BOOK 100: FAHRENHEIT 451: RAY BRADBURY
Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian novel by Ray Bradbury published in
1953. It is regarded as one of his best works. The novel presents a future
American society where books are outlawed and "firemen" burn any that
are found. The title refers to the temperature that Bradbury understood to be
the autoignition
point of paper.
Historical context
Bradbury's lifelong passion with
books began at an early age. As a frequent visitor to his local libraries in
the 1920s and 1930s, he recalls being disappointed because they did not stock
popular science fiction novels, like those of H. G. Wells, because, at
the time, they were not deemed literary enough. Between this and learning about
the destruction of the Library of
Alexandria, a great impression was made on the young man about the
vulnerability of books to censure and destruction. Later as a teenager,
Bradbury was horrified by the Nazi book burnings and
later Joseph Stalin's
campaign of political repression, the "Great Purge", in
which writers and poets, among many others, were arrested and often executed.
After the 1945 conclusion of World War II shortly after
the atomic
bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the United States focused its
concern on the Soviet atomic
bomb project and the expansion of communism. The House
Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)—formed in 1938 to
investigate American citizens and organizations suspected of having communist
ties—held hearings in 1947 to investigate alleged communist influence in
Hollywood movie-making. These hearings resulted in the blacklisting of the
so-called "Hollywood Ten",
a group of influential screenwriters and directors. This governmental
interference in the affairs of artists and creative types greatly angered
Bradbury. Bitter and concerned about the workings of his government, a late
1949 nighttime encounter with an overzealous police officer would inspire
Bradbury to write "The Pedestrian", a short story which would go on
to become "The Fireman" and then Fahrenheit 451. The rise of Senator
Joseph McCarthy's hearings
hostile to accused communists starting in 1950, would only deepen
Bradbury's contempt over government overreach.
The same year HUAC began investigating
Hollywood is often considered the beginning of the Cold War, as in March
1947, the Truman
Doctrine was announced. By about 1950, the Cold War was in full
swing and the American public's fear of atomic warfare and communist influence
was at a feverish level. The stage was set for Bradbury to write the dramatic nuclear holocaust ending
of Fahrenheit 451, exemplifying the type of scenario feared by many Americans
of the time.
Bradbury's early life witnessed the
Golden Age of
Radio while the transition to the Golden Age of
Television began right around the time he started to work on the
stories that would eventually lead to Fahrenheit 451. Bradbury saw these forms
of media as a threat to the reading of books, indeed as a threat to society,
because they can act as a distraction from important affairs. This contempt for
mass media and technology
would express itself through Mildred and her friends and is an important theme
in the book.
