PALACKÝ UNIVERSITY OLOMOUC
Faculty of Education
Department of English
Bc. Karel Chladil
Teaching English at Lower Secondary Schools
Teaching the Foundations of Social Sciences and Civics in Secondary School and
Basic School Classes 6 to 9
The Recency of A. Huxley‘s and R. Bradbury‘s Ideas from the
Selected Works in Comparison in Historical-Contemporary
Context
Diploma Thesis
Vedoucí práce: Mgr. Andrea Hoffmannová, Ph.D.
OLOMOUC
2014
Declaration
I declare that I worked on my diploma thesis, titled The Recency of A. Huxley‘s and
R. Bradbury‘s Ideas from the Selected Works in Comparison in HistoricalContemporary Context, on my own and that I used only the sources mentioned in the
bibliography, references and web sources.
In Olomouc, ……………………..............
Signature ……………………..............
Acknowledgement
I would like to thank my supervisor, Mgr. A. Hoffmannová, Ph.D., for her
professional support and valuable advice during the writing process of this thesis.
Next thanks belong to Bc. Dis. Lenka Richterová, Václav Andrš and Mgr. Martin
Zapletal for their correction of this thesis.
Contents
INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. - 1 THEORETICAL PART .......................................................................................... - 3 1.
Chapter I: Development of sci-fi until early 20th century .............................. - 3 1.1.
The first work considered sci-fi ................................................................ - 3 -
1.2.
Pioneers of the sci-fi genre: Jules Verne .................................................. - 4 -
1.3.
Pioneers of the sci-fi genre: Herbert George Wells.................................. - 7 -
1.4.
Sci-fi in the late 19th and early 20th century ........................................... - 9 -
2.
Chapter II: Aldous Huxley ............................................................................ - 14 2.1.
Analysis of Brave New World ............................................................ - 15 -
2.2.
Abridged Analysis of Brave New World Revisited............................ - 20 -
3.
Chapter III: Ray Bradbury ......................................................................... - 22 3.1.
3.2.
4.
Analysis of Fahrenheit 451 ................................................................. - 23 Abridged Analyses of The Martian Chronicles and other stories .......... - 27 -
Chapter IV: Comparison of Aldous Huxley and Ray Bradbury ................ - 32 4.1.
Comparison of the writing style and language ................................... - 32 -
4.2.
Comparison of the historical and social context ................................. - 33 -
4.3.
Comparison of the conception of the head theme............................... - 34 -
4.4.
Comparison of the story‘s characters.................................................. - 35 -
4.5.
Comparison of the story‘s setting ....................................................... - 36 -
4.6.
Comparison of the story‘s ending ....................................................... - 37 -
4.7. Comparison of the authors‘ personal conceptions and opinions on various
themes ........................................................................................................... - 38 4.8.
4.9.
Supplement: Differencies and similarities in general ......................... - 42 Future reference ...................................................................................... - 44 -
PRACTICAL PART ............................................................................................. - 46 5.
Chapter V: Practical use of Huxley‘s and Bradbury‘s ideas ......................... - 46 -
5.1.
Expectations of the teaching practice ..................................................... - 46 -
5.2.
Lesson plan: Teaching of the 4th-year students in the English seminar - 48 -
5.3.
Lesson plan: Teaching of the 2nd-year students in the English lesson .. - 51 -
5.4.
Summary of the teaching practice .......................................................... - 54 -
CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................... - 56 BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES ............................................................. - 58 WEB SOURCES ................................................................................................... - 62 APPENDICES ...................................................................................................... - 67 ANNOTATION .................................................................................................... - 78 -
INTRODUCTION
The reason to write diploma thesis about Aldous Huxley and Ray Bradbury is
because the author of this thesis believes that the ideas and concepts from the
selected works can be found useful and valid in the 21st century. Even though these
two authors are representantives of the same literary genre, they belong to different
time periods. For the author of this thesis it is a challenge to compare two authors
from different period whose writing is based on different background. Nonetheless, it
is remarkable to see the similarities and differencies in their works which were
published either between the world wars or after the World War II.
