The author of the Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury, was lived in the McCarthy era that thousands of Americans were accused of being communists or spies of Soviet and questioned by the other. The majority of the accused were government employees, people who were in the entertainment industry, educators and union activists. Though the accusers did not have the evidences, lots of people still suffered from the conviction just like the last story we read(the Crucible).Government also suppressed people thinking through book banning. Feeling bitter about the workings that government had done, Ray Bradbury was inspired to write "The Pedestrian", a short story which would become "The Fireman" and then Fahrenheit 451.
Ray Bradbury concerned about the censorship in America, and he worried about the future of America . Bradbury said these during a radio interview in 1956: "I wrote this book at a time when I was worried about the way things were going in this country four years ago. Too many people were afraid of their shadows; there was a threat of book burning. Many of the books were being taken off the shelves at that time. And of course, things have changed a lot in four years. Things are going back in a very healthy direction. But at the time I wanted to do some sort of story where I could comment on what would happen to a country if we let ourselves go too far in this direction, where then all thinking stops, and the dragon swallows his tail, and we sort of vanish into a limbo and we destroy ourselves by this sort of action." Ray Bradbury mentioned that he was trying to describe the events would happen in 40 or 50 years. I think his vision of the modern society is right. What Ray Bradbury said in the interview could connect to some of the country nowadays. For example, China restricts their citizens using Facebook,Line and Youtube,etc. Government afraid that people would spread the ideas through these social websites or applications, moreover organize an ally and revolt the country. Regardless of the past or the present, government always restrict people by many different ways.
I think you have done a good research on this post! And these are very good because these are the facts of author's real thought on the modern society. However, I think you could give some examples in the book that how the author predict the future very well because it would improve you idea and thought.
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