Fahrenheit 451 – The Story Behind the Classic

Fahrenheit 451 is a classic dystopian fiction authored by one of America’s most acclaimed writers–Ray Bradbury. The novel explores a future America where books are proscribed and replaced with rather facile entertainment Firemen are mandated to burn whatever literature they find. Guy Montag, the novel’s protagonist, a fireman, becomes wary of his job, having to destroy literature and, by implication, erasing valuable knowledge. He eventually quits his job and commits to preserving literary pieces.

The book has been described as a compelling commentary on humanity’s tendency to suppress whatever it does not understand. The author’s background might have supplied some inspiration making the book such. From a young age, Ray Bradbury had been passionate about books. But after graduating high school, he could not afford to attend college. So the young man spent all his time at the Los Angeles Public Library, where he schooled himself.

After becoming a library resident, especially in between the 1920s and 1930s, he discovered to his utter disappointment that many popular science fiction novels, including some authored by H.G. Wells, were not on the shelves. The library wouldn’t stock them because the books weren’t considered literary. Around the time, Bradbury also learned of the Library of Alexandria, where a wealth of knowledge contained in those walls, acquired before and during that civilization, went up in flames. And how during the Nazi book burnings, all books that remotely contained anti-Nazi ideology were torched. Initially, only Karl Marx and Karl Kautsky’s books were burned. Subsequently, the list expanded to include authors like Helen Keller and Albert Einstein.

Ray Bradbury slowly began to understand how fragile books were, particularly vulnerable to censorship and destruction. He was further appalled by government interference in the affairs of creative artists, from Joseph Stalin’s campaign, the Great Purge, where several writers were detained and killed, to the activities of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), which was formed in 1938.

A later event would set the stage for Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. In 1949, during a late-night walk with a writer friend, Bradbury had a puzzling encounter with a police officer. He said that a police car pulled up next to them, and after the officer alighted, he inquired what they were doing. Bradbury responded instead wittingly, “putting one foot in front of the other.” The policeman’s retort, “don’t do it again!” infuriated Bradbury and inspired him to compose the short story entitled The Pedestrian. The story explores a fictitious time where walking was criminal.

What would become Fahrenheit 451 was initially titled The Fireman. It was first a novella Bradbury wrote in the basement of UCLA’s Powell Library. Using a typewriter, he rented at 20 cents per hour. He completed a 25,000-word draft in nine days. When a publisher at Ballantine Books encouraged him to lengthen the piece, he returned to the same room and added 25,000 more words, all again in nine days.

The title came to him on January 22, and by October 1953, the book was published. The book reflects the political tension America was fraught with and is considered a criticism of McCarthyism and the Second Red Scare. In this period, Americans feared that communism would topple the structure of their society. Other readers believe that the book reflects Bradbury’s fear of televisions playing a significant role in killing the reading culture.

The book has sold more than 10 million copies. It is regarded as one of the significant novels of the 20th century earning the author several awards, including an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature and a Hugo Award. Even the audiobook released in 1976 earned him a Grammy nomination.

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