Ray Bradbury: Biography and Writing Style | Albert Resources (2024)

About the Author of Fahrenheit 451

“I know you’ve heard it a thousand times before, but it’s true — hard work pays off. If you want to be good, you have to practice, practice, practice. If you don’t love something, then don’t do it.”

-Ray Bradbury

Growing up, Ray Bradbury might not have ever expected that he would become a cultural icon, but he always knew what he loved – writing. Bradbury spent a lifetime doing what he loved, writing every single day, in pursuit of his dream to live forever in the pages of the stories he wrote. Ray Bradbury is widely considered one of America’s greatest writers, and his contributions to literary culture are celebrated worldwide.

Ray Bradbury’s Childhood and Adulthood

Ray Bradbury was born in Waukegan, Illinois, on August 22, 1920. Bradbury had an enjoyable childhood where he spent much of his time with family, going to the local library, and reading. His hometown, Waukegan, left an impression on Bradbury, and he often used this location as a setting in his short stories under the name Green Town, Illinois. In the years leading up to the Great Depression, Bradbury’s family struggled financially, moving back and forth between Tucson, Arizona and Waukegan as his father found various employment opportunities. His family settled in Los Angeles, California, when Bradbury was 14.

Bradbury always knew he wanted to be a writer, penning his first short stories by the age of 11. He published his first short story in 1938, the same year he graduated high school. Having never attended college, Bradbury would say he was a “student of life,” reading by day and writing by night. He became a full-time writer in 1943 after it was determined he was ineligible for military service in World War II due to poor eyesight. Though he published several short stories in his early writing career, it was the publication of his first major novel,The Martian Chronicles, in 1950 that established his reputation in the writing community. Published the following year,The Illustrated Manremains one of Bradbury’s most popular collections of short stories.

In 1953, Bradbury publishedFahrenheit 451, which would become his most significant work. The novel was immensely popular and an instant classic at the time of publication. The story’s themes about government censorship and control tapped into society’s fears during the peak of McCarthyism in the United States. Bradbury himself was investigated for Communist ties throughout the 1950s. Bradbury shared that his short story, “The Pedestrian,” published in 1951, is a direct prequel toFahrenheit 451. The story was inspired by an experience where he was walking down the road with a friend one evening, and the police stopped them for appearing suspicious. They were told to go home and not walk anymore. InFahrenheit 451, Clarisse shares a story with Montag about a time her uncle was arrested for being a pedestrian, which is widely believed to be a reference to the main character in “The Pedestrian,” Leonard Mead.

Ironically,Fahrenheit 451has been banned or censored several times since its publication. Though it is considered a mainstay in school curriculum, it has been challenged on numerous occasions for what some consider to be vulgar language, references to drug use and suicide, violence, and the story’s treatment of the Bible. These challenges often don’t recognize the fact that the aspects of the text that are being scrutinized are part of Bradbury’s underlying warning of the devastating outcomes of restricting reading and censoring information. In 1979, Bradbury added a Coda to future publications ofFahrenheit 451, where he shares his thoughts on the numerous requests he has received for modifications to a number of his works. In short, Bradbury’s message is clear: do not mess with his work!

Bradbury continued writing well into his 80s. He had a number of successful novels, including Dandelion Wine in 1957, a semi-autobiographical novel focused on a 12-year-old boy’s summer in a small town, and Something Wicked This Way Comes in 1962, a dark fantasy centered around two 13-year-old boys and a sinister carnival. Both novels are set in Green Town, Illinois, Bradbury’s fictional version of his hometown Waukegan, Illinois.

Bradbury was married to his wife Maggie for nearly 60 years, and they had four daughters. He won countless awards for his work, which was often adapted for TV, film, and stage despite his aversion toward television. Bradbury maintained his stance against technology throughout his life. He used a typewriter for all of his writing, never drove a car, and refused to give digital publication rights for his work for years. He finally agreed to digital publication in 2011, less than a year before his death.

