtual reality video games.

Read More

More about The Controversial Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury

Related Topics

Open Document