I spent a couple Sundays in November rereading some of my favorite dystopic science fiction novels, and this classic was at the top of that list. Originally published in 1953, Bradbury's warning polemic against illiteracy, censorship, and entertaining distractions still rings true today. The author has an excellent writing style, the book is fast-paced but filled with evocative details, and I have to stop after reading to think about the underlying themes. What more could one want from a science fiction novel?
The book is set in a future America on the brink of war with a Soviet-like foreign aggressor. The domestic population, meanwhile, remains utterly impervious to the impending horrors of nuclear war, nestled as they are in their cocoons of ignorance and distractions. Firefighters in this world serve as the bulwarks against self-awareness and knowledge with the task of burning books and the heretics who would claim that historical knowledge, context, and complexity are necessary for the well-being of any society.
The protagonist of the novel, Guy Montag, is a firefighter who has spent his life burning books, but now encounters a crisis of faith when he confronts a young girl who thinks about the world she lives in. Like many dystopias, the world quickly unravels once the protagonist--armed with the knowledge that he is living in a sick society that does not know it is sick--begins to question and fight against the stated claims of his society.
In reading the novel this time, I was struck by two observations that undermine the author's thesis. First, Bradbury and other dystopic authors from the 20th century appear to universally overstate new technology trends while simultaneously failing to creativity imagine how such technologies could benefit the moral character of society. Bradbury foresaw no future for the radio and felt that television would quickly degenerate into bread and circuses. While I certainly agree that the form of media matters (see my review of Neil Postman's book on the subject), surely even Bradbury would have to acknowledge that television has also enabled broader audiences for intellectual discussions and has given birth to other, more interactive media via the internet. And lest we forget, radio is alive and well and may even be entering a renaissance era with podcasts and Pandora helping it along. No one technology or media trend has so captured society as to remove all other forms of interaction or discourse. And as such, we are left with the positives and negatives of many innovations, forms of media, and political inclinations.
Second, Bradbury takes himself and his message a bit too seriously. The ultimate message I take away from Guy Montag and his traveling companions/walking library at the end of the novel is that we should never be so presumptuous as to believe that our era has all the answers. Yet in an ironic way, the author establishes himself as a literary prophet, guiding society past the ills of censorship and frivolous entertainment. This tone is condescending at times, especially in the coda (written in 1979) and afterword (written in 1982).
With that said, I still love the book for its excellent story, important message, and imaginative world. In my own life, I have my seashells, talking walls (my screens are admittedly much smaller though), fast transportation, and distracting pursuits. I struggle to find the time to read and the motivation to research the context and complexity behind modern issues. But ultimately, the world is not so bad nor ignorant as Bradbury might have predicted. For that I am grateful.
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