Bradbury passed away on June 5, 2012, at the age of 91. His personal library was willed to the Waukegan Public Library, where he spent much of his childhood. He is buried in Los Angeles, and his tombstone carries the simple epitaph: “Author of Fahrenheit 451.”

Ray Bradbury’s Greatest Influences

As a child, Bradbury loved fantasy fiction, particularly the works of Jules Verne, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and L. Frank Baum. The science fiction adventurers Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, and Tarzan, the boy raised by apes, were some of his favorite characters growing up. Bradbury was also a fan of horror and the writings of Edgar Allen Poe in particular. His family encouraged his love of fantasy, and their enthusiasm in setting up elaborate displays every Halloween created memories that Bradbury would later incorporate into his writing. He enjoyed attending carnivals to see the magicians, often reflecting on an experience with a magician named Mr. Electrico as a source of inspiration. Real-world events such as the Great Depression and World War II also impacted his writing.

Bradbury strongly believed that writing should be developed through one’s own life experiences. His childhood experiences growing up in Waukegan played an essential role in shaping his writing philosophy. Many of his stories are centered around everyday people and families impacted by the changing world around them. He saw the way humanity was affected by political conflicts and the rapid evolution of technology, and his fears of society growing overly dependent on mass media and technology are a prevalent theme throughout many of his works. Bradbury saw the aftermath of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan at the end of World War II, and the threat that came from the race for bigger and stronger weapons unfolding around the world is often present in his writing. His use of the fictional version of Waukegan, Green Town, was often intended to show how the small-town life of his childhood was disappearing during a time of globalization.

Ray Bradbury’s Writing Style in Fahrenheit 451

While known as one of America’s most prolific science fiction writers, Bradbury described his writing asfantasy, stating thatFahrenheit 451was the only science fiction piece he had ever written. The science fiction genre is typically characterized as stories that take place in an imagined future impacted by advanced forms of science and technology. Science fiction considers real possibilities that the future could hold, whereas fantasy is based on imagined ideas that are impossible or highly improbable. The use of magic or impossible powers makes fantasy something that could never happen. In a 1999 interview with the New Mexico publication,The Weekly Alibi, Bradbury stated:

“First of all, I don’t write science fiction. I’ve only done one science fiction book and that’s Fahrenheit 451, based on reality. Science fiction is a depiction of the real. Fantasy is a depiction of the unreal. So Martian Chronicles is not science fiction, it’s fantasy. It couldn’t happen, you see? That’s the reason it’s going to be around a long time — because it’s a Greek myth, and myths have staying power.”

This distinction is important to note when reading Fahrenheit 451. Bradbury believed this was the only piece of science fiction he ever wrote, indicating that of all of his work, the world he created for Fahrenheit 451 is the only one he believed could be a possible reality in the future.

Figurative Language and Imagery

Bradbury uses a heavily descriptive style with vivid imagery in Fahrenheit 451. His language appeals to the senses in such a way that it creates a contrast between the reader and the people in the story’s society.

The novel opens with a vivid depiction of the destructive force of burning and the heightened sensations that destruction creates:

“It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed. With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world, the blood pounded in his head, and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history.” (Bradbury 3)

Bradbury speaks in symbols, similes, and metaphors, creating details that sound more like poetry than prose. His use of symbols shifts throughout the story to fit the various images he creates. The negative connotations of a python spitting its venom to represent how the burning of books has poisoned society creates a parallel to the details used only a few pages later when describing the machine that sucks out the poison of Mildred’s overdose:

“They had this machine. They had two machines, really. One of them slid down into your stomach like a black cobra down an echoing well looking for all the old water and the old time gathered there. It drank up the green matter that flowed to the top in a slow boil. Did it drink of the darkness? Did it suck out all the poisons accumulated with the years? It fed in silence with an occasional sound of inner suffocation and blind searching.” (Bradbury 14)

