Ray Bradbury Essay Example

Ray Bradbury Essay Having stolen a book, Montag smuggles it under his pillow instead of hiding it behind the vent. He is truly fascinated by the mystery of literature, he wonders what it is that makes him want to have them with him, and especially what makes books so great that the old woman decided to kill herself for them. Next morning Guy feels ill from thinking that he actually killed a woman for having books in her home. 14 He also feels terrified of showing up to work after having stolen the book, so he calls in sick for work. Inspired by Clarisse, Guy Montag starts thinking about his life, how he is unable to recall his life in any detail at all. He does not remember when he met Mildred for the first time, got married with her and why they do not have any children together. When he asks her she is equally blank about their lives together. Realising that his life has simply been a robot presence, we see the second turning point of Montags development, changing from the condition of uncertainty to the condition of minor rebellious thoughts and acts15. In his sick bed he also finds out that his young friend Clarisse has disappeared, possibly run over by a car. He has lost the only person he could talk to about anything else than what was on the parlour. We will write a custom essay sample on Ray Bradbury specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Ray Bradbury specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Ray Bradbury specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Having called in sick for work, Captain Beatty visits Guy on his sick bed. Captain Beatty knows what firemen go through when they experience death the way Montag did, knowing that he is wondering why books have been censored and why firemen are burning them, so Beatty carefully explains how it all started in the first place. He describes how minorities were offended by what was written in literature, how the authors generalised all the small groups. Authors, full of evil thoughts, lock up your typewriters. They did. Books, so the damned snobbish critics said, were dishwater. No wonder books stopped selling, the critics said. 16 This meant the people only wanted their comic books and erotic magazines, so actually it was not the government that excluded books, but the people. There was no dictum, no declaration, no censorship, to start with, no! 17 The firemen were just there to please the peoples wish, there were no orders from the state. This passage can very easily confuse the reader in which opinion Captain Beatty has towards the development of the book censorship. It seems like he was an intellectual person, as he speaks foul about comic magazines and of the critics who ruined the reputation of books. But he also explains that the word intellectual became the swear word it deserved to be. Books were considered a loaded gun in the house next door; people were afraid of intellectual men and women, so the firemen were simply given the role of burning the books; Getting rid of the dangerous gun. 18 He might have known that he too was a dangerous gun in the peoples eyes, so he joined the revolution. Not only knowing what Montag feels, Beatty knows about his illegal affairs, so he tells Montag that there is a policy allowing firemen with stolen books to have 24 hours to deliver them for destruction. Montag accepts this possibility to read the books, much to Mildreds disgust. Montag decides to come clean when Beatty leaves and shows Mildred his stash of books behind the vent. This is not only coming clean to the public, but also showing himself what he actually has been doing all this time. Overwhelmed by the task of reading, he remembers having met an English professor a while back by the name Faber. Montag asks Faber the true meaning of books, and is told that the value of books lies in the detailed awareness of life that they contain. He is also made aware that you need the freedom to act upon the ideas from the books. Montag is truly inspired by Faber, and is truthfully committed to getting rid of the censorship of books. Faber and Montags plan is to reproduce books, so that Montag can plant them in the other firemens houses, harming the reputation of the profession. Montag is also given a two-way ear piece so he and the professor can communicate at all time. 19 The feeling of rebellion gets to his head as he gets home, only to be greeted by his wife and her two friends talking uncaringly about the war that is to be declared at any time. Montag is aggravated by the little feeling in their conversation, and decides to read Dover Beach for them by Matthew Arnolds, containing the message; Challenges to the validity of long-standing theological and moral precepts have shaken the faith of people in God and religion20. Faber tries desperately to stop Montags act of revolt towards the women through the ear piece, but does not succeed. The two women leave in protest to file a complaint against Montag. Montag meets the hand-back deadline that was set by Beatty, but only hands in one of the books. Beatty explains to Montag what process he has been through the days he has had the books by quoting a passage in a book. A little learning is a dangerous thing. Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring; there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again. 