“With respect to language, the significance of metaphor is probably the single most analyzed aspect of Bradbury’s fiction” (Conner, 2004). Ray Bradbury’s use of metaphor in Fahrenheit 451 is understood to be the battle of communism the world faced in the early 1950’s. During this era the communist parties favored censorship to repress intellectual interpretation. American officials also favored censorship to ensure that communist activities would not develop in the U.S. Technological advances of the time such as the Atom bomb, television and war weaponry also act as metaphors in Fahrenheit 451.
Bradbury wrote the story Fahrenheit 451 in 1953, a time when relations between the world’s two most powerful nations were uneasy. During the Cold War, the tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States were essentially a battle between capitalism and communism. The end of World War II five years earlier and the resulting disagreements launched the Cold War. A scramble for rights of influence, beginning with Germany, divided Europe and set in motion a world competition that was to last through the century. In 1945, the provisional French president Charles de Gaulle had allowed the country’s communist party to be included in its newly recreated political system. Only a year later, the West, to its alarm, discovered that the communist party was one of the three largest political parties in France. In another part of the world, China’s communist party–in control of 100 million people in North China by the end of the war–grew until it overwhelmed its opponents in 1949 and proclaimed the country the People’s Republic of China, a communist nation.
In 1946 Sir Winston Churchill, speaking in the United States, warned that an “iron curtain” had closed Eastern Europe to the view of the West. Behind this curtain, Josef Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union, bolstered communist ideology by destroying books that depicted life and history in the non-communist West. This was a practice that was begun by Adolf Hitler during World War II as he created a dictatorship in Germany. Soviet censorship made the events behind the iron curtain nearly impossible for the Western world to monitor.
Fahrenheit 451 is a story built around book-burning, but that action is representative of different types of censorship. As the author states in a preface to the novel, “The point is obvious. There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches.” (Fahrenheit 451, p. 176). After World War II, the threat of communism led to panic in the United States as rumors surfaced about communist spies in Canada. In Washington Richard Nixon gained prominence on the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), an investigative body set up to look into possible communist elements in the government by insisting his opponents were partaking in possible communist activities. President Harry Truman directed the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Civil Service Commission to investigate the loyalty of all federal employees. Some 3 million workers came under the inspection of government agencies with 300 being dismissed for disloyal ideas while 2,900 resigned their positions in protest of the inquest. In Wisconsin, Senator Joseph McCarthy carried on witch hunts that had begun with Nixon and the HUAC. McCarthy focused on finding communists in the State Department and then the U.S. Army.
The idea was to eliminate any ideas of suspected socialism or communism. As a result the U.S. Attorney General listed almost ninety, mostly harmless or even useful organizations, as sources of communist doctrine. In an attempt to censor news, blacklists of writers and performers in the motion picture, radio, and television industries were created. The attempts to censor ideas grew from 1950 to 1953 as Senator McCarthy continued his investigation of almost everyone with whom he disagreed and blacklisted people with what he considered to be connections to communism. Fahrenheit 451 stands as a type of protest against such activity and the thought of designing the government with the idea that it will be run by your worst enemy.
Along with the political aspects after World War II there were innovations in entertainment technology. The invention of television broadcasting and popularity grew quickly after World War II. In 1946 there were about a dozen broadcasting stations in the entire United States and a few thousand viewers, who viewed the programs on screens so small that most required a magnifying glass mounted in front of the picture.
In the television depicted in Fahrenheit 451, television disseminates all knowledge. The government creates a “family” that comes to include the viewers. Television has become so pervasive that one ex-professor Faber builds a miniature receiver. Bradbury conveys his concern that such television and computers could fall into powerful hands that would use them to manipulate the human population. Indeed, early television appeared at first to be headed in that direction. Licensing became a tool for restricting television in the United States, while Great Britain, Canada, the Soviet Union, and Japan established government-controlled networks.
The end of World War II was hastened by the Allied use of the atomic bomb. a new device of mass destruction dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In a single bombing of Hiroshima, some 60,000 people were killed. The bombing, however, left nations with a fear that an enemy might develop a similar weapon and use it elsewhere. Although it was rather ambiguous, “Many readers associate the destruction of Guy Montague’s city with a nuclear blast” (Wainwright, 2003).
