The Oracle by Ray Bradbury

In Larry Lankton’s text, “Beyond the Boundaries” we gradually enter an unknown world that is frightening yet filled with immense beauty for miles. Due to the copper mining industry, a gradual increase of working class men and their families start to migrate to the unknown world with unsteady emotion, yet hope for a prosperous new life. In “Beyond the Boundaries”, Lankton takes us on a journey on how the “world below” transformed the upper peninsula into a functional and accepted new part of the world.

The book I am reading is called The Apollo Trials: The Hidden Oracle. The author is Rick Riordan. This book takes place at Camp Half-Blood which is in Long Island, New York. The year it took place in is 2016. In the story, Apollo is sent to Earth in human form by his father, Zeus. This was Apollo’s punishment for starting the war with Gaea, which he did not, Zeus only believes he did. The only way he could go back to being a god is if he finds a demi-god to serve. In this book, the demi-god is Meg McCaffery. She was a homeless demi-god in the streets of New York, as a result, Apollo had to get her to Camp Half-Blood. On the way there, there is a huge forest and Apollo starts hearing voices coming from the trees. When they got

“ I knew Ray Bradbury for the last thirty years of his life, and i was so lucky. He was so funny and gentle and always enthusiastic. He cared, completely and utterly about things. He cared about toys and childhood, and films. He cared about books. He cared about stories.” Even though Bradbury had issues at home with his family he never let it stop him from writing and chasing his dreams. He kept pushing forward as well as Montag, facing problems with his wife finding out he was no longer in love with his wife he still tried to make it work and focus on his main focus. “Despite economic problems that took his family twice to Arizona in search of work, and despite the deaths of two siblings, Bradbury’s memory of his early years is positive.”

▪ Psychological or Psychoanalytical Criticism – a leading tradition in psychological criticism is the Freudian’s. According to its followers, the meaning of a work of literature depends on the psyche and even on the neuroses of the author. Ray Bradbury wrote this short story in a very old age. And the significance of this story is also view from the point of view of the old person’s being aware of all the new technologies of the world. People shouldn’t live in their shells; they should go ahead together with the progress. Ray Bradbury, being in his late years understood and took the progress in a right way and probably wanted to show that people shouldn’t stop in their development.

Ray Bradbury’s works are most beneficial to students because of the moral themes he writes. Time Magazine states that his “thematic range was so deep and powerful, that he became unclassifiable” (Grossman). In his poem, “If Only We Had Taller Been”, Bradbury expressed his childhood hope for space travel “We’d reach our hands to touch and almost touch the sky… ‘Twould teach us, not to, never to, be dead” (“If Only We Had Taller Been”). Throughout the poem his tone expresses how he wished for space travel, but even though it wasn’t his accomplishment, he felt an overwhelming sense of

When writing the introduction to Fahrenheit 451, author Neil Gaiman stated that “ideas--written ideas--are special. They are the way we transmit our stories and our thoughts from one generation to the next. If we lose them, we lose our shared history”. Gaiman is absolutely correct; especially because what he is saying heavily applies to books. Books are a critical aspect in shaping humanity as a whole, they create and share a network of creative ideas, history, and overall entertainment; to lose books would be like losing patches of humankind’s history. Creativity, history, feelings and thoughts: all of the aspects that make us human...gone. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury illustrates the story of a man named Guy Montag, who struggles to live in a futuristic dystopian society where censorship through book burning is prominent. Throughout Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury uses multiple motifs to emphasize a certain idea or convey a message to the reader better. A motif is a recurring subject, theme, idea, or even a physical object that appears in literature. Ray Bradbury’s hostile tone towards technology gives meaning to the reader by depicting the message that technology has the power to completely detach people from their genuine emotions, as well as urge readers to not get too attached to technology because it separates them from relationships in real life.

Ray Bradbury is a classic science fiction/fantasy writer who is best known for his works Fahrenheit 451, Martian Chronicles, and Illustrated Man. He was born Ray Douglas Bradbury on August 22nd, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois. His father was a telephone technician, his mother was a Swedish immigrant and his grandparents were newspaper publishers. He lived in Illinois until in 1934, at age 14, his family moved to Los Angeles, California. There he attended Los Angeles High School from which he graduated in 1938. During his time in High School he was a part of the drama club and planned to go into acting and rise into fame, and often roller skating around the streets of LA attempting to spot famous actors. Because the depression left his family with no money to pay for college he pursued no further formal education

The literature of Ray Bradbury and Michael Crichton aspire to entertain readers whilst also educating them. Their works still apply to the world daily. Bradbury’s writing contains time travel, ageless children, and never-ending rains. While Crichton’s work is full of predictions, speculations, and he projects what may be in our future.