Where dark imagery fills the pages with all that has gone wrong in society, Bradbury creates a contrast with lighter imagery to represent what is right, what is good, and what is hopeful. Montag’s first encounter with Clarisse illustrates this shift in imagery:

“The autumn leaves blew over the moonlit pavement in such a way as to make the girl who was moving there seem fixed to a sliding walk, letting the motion of the wind and the leaves carry her forward. Her head was half bent to watch her shoes stir the circling leaves. Her face was slender and milk-white, and in it was a kind of gentle hunger that touched over everything with tireless curiosity. It was a look, almost, of pale surprise; the dark eyes were so fixed to the world that no move escaped them. Her dress was white and it whispered.” (Bradbury 5)

The use of nature imagery when Clarisse is present is purposefully designed to contrast the technology-obsessed society. In Clarisse, and in nature, there is a purity and innocence that has not been damaged by the destructive force of technology and the ignorance of society. It’s no surprise that Montag is immersed in the natural world after he escapes from the city, as his life is transformed.

Sentence Structure

Bradbury is very thoughtful of his syntax and diction throughout the novel. He often moves back and forth from short, fragmented sentences to long, run-on sentences. His use of fragments is typically associated with moments where Montag is feeling troubled or anxious, for example, the moments after Mildred has been saved from her overdose attempt:

“One drop of rain. Clarisse. Another drop. Mildred. A third. The uncle. A fourth. The fire tonight. One, Clarisse. Two, Mildred. Three, uncle. Four, fire. One, Mildred, two, Clarisse. One, two, three, four, five, Clarisse, Mildred, uncle, fire, sleeping tablets, men disposable tissue, coattails, blow, was, flush, Clarisse, Mildred, uncle, fire, tables, tissues, blow, wad, flush. One, two, three, one, two, three! Rain. The storm. The uncle laughing. Thunder falling downstairs. The whole world pouring down. The fire gushing up in a volcano. All rushing on down around in a spouting roar and riveting stream toward morning.” (Bradbury 17-18)

The rapid thoughts running through Montag’s mind help to emphasize his uncertainty in this moment. He expresses how he doesn’t know anything anymore. Having had his eyes slightly opened after his conversation with Clarisse, only to face the reality of the life he is living by coming home to his wife after she has attempted to take her own life.

The long, run-on sentences are designed to pull the reader into the text, often as the narration shows the build-up of thoughts in Montag’s mind. As he is opening his eyes to the world around him, he struggles to process the details that are often bombarding him at the same time. A good example of this occurs when Montag rides in the Salamander as it races, unbeknownst to him, towards his home. This is shortly after the event at his home where he created a scene in front of Mildred’s friends, forcing them to listen to a poem from one of the books he had been hiding:

“They rounded a corner in thunder and siren, with concussion of tires, with scream of rubber, with a shift of kerosene bulk in the glittery brass tank, like the food in the stomach of a giant, with Montag’s fingers jolting off the silver rail, swinging into the cold space, with the wind tearing his hair back from his head, with the wind whistling in his teeth, and him all the while thinking of the women, the chaff women in his parlor tonight, with the kernels blown out from under them by a neon wind, and his silly damned reading of a book to them.” (Bradbury 109)

Sentences like this help the reader feel a sense of the whirlwind going on in Montag’s mind as he tries to sort through the sensory overload he is experiencing while still feeling the frustration of his actions.

Conclusion

Through his writing, Bradbury achieved his life-long dream to “live forever.” His observations of the world around him, transformed into stories of caution, adventure, and excitement, have left an eternal mark on the literary world. Though Bradbury’s catalog as an author is vast, it is notable that his most successful achievement in writing is the only piece he would personally classify as science fiction.Fahrenheit 451is the only story that Bradbury felt could one day be a reality. It was this fear that drove him to write the story, and the increasingly prophetic nature of the story continues to be the reasonFahrenheit 451remains as relevant today as it was in 1953.

Works Cited

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. Simon and Schuster, 1950.