Wartime advances in technology led to improved aircraft and rocketry, making the delivery of atomic bombs possible from nearly every place on earth to any target. U.S. and Soviet scientists competed to improve the weapons and speed with which they could be delivered. The United States created planes capable of flying at more than 500 miles per hour at very high altitudes. The aircraft carrying weapons to the city in Fahrenheit 451 fly at speeds of 5,000 miles per hour and carry such bomb loads that war, once declared, is over in a few seconds.
Many of the technologies invented during the time period of Fahrenheit 451 are now out dated over 50 years later. Along with this change in technology has also come a change in censorship, for the United States particularly. Unfortunately, the politicians of that time used censorship and blacklists to their political advantage. Fortunately, however, the metaphors of Fahrenheit 451 were ambiguous enough to deter the book from being banned in the U.S. during this time of turmoil.
Annotated Bibliography
Thesis: Ray Bradbury’s use of metaphor in Fahrenheit 451 is understood to be the battle of communism the world faced in the early 1950’s.
Booth, William. “The Universe of Ray Bradbury; His Feet Firmly Planted on Earth, the Writer has Journeyed to the Stars”. The Washington Post. 14 November 2000: C.01. Proquest Database, 7 May 2007.
This article was a summary of an interview with Ray Bradbury. The article is directed to faithful readers of the author and basically plays catch up as to what he has done for the last several years. Although it was interesting and gave a little background as to why he chose to write the book, it did not really have any themes needed regarding metaphors. Due to the article being a summary of an interview with the writer it is a primary and very reliable resource. Also, this article was published by a highly respected journal.
Bradbury, Ray. (1997). Fahrenheit 451. Random House: New York, 1997.
This is the primary source since it is the prime subject the research pertains to. The intended audience is the reader and the book contains excerpts with Bradbury’s thoughts. The source is very reliable sine it is an exact reprint with excerpts of the author’s thoughts and explanations.
CNN. (2007). Specials: Cold War. 2007. 7 May 2007.
; http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/specials-History;
The intended audience of this website is history buffs, or anyone wishing to research key facts of the time period surrounding the cold war. This was a great resource in finding information regarding the influence of communism on censorship, as well as the technological advances made during this era. This is a very trust worthy source since it dealt with facts instead of opinions.
Conner, George. (2004). “Spelunking with Ray Bradbury.” Extrapolation Winter 2004: 408-19. Proquest database, 7 May 2007.
This article is written for those with a philosophy interest. Also, the article is geared towards writers. This article explained how Bradbury used metaphors to ambiguously write about the problematic world issues of the early 1950’s. The is was a very reliable source, It is a respected literary journal, and used fact versus opinion.
Kendt, Rob. (2006). Torching the Library; Different Year, Same Temperature.” New York Times, 19 March 2006: pg. 2.6. Proquest database, 6 May 2007.
This article was more of a theater review for current productions of the book. The intended audience seemed to be anyone wanting to compare past performances with the current performances. The article discussed some of the issues of the book, but failed in the fact department due to varying opinions with no back up information. Although the newspaper is reliable, this source was not fact based enough to utilize.
University of Colorado. How Did McCarthyism Limit American Political Debate and Freedom of Speech in the 1950’s? 28 Oct. 2002. 8 May 2007. ; http://www.colorado.edu/AmStudies/lewis/2010/mccarthy.htm;
The source is intended for college students, or anyone interested in finding out more information about McCarthyism. This was a great resource to use to find out political events relating to the era being researched. The information was fact based and written by a group of history department students and professionals; therefore, it is reliable.
Wainwright, Michael. (2003). Influences Behind Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451. 11 April 2003. 8 May 2007. ;www.classictitles.com;
The following source was written to give a grief overview of the book and events surrounding the writer’s subject. The intended audience was students looking for information. Once doing some fact checking the source was found to be a great historical overview. All information written was found to be true; therefore, it is a reliable resource.
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