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Themes In Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury

Decent Essays

“It was a pleasure to burn,” wrote Ray Bradbury in the novel Fahrenheit 451. Bradbury used a number of different sources that influenced him to write with such themes. Some of Bradbury’s themes that are evident in his writing are alternative worlds and censorship. These themes are shown in some of his famous works, Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, and Dandelion Wine. Ray Bradbury uses symbols such as expressions and behaviors of certain characters and combines his personal experience along with the Postmodernist Era of American Literature, to make the themes of censorship and ignorance meaningful and important.
Ray Bradbury was born in the 1920s, and grew up in Waukegan, Illinois. This town influences his writing particularly because of its small town feel and his experiences as a child (McGiveron). Once, Bradbury moved with his family when he was little to Tuscon, AZ which has a different landscape to what he was used to while growing up in Illinois, this also influences some of his writing later on. Five years after his high school graduation Bradbury became a full time writer.
Ray Bradbury began his writing during the Postmodernist Era. Many Postmodernist writers rebelled against modernist ideas, such as freedom and experimentation. Political and ideological ideas were central to many works from writers during this time period, this was due to the decay of authority (“Modernism”). The information age was also booming during this time period, which influences the work of the novel Fahrenheit 451. During this time there was also paranoia from the government regarding the Red Scare and the fear of communism (Anderson). This affects his writing because, for example, in Fahrenheit 451 books were looked down upon since they have the ability to offend and confuse. This is how the theme of ignorance is portrayed in the novel. In addition to the red scare, Fahrenheit 451 was written and published just after World War II. Since it was developed during this time period, readers can better relate to the book from the fears of the time period. For example, Bradbury may have been outraged by the book burnings in Nazi Germany which explains (through characters of the book) why he believes killing a book is as

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