A Historical Analysis of Ray

Bradbury and Fahrenheit 451

By: Sadie Schafer
..
The book Fahrenheit 451 is based on themes
such as control, overpopulation, censorship,
ignorance, and religion. When the book came
out it shocked society; it was based on ideas
of a failing society that they saw occurring in
their own society. An analysis of the book will
reveal similarities between the American
society in the 1950s and the society of
Fahrenheit 451. The connections between
each society helped the readers at the time to get a deeper understanding of the
problems with their own society.
Ray Bradbury was born on august 22, 1920. He was always interested in writing
and reading books. He also had a great love for theatre and magic. Bradbury got
inspired at a young age; by the time he was eleven, he had already begun writing his
own stories. He finished high school, but never attended college. His whole life he had
been inspired by writing, and by the time he graduated high school, he was set on being
an author. Bradbury started small, writing short stories in newspapers. His first
published story was named Hollerbochens Dilemma, which showed in 1938 in
Imagination!, a magazine for amateur writers. He also worked writing for TV series
such as, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone.
Bradbury says the inspiration for writing his book Fahrenheit 451 came mainly
from an incident he and a friend experienced in 1941. They were walking the streets of

L.A. when a police officer stopped them and asked them what they were doing. The
officer had no apparent reason to do so, and it was the perfect example of paranoia and
fear that overwhelmed the American society at that time. The book Fahrenheit 451
acknowledges a paranoid and overwhelmed society like the one Bradburry experienced
in 1941 with his friend.
As a child, Bradbury was a huge fan of magicians, and an avid book reader of
specifically adventure and fantasy fiction, especially L. Frank Baum, Jules Verne and
Edgar Rice Burroughs. Bradbury made a decision as a young adult, in hopes of
following his heroes, to "live forever" through his writing. His favorite childhood authors
writing styles played a huge role in the creations of many of his books. Many of these
authors writing styles are reflected into his own writing. The article Edgar Rice
Burroughs, John Carter, and the Racial Imagination mentions the extreme similarities
between Edgar Rice Burroughs work of art The John Carter Series; and Ray Bradbury's
book Avatar; The similarities between the two are overwhelming: a military hero falling
in love with an alien princess, becoming the leader of an alien civilization, and even
getting new legs! (https://guavapuree.wordpress.com/2012/09/09/edgar-riceburroughs-john-carter-and-the-racial-imagination/). Bradbury was influenced by a huge
number of different authors that greatly shaped the structure of his writing. His work
was filled with description, symbolism, and metaphors much like his favorite authors.
Much like his favorite authors, Ray Bradburys writing is well-known for its
incredible descriptions. His work is full of figurative language. Throughout the novel he
enriches his story with symbolism and complex metaphors. For example, Bradbury
uses religious symbolism to describe the imbalance between nature and society in
Fahrenheit 451. There is a scene from the bible that describes a python as being a
manipulative creature that should have control over humans. However in the book
Fahrenheit 451 their society has complete and utter control over the python,
represented by nature. This metaphor tells us a lot about how the society has an
unnatural control that should be feared. "the great python spitting its venomous
kerosene upon the world." This is one quote that Bradbury uses to describe a

flamethrower. Bradbury's intentions in writing this passage was to make the reader
understand the unbalance between nature and society in their own world in the 1950s.
One childhood love that played a huge role in Ray Bradbury's writing style was his
interest in magicians. Throughout his life, Bradbury liked to recount the story of meeting
a magician named Mr. Electrico, in 1932. At the end of his performance Electrico
reached out to the twelve-year-old Bradbury, touched the boy with his sword, and
commanded, Live forever! Bradbury later said; I decided that was the greatest idea I
had ever heard. I started writing every day. I never stopped. This dedication the writing
lead to a prolific and talented future for Bradburry as a writer.
The book Fahrenheit 451 was inspired by many ideas, such as censorship,
ignorance, and religion. However, one of the themes that stood out most to me from the
book was time. The people in Montags (main characters) world have no real sense of
time. Their society has no history; and therefore no sense of past. Because books are
burned history is lost, and so is everything that has come before them. They do not
understand time because every day is the same to them; there is no difference between
each day so they all blur together. An example comes from Mrs. Phelps words; Its our
third marriage each and were independent. Be independent, we always said. He said,
if I get killed off, you go ahead and dont cry, but get married again and dont think of
me. (page 72)This is a quote from the book that perfectly describes the lack of sense of
time in the book. Mrs. Phelps, like the rest of her society has no sense of past, only a
sense of present. She could care less if her husband were to die in the war, she would
just go ahead and find another to marry. Overall this society doesnt understand time,
which leads to an ignorant, and overwhelmed society.
Another continuously repeating theme in the book is the theme of censorship.
This theme is specifically shown in one conversation between Montag (the main
character) and Beatty (Montags boss), where Montag has decided not to come to work
because he is doubting the purpose of his job (to burn books with controversial
opinions). Beatty says:

"Coloured people don't like Little Black Sambo. Burn it. White people don't feel
good about Uncle Tom's Cabin. Burn it. Someone's written a book on tobacco and
cancer of the lungs? The cigarette people are weeping? Bum the book. Serenity,
Montag. Peace, Montag. Take your fight outside. Better yet, into the incinerator.
Funerals are unhappy and pagan? Eliminate them, too. Five minutes after a person is
dead he's on his way to the Big Flue, the Incinerators serviced by helicopters all over
the country. Ten minutes after death a man's a speck of black dust. Let's not quibble
over individuals with memoriams. Forget them. Burn them all, burn everything. Fire is
bright and fire is clean." (page 80)
This quote shows us how Beatty, like the rest of his society, is in favor of
censorship. Not only does this quote tell us about their society's belief in censorship, it
also gives us a good understanding of the great ignorance that their society has. They
believe that issues can be solved simply by ignoring them. They think that by getting rid
of peoples rights to opinions they will be happier; that their ideas dont need to be heard
in order to have a happy society.
The book exposes issues of control, overpopulation, ignorance, lack of time, and
censorship. It demonstrates to the readers the emptiness of 1950s society by
comparing it with the society of Fahrenheit 451. The connections between each
society help the readers to get a deeper understanding of the problems with their own
society in the 1950s.
Bibliogr
Pure, Guava. "Edgar Rice Burroughs, John Carter and the Racial
Imagination." Guava Pure. The Twenty Ten Theme, 09 Sept. 2012. Web. 23 Feb.
2016.
"FAHRENHEIT 451 Ray Bradbury." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web.
09 Mar. 2016.
Swain, Don. "Ray Bradbury Interview with Don Swaim." Ray Bradbury
Interview with Don Swaim. Ohio University, n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2016.
Biography.com Editors. "Ray Bradbury Biography." Bio.com. A&E
Networks Television, n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2016.
Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967.
Print.