21 Beattys words mean nothing to Montag as he does not understand them, but Beatty then explains the sentence to Montag, saying that he was a drunkard, only satisfied when inspired by rebellious thoughts, he knows that from former experience in his own life. Montag thinks he is saved by the bell as the alarm rings as soon Beatty finishes his sentence. When the crew arrives at the reported house, Montag immediately recognises it as his own home, and he quickly spots Mildred stepping into a taxi. He has been betrayed by his own wife. Beatty reveals to Montag that he knew all along what Montag had been doing, but he was prepared to give him a chance to put it all behind him, a chance he also had been given in the past. The only way to do this is to burn down the house and go to prison for some time. 22 Acting in sudden feeling of pure hatred towards Beatty and fear of having to lose literature, he burns the captain instead of the house and runs away. Montag escapes over to Faber, where he is recommended to flee out of town using the river to lose the mechanical dog. He is to meet a group of intellectual book lovers, known as The Book People. Montag manages to do so, escaping mechanical hounds and air born news teams trying to keep up with his getaway. Montag is warmly welcomed into the group who specialise in memorizing great literature. Their goal is to help the people re-establish their desire to read books and live their lives to the fullest. Their only opportunity for this is if everything is destroyed in the war coming up. All members have a piece of literature they have to memorize, and Montag has to remember The Book of Ecclesiastes, which is a part of the Hebrew bible. As he is given his task, jets appear in the sky, dropping bombs into the town Montag had escaped from a few days earlier. This is The Book Peoples opportunity to re-enter civilisation, now they can do what they have risked their lives for. The events of Fahrenheit 451 have led us through Guy Montags life and development. Although he is the main character of the novel, he is by no means an ideal hero. The reader can identify and accept his mission, but not entirely approve of his awkward and somewhat foolish decisions on the way. His faith towards his profession and lifestyle already declines in the opening chapter due to having been faced with the complexity and mystery of books for many years. The reader is introduced to Montag as a confused and misguided character. This is confirmed later to the reader, when observing his way of rebellion against the society, as he either performs efficiently by being lucid, or otherwise he is inclined to be clumsy, e. g. when putting the book under his pillow. His humanity range is also very wide, from the compassionate and sensitive conversations with Clarisse, to the monstrous and irresponsible murder of Captain Beatty. This clearly shows that he is bewildered and unwise all way through the story, as if he does not fully support his own plan of overthrowing the firemen and state censorship. At times Montags mind is disorientated by the actions of his body, e. g. when his hands steal books. He is also not capable of taking decisions independently, always dependent of Beatty, Mildred or Fabers ideas and plans, which makes him easily manipulated. It definitely shows the reader that he does not have control over his own mind and actions. Captain Beatty takes full advantage of these many weaknesses, and confuses and manipulates Montag with difficult quotes from advanced books. It is clear to the reader that Beatty is very loyal to his profession and lifestyle of immediate pleasure, but he is suspiciously wise on books, proving that he has an intellectual background. This tends to confuse the reader, thinking that he might not be the actual villain; that he could possibly be on the same side as Montag and Faber. Faber has the same way of confusing the readers trust in him. He is a supporter of books, but he tends to order Montag around, not letting him think for himself, possibly using him as a soldier for his own rebel uprising, making the reader suspicious of which hidden plans Faber might have. The two other major characters, Mildred and Clarisse, are total opposites of Beatty and Mildred. Mildred is pictured to the readers as an empty shell, cold and very unreadable. Although she is the wife of the main character, the readers relationship to her is very weak and unknowing, as she is very distant to everything around her. Still it is clear that she is struggling from an internal fight because of her suicide attempt. She is opposite to the two men because she tries to stay out of Montags actions and thoughts, not wanting to be a part of his life. Clarisse shares the same point of not trying to manipulate Montag, but is extremely interested in Montags feelings and thoughts. Clarisse is the totally opposite from everybody else, not caring about anything, only focusing in enjoying every natural detail happening around her. Clarisses death strikes Montag hard, having been greatly inspired by her. These major characters have all been sitting on Montags shoulder like small angels and demons, each pulling at him from each their sides, each wanting Montag to do what they want him to do. The author Ray Bradbury intelligently includes himself into the novel, by using his characters as his voice. Captain Beatty is often used to describe the background of the society, Clarisse is his way of showing how he also notices and questions small natural mysteries in his daily life, but most importantly he reflects himself in the main character. Guy Montag is Bradburys image of how he too would be the imperfect hero, being misguided and clumsy, but would fight frantically to preserve literature. 