Science fiction is a genre all about technology and scientific advancements. While some authors portray technology in a positive light in their novels, many portray it negatively. Ray Bradbury was one of the many who portrayed technological advancements in a negative light. He once stated, “‘Video games are a waste of time…real brains don’t do that…while they’re doing that, I’ll go ahead and write another novel’” (Levine “Bradbury, Ray” 1); he believed that modern technology was harmful towards society.
Bradbury’s negative views about the over-reliance of technology during America’s most booming technological era was expressed in his dystopian science fiction novel, Fahrenheit 451 Growing up, Bradbury was different from other kids his age. He was born on August 22nd, 1920, in the Midwestern town of Waukegan, Illinois. As a child, he recalls being plagued by nightmares, fears, and terrifying fantasies. His aunt, Neva Bradbury, played a pivotal role in helping him make something out of these horrific nightmares and fantasies. She helped him collect pumpkins at Halloween and dress up as scary monsters, read him Edgar Allan Poe, made him masks and puppets, and took him to his first plays.
“All the worlds of art and imagination flowed to me through Neva,” Bradbury recalled when asked about his early inspirations. However, the economic problems of the Great Depression affected the Bradbury family, who moved several times between Illinois and Arizona throughout the decade. Bradbury loved living in Arizona because his family would often take trips to Mexico. Unlike the rest of his family, he was fascinated with Mexico. It was the first time he was exposed to such a diverse culture, and he sought to soak up as much of it as possible.
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Bradbury was obsessed with the main roles of death, religion, and admiration of the past that is shown in Mexico’s culture. Nevertheless, his mother despised images of death, his father was rude, and his brother simply hated the culture. He later moved back to Illinois, only to meet the main person that sparked his appreciation for writing.
When watching a magic show, he met a magician by the name of Mr. Electrico, who changed Bradbury’s life forever. He became enamored with magic and all of the attributes of it. Straightaway, he discovered the world of science fiction and started writing his first short story about Mars. By the time he was a teenager, he made it a part of his daily schedule to write for at least four hours straight. This matured into a goal of writing one story per day. At school, he was actively involved in drama, art, and publications. After school, he would either be at the public library, or at the movie theater. He developed a habit of going to double features at least four times a week, trying to see every single motion picture released.
At the same time, he joined many science fiction fan clubs, and even published and wrote for a science fiction fanzine, which is a magazine written by fans for fans. It is clear that science fiction was a crucial part of Bradbury’s childhood and teenage years. Science fiction is based on the possibilities of the future, developed from technological advancements and scientific discoveries of the present. The first prominent work of science fiction is Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818), and it introduced the theme of a new scientific discovery leading to catastrophe. Furthermore, it helped popularize and establish science fiction as a separate genre.
Other important early works include Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) and H.G. Wells’s The Time Machine (1895). Due to science fiction’s popularity arising, in the late nineteenth century, the genre moved in two main paths. One path explored humanity’s fascination with technology, and the other warned readers of the future ahead and of the dangers of human superiority. After World War II, science fiction started sounding less like fiction and more like reality.
With the introduction to nuclear arms, brought upon by the United States bombing Hiroshima, many science fiction stories about the end of the world gained believability. As a result, that put the genre in the mainstream. Moreover, in the 1950s and 1960s, the uprising dystopian movement criticized the overuse of modern technology and focused on its environmental and social consequences. Currently, science fiction stories have common plots about artificial intelligence, aliens visiting earth, environmental disasters, nuclear war, and space travel.
As can be seen, science fiction stories are about the potential predicaments of the future, something Bradbury unmistakably wrote about. Bradbury’s works differ from other works written by science fiction authors of the same time period and before. According to Nagle, he “mixed the interest of changing technology and social commentary” (35), which lacked resemblance from other authors’ works. He drew great inspiration from the normal Midwestern town he grew up in, and many of the characters he created lived in futuristic settings but shared the same prejudices and values that people of today have, making it easier for readers to associate with situations completely different from our current reality.
To illustrate, The Pedestrian (1950) is about a future where people travel exclusively in motorized chairs and often shut themselves in their homes watching television; the main character is the only person who still goes on walks outside until he is arrested under the suspicion that he is “insane.” This story and many others demonstrate the many themes Bradbury used in his writings. Important themes include questioning how to live life the fullest, as well as how to move from youth to adulthood and approaching it with passion. Moreover, preserving the past while living in the present and looking towards the future and not relying on technology too much are other notable themes of Bradbury’s.
For instance, his story The Veldt (1950) is about when virtual reality becomes too real and results in the murder of a mother and father. The Sound of Thunder (1952) is about a man who time travels back to the prehistoric age to hunt dinosaurs but ends up changing time completely. The Illustrated Man (1950) is about a man whose tattoos function as a fortune teller, each telling a different story. The Martian Chronicles (1950) is about a group of humans who colonize Mars but soon fall to their demise due to the fact that they do not want to adapt to their surroundings. Altogether, his stories entertain but also teach readers about their own lives using valuable themes.
Bradbury’s best-known novel, Fahrenheit 451, “helped establish [his] literary reputation and earn his works a place in the American literary canon” (Levine “Fahrenheit 451” 1) because of its unique storyline and characters. The story is about a fireman named Guy Montag living in the United States in the twenty-fourth century. Books are illegal, and it is his job to burn down any house that has a book in it. The majority of homes come with large televisions, big enough to cover entire walls, there to keep citizens distracted, content, and entertained. At the novel’s start, Montag believes that his job as a fireman is necessary, and enjoys what he does.
However, he begins to doubt and ends up reading a book out of curiosity, finding himself to question what he and everyone else believes and does. Bradbury weaves many themes and symbols into this novel. For instance, an important symbol is censorship. Being written in a time where censorship in books is at a peak and book burnings were common, Bradbury expresses a society against intellectualism and free thought. More importantly, the main symbol is fire. He makes fire the symbol for all modern technology created by humans because “technology, like fire, can vastly increase man’s power, but it can also exceed the capacity of mankind to control it, and so become a destroyer” (Bloom 1).
The main theme that Bradbury writes about is remembering the past. In the end of the novel, mankind is left in ruins after books and all written remains of history are burned. He emphasizes how crucial it is to record and study history because remembering the past makes for a better future. On the whole, Fahrenheit 451 highlights a humanity turned to shambles, all because of technology. Bradbury had many influences on the science fiction genre. He was the main force behind popularizing the genre in the 1950s and 1960s, and “is probably the science fiction writer best known to the general public” (D’Ammassa 53). He was the first science fiction writer to manage to get publication in mainstream literary journals and newspapers.
Additionally, his technique of weaving metaphors into his novels is “an important factor differentiating his work from most other science fiction” (Sharp 226), which led future authors to follow in those steps. His style of work has also influenced authors of today. He did not use scientific theory as a basis for writing, and he normalized writing science fiction novels based on our earth, instead of other alien worlds. Even more, he also influenced what people thought of the future. According to Werlock, he made people focus on the “overreliance on technology and [pay] more attention to its social, psychological, and ecological ramifications” (1).
In addition, Bradbury’s work adopts poetry, drama, horror, and crime, which has made readers aware of how important these literary forms are. Therefore, his work has done much for readers and the genre of science fiction.Overall, Bradbury’s negative views about modern technology, especially shown in his novel Fahrenheit 451, have shaped the science fiction genre and transformed what readers thought about our society and technology. His works are regarded among the most influential pieces of science fiction in literature, leaving many readers and authors alike impacted by the powerfulness of his messages.