When one thinks of notable authors that have left a lasting legacy in the literary world, they think of writers such as William Shakespeare, Mark Twain and Stephen King. Robert Cormier isn’t the first name to come to mind. In fact, one may not even know who he is. But yet he is considered by many who are familiar with his work to be “one of the most important American writers for young adults”. Cormier’s ride through what we consider today the Contemporary Period, shaped his writing and led to his contributions as a young adult author that would redefine the genre with his dark and realistic portrayal of society.

In the novel, The Stranger by Albert Camus, Meursault the protagonist, becomes drawn into a “senseless” murder that has to face the absurdity of life and because of his actions, Meursault is presented as a danger due to his lack of “morality” to society. Meursault who is not able to take control of his life but respond to what life offers him believes in the simplicity of life. He tries to understand the living through logic and objectivity, which ultimately turns futile, as he himself cannot maintain proper control over his thoughts and emotions. From the interactions between Marie, to the murder of the Arab, and the meeting with the Chaplain, Meursault overcomes his indifferent views to form an opinion about what life really means. The central theme presented by Camus is how the threat of mortality becomes a catalyst for understanding the significance of life.

In regards to the concepts of desire and pleasure Laura Esquivel said, “Each of us is born with a box of matches inside us, but we can 't strike them all by ourselves.” Desire for pleasure is hard-wired into human nature, and people will do whatever they can to acquire it. One strong desire of pleasure is that which involves the human body and all the pleasures it has to offer. That desire however, exists on a thin border one that if crossed enters the realm of lust. It is a realm of carnal sin that paves the road to harsh and unrelenting punishment for all who follow it. Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee, demonstrates lust and the punishment that comes with it through several events befalling Byronic protagonist David Lurie. Given the horrifying assault scene of Disgrace, Coetzee is alluding to the second circle of hell in Dante’s Inferno and the punishment for the sin of lust.

Nichollo Machiavelli's book “The Prince” was published in 1532 and ever since then, has been a handbook used by many throughout history to staying in power. In this book Machiavelli uses his experiences through his position in the both the government and the military, to give advice to others who are either seeking power or trying to remain in power. The book is divided into several chapters, each giving situation specific advice on how one should rule to obtain power or remain in it

I have always been fascinated by the inner workings of the mind. Why we act the way we do in certain situations and why we act irrationally. Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely attempts to explore and answer these questions. He covers irrationality from a variety of topics such as human relationships and market dynamics, but the implications are valid in any field that requires decision-making. Two topics that Ariely covers in the book are: the “zero price effect” and the “endowment effect.” With each of these topics, Ariely challenges the reader to rethink their current decision making process and to step outside the irrational mind of the consumer. Dan Ariely states:

“The Last Night of the World” by Ray Bradbury tells an interesting story about a couple spending what they believe to be the last night that they will spend with each other. The setting of the story takes place in the their house in the evening. It starts with the husband asking about what the wife would do if this was the last night of the world. He knows it is the last night of the world because of a suspicious dream he had the night before. He did not think much of it until the next day when he found out one of his friends, Stan Willis, also had the same dream. Turns out, many others in the office also had the same dream. That evening, the wife admitted that she had the same dream too, and so did the other women in the neighborhood.They talked about what they should do for their last night. Surprisingly, both of them were calm and they decided to continue as if it was any other night. They put the children to sleep. They did not want to concern the children by telling them. The couple resumed their routine, they washed the dishes, listened to the radio, and sit together by the fireplace for a couple of hours. The wife went out because

American literature does not only include characters, plots, settings, and themes, but also historical and personal events that shape the writer’s literature. One era that is known for outside events influencing the writing of the time is the post-modern era. The start of the post-modern era took place in the year 1945. This era took rise after two major historical events in America’s history, the Holocaust and the dropping of the atomic bombs on two Japanese cities. Once World War II was over, Americans wanted to return to normal life. However, with the desire to return to normal, Americans in the 1950’s had a hard time determining what they would consider normal. One early post-modern author, Carson McCullers, focused her writing on the feeling of isolation and loneliness that American citizens were facing at the time. Carson McCullers’s novels and short stories contain themes of isolation, death, hope, and dark humor, which are all symbolic of the hardships humans faced in the post-modern time period and her own personal trials.