23 The reason he has mirrored himself with the rebel in this story is because of his message being sent out in the novel. Readers have always presumed that the main theme of the book was state censorship, but Bradbury burst the bubble on that interpretation in a LA News interview in 2007. He had observed shortly after WWII that the peoples growing interest in radio and television was spreading a long shadow over literature and the interest in books, The culprit in Fahrenheit 451 is not the state it is the people. 24. He was predicting that mass media was going to be the end of literature. He was not just being pessimistic and old fashioned, when he foresaw that people would only be semi-informed by their quick-reading and quick-radio broadcasts giving the LA News readers the example; Television gives you the dates of Napoleon, but not who he was he calls TVs summarizing factoids, being misinforming and imprecise. His true message to the readers is to watch out for the temptation of mass media, reading books is the only reliable form of information and knowledge25. Bradburys message is especially apparent in the two texts Montag reads, Dover Beach and The Book of Ecclesiastes. Dover Beach having the message Challenges to the validity of long-standing theological and moral precepts have shaken the faith of people in God and religion proving that human development and modernisation tends to lead the populace away from tradition and belief. These two texts can be compared in this way: Dover Beach = theologyreligion and Fahrenheit 451 = Literature mass media. The Book of Ecclesiastes proclaims that all action of man to be inherently meaningless/empty as the lives of both wise and foolish men end in death. The main speaker, the son of David, claims wisdom as a means for a well-lived earthly life. This enforces Bradburys message, proving that temporary happiness is insignificant, only knowledge is important. 26 Why live your life in the shade of unawareness, when generations of intellectuals share their precious awareness with you? 27 Ray Bradbury.

Committee on Public Information, Americas WWI Propaganda Agency

Committee on Public Information, America's WWI Propaganda Agency The Committee on Public Information was a government agency created during World War I to distribute information intended to influence public opinion to inspire support for Americas entry in the war. The organization was essentially a propaganda arm of the federal government, and was presented to the public and the Congress as a reasonable alternative to government censorship of war news. The administration of Woodrow Wilson believed a government office dedicated to providing favorable publicity for the cause of entering the war was necessary. Americans had never sent an army to Europe. And joining the war on the side of Britain and France was a concept that needed to be sold to the public the way an ordinary consumer product might be sold. Key Takeaways: Committee on Public Information Government propaganda agency was created to convince American public of the necessity of the U.S. entering World War I.Public and Congress believed that the CPI would ensure no censorship of the press, and that reliable information would be provided.Agency provided tens of thousands of public speakers, arranged events to sell bonds and promote the war, created posters, and published booklets.Following the war there was a backlash against the agency, and excesses of war fervor were blamed on it. In its few years of operation, the Committee on Public Information (CPI) fed material to newspapers and magazines, commissioned advertising campaigns, and produced propaganda posters. It even arranged for thousands of public speakers to appear all over the country, making the case for Americans to fight in Europe. Overcoming Skepticism A rationale for creating the CPI, as it became known, was rooted in controversies which arose in 1916, when the U.S. government was becoming increasingly concerned with suspected spies and saboteurs. Woodrow Wilson’s attorney general, Thomas Gregory, proposed controlling the flow of information by censoring the press. Congress resisted that idea, as did newspaper publishers and members of the public. In early 1917, with the issue of censoring the press still being discussed, a magazine writer with a reputation as a crusading muckraker, George Creel, wrote to President Wilson. Creel proposed forming a committee that would provide information to the press. By having the press voluntarily agree to being fed information it would avoid censorship. Forming the Committee Creel’s idea found favor with Wilson and his top advisers, and by executive order Wilson created the committee. Besides Creel, the committee included the Secretary of State, Secretary of War, and Secretary of the Navy (what today would be the Defense Department was still split between Army and Navy departments). The formation of the committee was announced in April 1917. In a front-page story on April 15, 1917, the New York Times reported that the three cabinet secretaries on the committee had sent President Wilson a letter, which was made public. In the letter, the three officials said America’s great present needs are confidence, enthusiasm, and service. The letter also stated: While there is much that is properly secret in connection with the departments of the government, the total is small compared to the vast amounts of information that is right and proper for the people to have. George Creel, head of the United States Committee on Public Information. Time Life Pictures / Getty Images The letter also put forth the idea that two functions, identified as â€Å"censorship and publicity,† could happily coexist. George Creel would be the head of the committee, and could operate as a government censor, but it was assumed