Ray Bradbury and Censorship Ray Douglas Bradbury was born in a small town north of Chicago on August 22, 1920.
He grew up in Waukegan, Illinois, and at a young age, his life was exposed to a numerous amount of horror films including The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera. In 1934 he moved to Los Angeles where he completed high school. At the age of fifteen, he joined the Los Angeles Science Fiction League. He completed high school in 1937, and in 1947 he wrote his first collection of short stories called “Dark Carnival”. Many of his early science fiction stories show how concerned he is for human life. In 1953, Bradbury published Fahrenheit 451; many people approved of his use of imagery in the novel. Many of the …show more content…
When Bradbury sent his book off to be published, the publishing company was approached by the government and told to redact certain parts of the novel. This shows censorship in America, as well as the government attempting to restrict freedom of speech. Many of the events that happen in this story are based off of real events that happened in Bradbury’s time period. For instance, Bradbury used the book burnings that Hitler performed in the novel to show what effect it has on the people. During WWII , the U.S. government 's fear of communism began to grow in America (Eller 150). The response to this was censorship. This included the creation of the Office of Censorship which censored all communications going in and out of America. “ In other words, America responded to the same tactics of the Nazis” (Eller 150). In the novel Montag will end up burning his own house down just because the government does not want anymore books left in their community. “The book burnings became a major symbol of repression”(Telgen …show more content…
Most people in the book do not have just a single television, but instead they have a whole entire wall filled with televisions. The television is also being used as a way to suppress the reality of the world the people are living in. The shows that are on the television are dramas that basically create an alternate reality for each person. The show will take the person’s name and put it into the show. When someone is watching a program, they are able to interact with the fictional characters.It also will give each person decisions to make that affect the outcome of the show they are watching. These television shows begin to make the people in the book mindless and unable to connect with reality. Montag’s wife, Mildred, is subject to the brainwashing caused by the television shows. She will be asked to do something and then forget what she was doing thirty seconds later. “When he is sick and asks Mildred to go and get him an aspirin, she leaves the room and the wanders back a few minutes later, not a thought in her head” (Eller 150). Bradbury did not intend for his novel to be such an accurate prediction of what the world is today, but many people think that the novel is a perfect example of what our future could
He grew up in Waukegan, Illinois, and at a young age, his life was exposed to a numerous amount of horror films including The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera. In 1934 he moved to Los Angeles where he completed high school. At the age of fifteen, he joined the Los Angeles Science Fiction League. He completed high school in 1937, and in 1947 he wrote his first collection of short stories called “Dark Carnival”. Many of his early science fiction stories show how concerned he is for human life. In 1953, Bradbury published Fahrenheit 451; many people approved of his use of imagery in the novel. Many of the …show more content…
When Bradbury sent his book off to be published, the publishing company was approached by the government and told to redact certain parts of the novel. This shows censorship in America, as well as the government attempting to restrict freedom of speech. Many of the events that happen in this story are based off of real events that happened in Bradbury’s time period. For instance, Bradbury used the book burnings that Hitler performed in the novel to show what effect it has on the people. During WWII , the U.S. government 's fear of communism began to grow in America (Eller 150). The response to this was censorship. This included the creation of the Office of Censorship which censored all communications going in and out of America. “ In other words, America responded to the same tactics of the Nazis” (Eller 150). In the novel Montag will end up burning his own house down just because the government does not want anymore books left in their community. “The book burnings became a major symbol of repression”(Telgen …show more content…
Most people in the book do not have just a single television, but instead they have a whole entire wall filled with televisions. The television is also being used as a way to suppress the reality of the world the people are living in. The shows that are on the television are dramas that basically create an alternate reality for each person. The show will take the person’s name and put it into the show. When someone is watching a program, they are able to interact with the fictional characters.It also will give each person decisions to make that affect the outcome of the show they are watching. These television shows begin to make the people in the book mindless and unable to connect with reality. Montag’s wife, Mildred, is subject to the brainwashing caused by the television shows. She will be asked to do something and then forget what she was doing thirty seconds later. “When he is sick and asks Mildred to go and get him an aspirin, she leaves the room and the wanders back a few minutes later, not a thought in her head” (Eller 150). Bradbury did not intend for his novel to be such an accurate prediction of what the world is today, but many people think that the novel is a perfect example of what our future could