The diploma thesis is divided into theoretical and practical part. The main theme
of the theoretical part is comparison and analysis of the selected works of A. Huxley
and R. Bradbury. Focus of this thesis is aimed on the works concerning the society or
describing the society in which some of the sci-fi elements are incorporated, such as
Fahrenheit 451 and Brave New World.
However, the actual analyses and comparison of Huxley and Bradbury in
Chapters II-IV must be first set in the historical and social context which is, for the
sake of this thesis‘ credibility, described in further details in Chapter I. In essence,
Chapter I serves as an introduction of Chapter II (Huxley) and Chapter III
(Bradbury). The reader of this thesis is then equipped with closer comprehension of
Huxley‘s and Bradbury‘s authorship and is able to better understand the analyses of
the selected works.
Chapter IV then summarizes, in a form of comparison, the aim of this thesis
where several themes are compared individually in order to describe the similarities
and differencies in Huxley‘s and Bradbury‘s selected works. Firstly, Brave New
World and Fahrenheit 451 will be compared individually from various perspectives.
Secondly, both authors will be compared from the broader perspective which is
derived from other works as well. Thirdly, it will be described on some examples
how much impact both authors had on other authors or influenced formation of some
sci-fi subgenre.
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The last part of the thesis, Chapter V, is focused on practical application of some
of Huxley‘s and Bradbury‘s ideas and concepts from the selected works. Such task
will be performed via teaching in English lessons in the upper secondary classes of
grammar school (Gymnázium Šumperk). In summary, students‘ feedback in a form
of questionnaire, supplemented by the diagrams, confirms the 21st century‘s
usefulness and validity of some ideas and concepts from Aldous Huxley‘s and Ray
Bradbury‘s selected works.
The bibliography, references and web sources, which helped the author of this
thesis to elaborate such piece of writing, are placed after the Conclusion on pages 58
– 66.
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THEORETICAL PART
1. Chapter I: Development of sci-fi until early 20th century
As it is portrayed in many historical schoolbooks, literature belongs to cultural
manifestation of people since the ancient times and since people learned how to write
when they realized that they would like to distribute their ideas and opinions among
others. Like other cultural manifestations, literature barged its way through many
cultural periods developing many genres and styles, forming number of nations,
groups, societies and people.
One of these genres is science fiction. According to definiton of the teacher Lisa
Storm Fink, this genre of fiction is exclusively based on science, technology of the
future and its current achievements (Finding the Science Behind Science Fiction
through Paired Readings - Definition of Science Fiction, 2005). In essence, it uses
science and its discoveries in a manner to make society look advanced, developed
and mostly changed for the better which is basically the fundamental definition of
utopia. There are two ways of implementing science into the literature. Either the
author applies science based on reality with an urge for a potential discovery in
future such as Jules Verne‘s works, or the author uses science as a tool to create
something totally new, never heard before or very unrealistic in a way of potential
discovery in future, such as Herbert George Wells‘ works.
1.1.
The first work considered sci-fi
Before defining H. G. Wells‘ and Jules Verne‘s contributions to literature, it is
necessary to mention first to be called sci-fi work and why it was such a
breakthrough later on. The first such work is Frankenstein; or, The Modern
Prometheus (1818) by Mary Shelley, wife of Percy Bysshe Shelley.
Frankenstein belongs to Romantic period but is considered a first gothic novel
rather than first sci-fi novel. The work was not well received by the audience in the
time of its publication. But the reason why Frankenstein being sci-fi is simple. The
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book presents scientific elements used in a form of unrealistic realisation. Even today
scientists are not able to resurrect a person from death while using lightning as a lifegiving inductor, nor to create life using sown body parts and alchemy. The scientific
element taken from reality is the power of electricity which only makes an illusion of
creating life. The nerves in a corpse or in its part can absorb electricity and then
make a motion.
Her work, however, is not about implementing the 19th century scientific
elements. The motive to write Frankenstein was different than to use sci-fi elements
and, thus, create “first“ sci-fi work ever. She wanted to write her own version of
Prometheus in a modern manner which comprises of horror, gore and scientific
elements which, unlike in sci-fi literature, was not the main reason to write such
work. It was the time after her, but still in the Romantic period, when sci-fi literature
took place and scientific elements became dominant in writing the sci-fi literature.
