Ray Bradbury’s Passion Against Technology The works of American author Ray Bradbury are recognized for having anti-technological themes in them. His viewpoint on tech makes sense, given that he was born in 1920 and began writing and publishing works in the 1940s. Technology at the time of his growing up was unfamiliar and quickly evolving. Most of the population applauded these new inventions and looked optimistically towards this seemingly perfect, advanced future, but Bradbury instead held rather conventional values. He aligned his views more with those of other works of anti-tech fiction, like Fritz Lang’s Metropolis or Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times, all films that were released in Bradbury’s childhood or early adulthood. Combining his love of science-fiction and real world experience from traumatic events like The Great Depression or WWII was how …show more content…
By using this inspiration for his comprehensive and creative writing style, Bradbury is able to explain to readers of all generations why he firmly believes that despite its dazzling newness, technology will inevitably result in the downfall of humanity. Ray Bradbury had a number of strong opinions, one of which was that technology is unreliable and should not be used as a crutch. Fahrenheit 451’s depiction of the parlor and the sea shells serves as vivid illustrations of this belief. Mildred, the wife of the main character, is unhealthily preoccupied with the floor-to-ceiling screens that line the parlor walls, and when she is not there the sea shells feed constant noise into her ears. The quote “Well wasn’t there a wall between him and Mildred, when you came down to it? Literally not just one wall, but, so far, three!...And the uncles, the aunts, the cousins, the nieces, the nephews, that lived in those walls, the gibbering pack of tree-apes that said nothing, nothing, nothing and said it loud, loud, loud.” (Bradbury 41) paints an image