Social Darwinism in Fahrenheit 451
Social Darwinism and Outcasting in Fahrenheit 451 A variety of themes are addressed in Fahrenheit 451, most of which are prevalent to our current situation. Because of this, the book was originally banned for sending the wrong political message and having offensive language. Although there is much irony and humor in the fact that a book warning about the implications of banning books was banned, that topic of discussion has been well over mentioned to the point where the political and social message that Ray Bradbury was trying to address through symbolism and parallelism between his fictional twenty fourth century dystopian society and our society during the time the book was written, Cold War America, is largely ignored. Through Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451, he consistently uses the phoenix as symbolism for an idea known as Social Darwinism to emphasize the future state of America. During this dystopian chaos of America where books are banned and the world is about to engage in nuclear war he addresses cold war political issues and the rise of media in society, which has influenced intellectual mediocrity. The phoenix is a symbol that Ray Bradbury frequently uses throughout Fahrenheit 451 as a metaphor for his belief in an idea called Social Darwinism. Social Darwinism is a theory that applies the biological concept of natural selection and survival of the fittest to sociology and politics (Encyclopædia Britannica). Coupling this with the theory that society is cyclical in nature, Ray Bradbury alludes to the idea that communities go through periods of intellectual growth and depression, examples include the Dark Ages contrasting with the Age of Enlightenment, periods of social and political wealth and mediocrity and we are currently in one of those periods of mediocrity. The phoenix, a bird of Egyptian mythology, known for its ability to burn itself to death and resurrect itself from its own ashes, is used to allude to Ray Bradbury’s belief in Social
Cited: Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967, 146. Print. The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "Social Darwinism." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 6 Jan. 2014. Web. 25 Feb. 2014. “Fahrenheit 451.” Novels for Students. Ed. Diane Telgen. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 1997. 138-157. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 1 Feb. 2014. “Fahrenheit 451: The Temperature at Which Books Burn.” Literature and Its Times: Profiles of 300 Notable Literary Works and the Historical Events that Influenced Them. Joyce Moss and George Wilson. Vol. 5: Civil Rights Movements to Future Times (1960-2000). Detroit. Gale, 1997. 95-100. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 2 Feb. 2014. “McLellan, Clarisse.” Dictionary of Literary Characters. Michael D. Sollars. Vol. 3. New York: Facts on File, 2011, 1294. Facts on File Library of World Literature. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 1 Feb. 2014. McNelly, Willis E. “Ray Bradbury: Past, Present, and Future” Discovering Authors. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Student Resources in Context. Web. 2 Feb. 2014. Sisario, Peter. “A Study of the Allusions in Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.” EXPLORING Novels. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Gale Power Search. Web. 2 Feb. 2014. Spencer, Susan. “The Post-apocalyptic Library: Oral Literate Culture in Fahrenheit 451 and A Canticle For Leibowitz” Extrapolation, Vol. 32, No. 4, Winter 1991, pp. 331-342.