Later, the sci-fi genre began to develop with its typical features and many authors
started to express their ideas through sci-fi, like aforementioned Wells and Verne.
There were more authors in the late 19th century and early 20th century, like Arthur
Conan Doyle and Edgar Rice Burroughs, but Verne and Wells are the most prolific
and commonly known to a broad audience. Those two can be called sci-fi pioneers.
Mary Shelley only used scientific elements and Frankenstein‘s monster including the
process of his creation are the only sci-fi elements in the book. Her book is still
considered the gothic or romantic novel and she, as an author, is considered a
romantic writer. Wells and Verne on the other hand were writing purely sci-fi
literature which is known as Romantic science.
1.2.
Pioneers of the sci-fi genre: Jules Verne
Jules Verne, born in 1828, is an instant synonym to the word “sci-fi“. Generally,
people think of Jules Verne more than of any other sci-fi writer while speaking about
sci-fi. Even though Jules Verne is a French writer, he is well-known all over the
world. His works were adapted, transformed and reworked many times and many
writers were inspired by his stories, which also served as a basis for many inventors
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and thinkers. Jules Verne is known for his scientific accuracies and specific
narratives in his works which includes inventions, future possibilities and
technology. Some of them were discovered by later scientists (for example travelling
in space, submarines, etc.), or at least disproved (for example underworld life and
ocean). Jules Verne was, nevertheless, later compared with his “successor“ H. G.
Wells who was, on the contrary, criticized by Verne during his lifetime via
correspondence. As Nicholas Meyer, an American filmmaker, points out in the
documentary H. G. Wells: The Father of Science Fiction (2005), there was a certain
rivalry among them and while Verne calculated every equation, took every aspect in
consideration, for example, travelling in space should be carried out in spaceships,
Wells only invented stuff, like “cavorite“, without any “science“ as Verne referred to
him.
To understand sci-fi as a literary genre in this thesis, three of his works will be
briefly described within this subchapter. It will be those which concern utopia,
technology and setting as an essential element. First such novel is Voyage au Centre
de la Terre (English: Journey to the Center of the Earth) which was written in 1864.
The plot of this novel is primarily aimed on the discovery of Earth‘s core through the
Icelandic volcano Snæfellsjökull. The reason why this novel is one of the prototypes
of sci-fi is because Jules Verne trustworthily combines real scientific elements with
scientific-based assumptions, like Earth-core ocean with its natural wonders, and
writing in a very specific narrative form which makes it a believable story. It is
necessary to realize that planning and preparations for the trip are no more different
from those we do now when we are planning to explore caves and similar rockish
phenomenons.
Second of his novels described in this thesis is De la Terre à la Lune (English:
From the Earth to the Moon) which later includes the sequel Autour de la Lune
(English: Around the Moon). Both novels were published separately, the first in 1865
and the second in 1870). These novels are considered the most reliable because the
science and technology described in these novels became reality almost hundred
years later since the publication of the books. The future inspiration for the space
travelling and its fulfilling was found in Jules Verne‘s novels as well, for example,
the shape of the spaceship. The plot of these novels describes the trip of three friends
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to the Moon and back to Earth while the reader meets the protagonists‘ experience
with the Columbiad cannon launch and zero gravity or landing in the ocean. Again,
these two novels show the remarkable observation and scientific precision of Jules
Verne. Willy Ley, in his book Rockets, Missiles & Space Travel (1957) mentions that
during the times of Apollo 8 and 11, Verne made astonishing number of correct
predictions about the actual missions (derived from Mark Wade‘s article Jules Verne
Moon Gun, 2014).
The third and last novel to be described is Vingt Mille Lieues sous les Mers
(English: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) written and published in 1870. For its
content and story, this novel is considered one of the most favorite of all Jules
Verne‘s novels. To answer the question, why is this novel so popular and why is it
one of the prototypes of sci-fi, is in its narrative form which uses scientific and
technological elements in the right time and place in the story. The readers are
thrilled with suspense and expectations and they also learn something valid. The very
important theme for future reference in writing the sci-fi novel is a thematic focus on
“man against man“ as Zaki Hasan points out in his essay (Quicklet on Jules Verne‘s
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, 2014). Zaki Hasan expands his idea that it
is, no matter the scientific and technological progress and advancement which
humans make, “man‘s own hubris and predilection towards self-destructive behavior
always ensures that true, lasting peace remains just out of arm‘s reach“.
