Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Fahrenheit 451 is a fictional dystopian novel by American author and dramatist Ray Bradbury published in 1953. The story depicts a future American society where free thoughts, expression, and books are outlawed. Bradbury wrote the book during the Second Red Scare period also known as the McCarthy Era when people in America suffered the political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals and a campaign spreading fear of alleged communist and Soviet influence on American institutions and of Soviet espionage in the United States.
Bradbury was also inspired by the incidences of book burning in Nazi Germany. Bradbury claimed he wrote the book because he was concerned about the threat of Thought Control and restriction over Freedom of Speech in the United States. The novel stands against censorship and defends literature as necessary to the humanity of individuals and civilization.
In 1948, Bradbury’s short story Bright Phoenix was published that tells the story of a librarian who confronts a "Chief Censor", who burns books. In 1951, he published another short story ‘The Pedestrian’ which talked about a society in which citizens are expected to watch television as a leisurely activity. A common man, ‘The Pedestrian’ decides to go for a nighttime walk in his neighborhood and is harassed and detained by the police. Bradbury combined the elements of both short stories to write another short novel The Fireman published in 1951. He continued exploring the dystopian theme of his stories to produce his magnum opus Fahrenheit 451 published in 1953.
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