that the newspapers would happily accept war news as distributed by the government and would not have to be censored. CPI Key Messages and Techniques Creel quickly got to work. During 1917, the CPI organized a speaker’s bureau, which dispatched more than 20,000 individuals (some accounts give much higher numbers) to give short speeches supporting the American war effort. The speakers became known as The Four-Minute Men for the brevity of their speeches. The effort was successful, and gatherings from club meetings to public performances, soon featured a speaker talking of America’s duty to join the war in Europe. The New York Times, on December 30, 1917, published a story about the Four-Minute Men which indicated how common they had become: â€Å"The work of the Four-Minute Men has recently been extended to that representative speakers appear weekly in almost every moving picture house. The subject matter is prepared and the speaking is directed from Washington†¦ In each state there is an organization of Four-Minute Men. â€Å"The number of speakers now totals 20,000. Their topics are matters of national importance connected with the war plans of the government.† Creel believed the more lurid stories of German atrocities would not be believed by the public. So in the early months of his operation he directed speakers to focus on how Americans would be fighting to support freedom and democracy in the face of German brutishness. By 1918 the CPI was urging its speakers to make use of wartime atrocity stories. One writer, Raymond D. Fosdick, reported seeing a church congregation cheer after a speaker described German atrocities and called for the German leader, Kaiser Wilhelm, to be boiled in oil. On February 4, 1918, the New York Times published a brief news story headlined Bar Hymns of Hate. The article said the CPI had sent out instructions to its Four-Minute Men to tone down extreme material. If Your Soldiers Hit Poster by E.M. Gean Jackson, a film by the Committee on Public Information. swim ink 2 llc  /  Getty Images The CPI also distributed a number of printed materials, beginning with booklets that made the case for war. A news story in June 1917 described the proposed â€Å"War Booklets,† and noted that 20,000 copies would be sent to newspapers nationwide while the Government Printing Office would print many more for general circulation. The first of the War Booklets, titled How the War Came to America, consisted of 32 pages of dense prose. The lengthy essay explained how it had become impossible for America to remain neutral, and that was followed by reprints of speeches by President Wilson. The booklet was not terribly engaging, but it got the official message out in a handy package for public circulation. More lively material was put out by the CPI’s Division of Pictorial Publicity. Posters produced by the office encouraged Americans, through the use of vivid illustrations, to work in war-related industries and buy war bonds. Controversies In the summer of 1917, newspaper publishers were shocked to learn the government had directed the companies controlling transatlantic telegraph traffic to divert cables to the CPI in Washington to be reviewed before they were routed to the newspaper offices. After an outcry, the practice was stopped, but it would be cited as an example of how Creel and his organization had a tendency to overstep. Creel, for his part, was known for having a bad temper, and often put himself into controversies. He insulted members of Congress, and was forced to apologize. And no less a public figure than Theodore Roosevelt, the former president, criticized the CPI. He claimed the agency had been trying to punish newspapers which had supported America entering the conflict but then had become skeptical of the administration’s conduct of the war. In May 1918, the New York Times published a lengthy story headlined Creel as a Recurrent Storm Centre. The article detailed various controversies Creel had found himself in. A sub-headline read: How the Governments Publicity Man Has Shown Himself an Adept at Getting Into Hot Water With the Congress and the Public. During the war the American public did become infused with a patriotic fervor, and that led to excesses, such as German-Americans being targeted for harassment and even violence. Critics believed official CPI booklets such as German War Practices were incitements. But George Creel and other defenders of the CPI, pointing out that private groups were also distributing propaganda materials, insisted the less responsible organizations had inspired any bad behavior. Impact of the Committee’s Work Theres no question that Creel and his committee had an impact. Americans came around to support intervention in the war, and participated widely in supporting the effort. The success of war bond drives, known as the Liberty Loan, was often attributed to the CPI. Yet the CPI came in for much criticism after the war, when it became clear that information had been manipulated. In addition, the war fervor stoked by Creel and his committee may have had an influence on events following the war, particularly the Red Scare of 1919 and the notorious Palmer Raids. George Creel wrote a book, How We Advertised America, in 1920. He defended his work during the war, and he continued to work as a writer and political operative until his death in 1953. Sources: The Creel Committee. American Decades, edited by Judith S. Baughman, et al., vol. 2: 1910-1919, Gale, 2001. Gale Virtual Reference Library.George Creel. Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed., vol. 4, Gale, 2004, pp. 304-305. Gale Virtual Reference Library.