To sum up this subchapter about Jules Verne, he is the pioneer and key
representantive of the sci-fi literature. Nonetheless, he was trying, apart from writing
fictional novels, to describe the true scientific and technological achievements based
on math, calculations, logic and thorough preparation. So, there might be some
unanswered question whether he is or he is not an absolute sci-fi writer. He was
trying to prove his ideas scientifically and his true intentions were to show his ideas
in an entertaining manner while sharing credible information. Therefore, Jules Verne
served and for some people still serves as a prophet of the 20th and 21st century scifi.
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1.3.
Pioneers of the sci-fi genre: Herbert George Wells
H. G. Wells is a British author born in 1886 to the poor British family.
Commonly known as a founding father of the sci-fi genre – the title shared with Jules
Verne. However, Wells denied such allegations and referred to his novels as
“scientific romances“ as Teddy Wayne points out in his study (ClassicNote on The
Time Machine, 2002).
H. G. Wells unlike Jules Verne demontrated his own fantasy much more in
essence of using science and technology in his novels. Wells is a great storyteller
who applies science and technology as a necessary and interesting tool to tell his
story which is about plot and message hidden in the subtext. It can be said that Jules
Verne acknowledged the importance of science and technology in his novels by
proving and calculating it, however, in Wells‘ works the main part is the story with
the hidden message and the main protagonist followed by science and technology.
His novels were strongly influenced by the poverty he grew up in, which later
formed his socialistic views, and by studying under estemeed Darwinist T. H. Huxley
(Aldous Huxley‘s grandfather). According to Teddy Wayne (ClassicNote on The
Time Machine, 2002), Wells was politically active before and during the World War
II, he was corresponding with a huge amount of various authors, like Henry James,
and his opinions and literature were both admired and detracted in the literary world.
Nevertheless, his significance in the late 20th century and dawning 21st century is
indisputable and solid.
This subchapter, therefore, briefly analyses three publicly acclaimed and wellknown novels which contain both typical sci-fi themes. Chronologically first in the
sequence is The Time Machine, published in 1895. As Teddy Wayne suggests in his
study (ClassicNote on The Time Machine, 2002), it could be said that from today‘s
perspective this novel is a harsh critique of capitalism. Wells was avid critic of
capitalism and strong supporter of socialism, though he later rejected it. Through his
novel Wells wanted to warn about the impacts of exploitation of the workers for the
benefit of the rich. According to the essay by Teddy Wayne, the novel contains 5
major themes, for example, critique of capitalism; social Darwinism and evolution.
Later sci-fi novels incorporate either critique of social order (in this case capitalism)
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or advancement of the humans (mostly on genetical level, ergo evolution) as one of
the major themes. There are several parallels with Wells‘ political views. It serves as
a satisfaction to him that the situation will eventually turn in future, however, he also
recognized that future status quo is not acceptable as well. Both is commented on in
the novel by the narrator and the main protagonist, The Time Traveler. Morlocks
turning on Eloi can be interpreted as the October Revolution and the lack of abstract
thought of Morlocks can be interpreted as class consciousness developed through the
time of oppression to overthrow the ruling class. Basically, Wells wanted to warn the
readers about the expansion of the industrial revolution if gone wrong way.
The second novel from the sequence is The War of the Worlds (sometimes
referred to as The War Between the Worlds) which was published in serialized form
for the first time in 1897 in the British and American magazines. According to the
Study Guide – The War of the Worlds Themes (2014), the novel explicitly states
what its head theme is – the parallel between the Martians and human colonists can
be demonstrated by the following short extract from the novel: “And before we judge
of them too harshly we must remember what ruthless and utter destruction our own
species has wrought, not only upon animals, such as the vanished bison and the
dodo, but upon its inferior races. The Tasmanians, in spite of their human likeness,
were entirely swept out of existence in a war of extermination waged by European
immigrants, in the space of fifty years. Are we such apostles of mercy as to complain
if the Martians warred in the same spirit?“ (The War of the Worlds, Book I, Chapter
I, 2004). To sum it up, Wells puts the readers to the reversed position of us being the
oppressed instead of being the oppressors. It is actually very shocking to realize how
would it be if the humans were also colonized by some very powerful race. The
significant theme of the novel is depiction of the brutality of the Martians toward the
humans which serves as a parallel to colonizing the native Indians by the British in
past.
