Fahrenheit 451 Biography Essay

[1] Ray Bradbury, the author of Fahrenheit 451, was born on August 22, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois. He has had a love for books ever since he was a small boy, and would always stop to plunder local libraries in search for some of his favorite books. At first, he writing choice of style was science fiction. Later, he came to write regular fiction. [2] Fahrenheit 451 was written in the 1950’s. During this time period, there was a lot going on that definitely influenced the book. First, in the 50’s there was a lot of suspicion. This was so bad that one day, while Bradbury and one of his writer friends were on a walk, a police officer stopped them and asked them what they were doing. Bradbury has the wiseacre reply of: “putting one foot in front
of the other”. This angered the officer and he told them not to do it again. Bradbury was so furious that he went and wrote about it. Also, there were many wars and problems being faced in the world that played key parts of this novel. Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the Cold War, and of course the Nazis were some of the events that shaped the war stricken society in Fahrenheit 451. These events were major and affected the world around Bradbury. They worried people, and made the future seem desperate. Also, in different places around, such as the Soviet Union and Germany, the world readers and writers were being imprisoned and questioned for reading and writing questionable things. Books were even being banned if they seemed to have suspicious content. Not only were some books banned, but the Nazis held book burnings. They threw books into fire pits, and if a person was caught with a book they were not supposed to have, the consequences would have to be paid. This scared many writers and deeply disturbed Bradbury. Therefore, it ended up in his book where he expressed the importance of books and describes how they are banned and will be burned if found.
Bradbury seemed to have a love for new technology. This can be inferred from his many science fiction works he has written. However, new technology and crazes were occurring in his time. [3] New and better automobiles were consuming the minds of people. There were so many new and exciting things to be focused on. Things that had nothing to do with people reading and bettering their minds. New animated movies, new toys, new candy, new cars, new cameras, and new television. The first computer was even built during this time. [2] People spent less times reading, and read more of the condensed version of books than the real version. With their minds being consumed, Bradbury was worried. This is very evident in the book as the people are obsessed with fast cars, the small radios, the television families. So, although Bradbury loved new technology and science, it scared him greatly.
[4] Censorship of films by the government was also a big deal in the late forties, early fifties.
Although all Americans were supposed to have the freedom of speech, this rule did not count for films. The government decided that movies were a source of entertainment rather than a form of expression. This meant that they could censor whatever they decided they wanted to. This, of course, infuriated people because they felt like that was expression, and what they can or cannot watch should be able to be decided by the government. So, the censorship of the television and books in Fahrenheit 451 was most definitely influenced by the great conflict of censorship of movies by the government.
All in all, there were many things that went into the influence of this book. Bradbury did a great job of addressing them and adding them into the problems of the world he created in his literature. A great biography that would help with the understanding of the author and what he lived in is Ray Bradbury Unbound. It was written by Jonathan R. Eller in 2014. This book tells about the author and his journey from a short story writer to a novel writer. Also, it explains what persuaded him to decide to write his books and what made him want to share his opinions on
them.