Fahrenheit 451 Synthesis Essay

Even as a young man, Ray Bradbury wanted to write. At twelve years old, he chose to become an author “in the hopes of emulating his heroes” and living forever through fiction (Bio). He could not afford college, so he went to a library at least “three days a week for ten years”, making libraries very important to Bradbury. (Bio). In 1950, his first child was born, and a year later, his second was born. Needing money to help raise the children and having no office or study to write, Bradbury went to the UCLA library for solitude and inspiration. He then learned that, in the library, “there was a typing room where you could rent a typewriter for ten cents a half-hour” (NEA). This is where he wrote Fahrenheit 451. It took him nine days to write the novel

When, as a teenager, Bradbury learned that Nazis had burned books not favorable to their culture, and later about the Library of Alexandria burning, Bradbury thought, “my educators—the libraries—are in danger,” (NEA). This later became the inspiration for burning books in Fahrenheit 451. Another inspiration for the novel may have been color television. Color television had become very popular in the late 1940’s, and many people believed that television would bring upon the downfall of literature. This did happen in the novel, as ‘parlours’ are rooms where the walls are interactive televisions and people entertain themselves in ‘parlours’ rather than reading. The war in the novel may have been inspired by World War Two and the Cold War, as WWII had just ended and the Cold War had just began at the time Fahrenheit 451 was written. WWII was the biggest war the world had ever seen, and the Cold War sparked fear of mutually assured destruction via nuclear and atomic weapons. In the novel, two atomic wars have occurred, and a single bomb destroyed an entire city, putting into text the fears that many Americans had during the Cold