Sunday, October 13, 2013

Review of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury



Ray Bradbury’s 1953 Fahrenheit 451 is one of few works of science fiction deemed worthy by public schools in the U.S. (Huxley’s Brave New World, Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-four, and Shelley’s Frankenstein being the other most common works taught).  A book highlighting the cultural depravity of modern American life, certainly the average lifestyle as of 2013 has done little if anything to fill the void.  The written word slipping in popularity in favor of screen entertainment, cultural values in turn seeing their common denominator lowered, there may be no better sci-fi novel to standardize.

Confirming the tradition of dystopian literature made popular by Zamyatin, Huxley, and Orwell, Fahrenheit 451 is set at an unstated time in America’s future in a social environment that defies our cultural norm.  Books, those promoters and propagators of dissent, have been outlawed.  The main character is Guy Montag, a fireman whose job it is to burn books, and subsequently the homes of those caught with the contraband.  Satisfied with his work, Montag’s relationship with his wife is, however, less content.  Mildred a vacant soul, she spends her days in front of their massive three-walled telescreen with her favorite soap operas, interacting despondently with Guy and taking medication indifferent to the consequences.  A near-death experience of Mildred’s, coupled with a startling occurrence at the home of a book hoarder, however, begin to open Montag’s eyes to aspects of his world he was not aware of.  The lesson, however, may be too late.

Given such a premise, Bradbury’s choice of themes seems crystal clear.  And by and large it is.  Censorship, thought suppression, inviolable control—any such label you put on the severe restriction of basic human rights covers the subject matter of Bradbury’s concern given the politics of the era.  (Interestingly enough, as of 2009 Fahrenheit 451 still appears on the American Library Association list of banned/challenged books.)  What has become more obvious with the passing of time is additional thematic material inherent to the story, particularly that idealized by Mildred.  The degree of intelligence required to digest American soap operas and reality shows close to null, the West’s increasing penchant to take the easy road—to vegify itself under the lights of unilateral amusement—remains popular, leading one to wonder: where is it all headed?  Like Mildred, are we to alienate ourselves so completely that reality loses significance?  It is a question pertinent in Bradbury’s time that has only become more important in ours.

But for as far as the premise extends extra-textually, there remain some unresolved problems innate to the novel.  Bradbury imbues the text with a sense of emotional urgency that nicely draws the reader onward, but there is nothing of the sort plot-wise.  High school students with little reading experience may be curious how the story ends, but most adults who have read a book or two will have a good idea how it will develop after the first forty or so pages, and at about the halfway point, will know how things turn out—only the details perhaps differing slightly.  In other words, Fahrenheit 451 is a book that makes an important statement, it’s just not certain whether the statement has been couched in a story that fully engages the reader; step by step the plot unravels as one expects, killing much of the drama.  By contrast, readers never know what the outcome of Winston Smith will be in Nineteen Eighty-four until reading the complete novel.  Thus, it must be along other lines that Bradbury’s novel engages the reader. 

A straight-forward book that presents its worldview in direct, literary fashion, that impetus can be found in the style which the book is written.  Fahrenheit 451 a rich, emotionally detailed story, Bradbury really digs into the head of Montag.  Utilizing a stream-of-consciousness narrative, readers are privy to the man’s thoughts as he encounters neighbors, deals with his wife, spends time with his conformist boss and colleagues, and meets dissidents secretly keeping books—all of whom represent varying views of the value of censorship and the role of books and media in society, but are refracted through Montag’s evolving thoughts.  Bradbury an accomplished writer, the novel’s narrative style is something to be recommended, and what keeps the wheels of story moving steadily forward.

In the end, Fahrenheit 451 is an important work of science fiction for its commentary on culture, society, and the power of the government which oversees them.  A voice in support of free speech, the ban on books Bradbury envisions has not come to pass.  What has happened (at least as perceived by myself, which is open to debate) is the continued decline of society.  Mildred an intelligently depicted analogy of the cultural and spiritual emptiness pervading post-modern society, Bradbury’s statement in the novel seems to transcend censorship and attack individual themselves, challenging them to examine their world and take part in aspects of life less base. With media continuing to produce dumbed-down material year after year, the gauntlet seems well thrown.

6 comments:

  1. We don't need government to ban books. Most people seem happy to rarely, if ever, read one. And a sizable minority is happy to see books as physical objects disappear altogether. With the closing of so many independent, secondhand bookstores - a trend that doesn't seem to be reversing - what's happening to tens of thousands of old books? Landfill. A world where you'll only find books in the homes of misfits and eccentrics doesn't seem like such a wild speculation anymore.

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    1. While I share your love of the written word on paper, I would respectfully disagree. Love it or hate it, there are more books available now than ever before. All you have to do is copy/paste your epub and voila, another book is born. I also agree it is sad that the livelihood for secondhand bookshop owners is fading, and will almost certainly disappear someday. And indeed, perhaps thousands if not millions of books will end up in a landfill someday. But do you think the book, in virtual or paper form, will ever wholly disappear?

      I think that in my lifetime I will see the death of the paper book. I'm not happy about this, but I understand this is the direction of society and technology, and as long as books--old and new--remain available in some form or another, I will adapt, just as those secondhand bookshop owners now need to sell online. For me, the real tragedy is that some books will be lost to time, i.e. not transferred to e-format. Otherwise, I believe some percentage of the population will always be reading and hungry for books in whatever form. The human brain is to imaginative for books to be lost - save government intervention a la Fahrenheit 451.

      But then again, perhaps I am too optimistic... :)

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  2. One thing to keep in mind about future governments vs. books. Bradbury was wrong. Governments won't need to burn books. It will prove easier for them to alter, censor, regulate, or eliminate e-texts than to round up and burn paper texts. Will private e-publishing companies cooperate with governments? Ask law enforcement or the NSA about IPs, phone companies, hardware manufacturers, etc. Will private e-publishing and phone or internet sharing prove an effective defense? I doubt it. Phones and the internet, too, can be controlled. The freedom of the virtual world is far more vulnerable than the freedom of the physical world.

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    1. In one paragraph you've pushed Fahrenheit 451 back to the Medieval ages. Undoubtedly today's forms of media are plastic to the point of extreme relativity. In fact, we've reached a point that everyone is a natural skeptic. Is that really Tom Cruise, or did they just digitally superimpose his face over a stunt double's body? Are these documents real, or has some detailed person forged them in Adobe? Did my computer slow down just now because my processor is working overtime, or did someone just tap into my machine? And indeed the answer could be yes or no to these questions. Years ago, anyone who was paranoid about such issues was simply a conspiracy theorist. Now they have a legitimate concern.

      Is the ebook I'm reading what the author typed into a file, or did Winston Smith alter it before it arrived in my inbox?

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    2. Ha! I didn't mean to push 451 that far back! I wonder, though, whether Bradbury's strong dislike of e-books and e-readers had less to do with his love of physicality (the look, feel, smell, and weight of paper books), and more to do with a realization that the digital future of books made his most famous work highly anachronistic.

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    3. An interesting paradox, indeed! :)

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