Last book from the sequence The First Men in the Moon was published in 1901.
The reason this novel being mentioned in this thesis is to show the unlimited
imagination of H. G. Wells which is one of the key elements to write a sci-fi novel.
As Nicholas Meyer points out in the documentary H. G. Wells: The Father of
Science Fiction (2005), Wells invented some of the scientific methods just for the
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sake of the story. In this novel he needed an anti-gravitational element to make the
ship capable of interstellar travelling and from this particular reasons he invented
“cavorite“.
To summarize it, H. G. Wells undoubtedly belongs to sci-fi literature. Where
Verne uses real science and calculations, Wells uses sheer fantasy and pure
imagination. Nevertheless, both approaches are essential in writing sci-fi. For
example, Arthur C. Clarke wrote a book containing only calculations known as
Interplanetary Flight: An Introduction to Astronautics (1950) which lead him to
write a novel 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). However, for the sake of readability,
the invented element is sometimes more important than the real one. Both
approaches are very common in modern sci-fi stories.
1.4.
Sci-fi in the late 19th and early 20th century
The next subchapter deals with the expansion of the sci-fi genre into various
subgenres and styles. This subchapter, firstly, refers to other important writers such
as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, John W. Campbell, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E.
Howard or Karel Čapek, and secondly, it describes the development of pulp
magazines like Thrill Book, Amazing Stories or Weird Tales and importance of the
First World War on sci-fi writers.
The evolution of the sci-fi literary genre was not paved by individual steps with
given time for feedback, nor it was invented by some group of writers who decided
how it should be created. Alongside Mary Shelley, Jules Verne and H. G. Wells,
there are other acclaimed authors of sci-fi or considered sci-fi writers that are worth a
reference. To move back on the timeline, it is essential to mention Sumers and the
Indians of Latin and South America, such as Aztecs and Incas, who already thought
of higher beings living outside Earth, helping to evolve our species, giving us
instructions in exchange for labour force and gold, as Frank Lake suggests (Aliens
Here to Take Our Gold?, 2011). The point is, to question whether it is a true story or
sheer oral fantasy.
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To move forward, several works still have their current validity and may be
considered, from today‘s perspective, sci-fi as well. For example, utopian works such
as Plato‘s Politea (English: The Republic, around 380 BC); Thomas More‘s Utopia
(1506); Tommaso Campanella‘s La Città del Sole (English: The City of the Sun,
1602), or metaphysical works (inspiration for fantasy elements in sci-fi) such as
Dante Alighieri‘s Divina Commedia (English: Divine Comedy, 1308) or John
Milton‘s Paradise Lost (1667). Centuries later, when the fiction started to find its
boundaries in the Romantic period, works of other writers might be considered as
proto-sci-fi too, for instance, Victor Hugo‘s utopia/dystopia La Légende des Siècles
(English: The Legend of the Centuries, 1859); Jane C. Loudon‘s The Mummy!: Or a
Tale of the Twenty-Second Century (1836) which shares Frankenstein‘s mad scientist
attribute; George Tucker‘s first American sci-fi novel A Voyage to the Moon (1827).
These aforementioned works and novels also shaped the modern and
contemporary sci-fi literary world providing wide variety of subgenres. To expand
the list of sci-fi authors before the First World War, few of them must never be
excluded from the index of sci-fi literature. First of them is a British author Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle, known mostly as an author of Sherlock Holmes. Only few
people are aware of Doyle‘s sci-fi novel The Lost World, published in 1912. This
novel, however, does not share the same scientific approach with Verne and Wells.
Still The Lost World contains fictional features about a hidden plateau somewhere in
the Amazons which is rich in extinct animals and dinosaurs. The novel is based on
this assumption and is accompanied by the real scientific preparations and expedition
lead by Professor Challenger. Basically, The Lost World combines realistic and
fictional elements, ergo it is considered a sci-fi novel as well.
Next author in the sequence of great influence on sci-fi writers is a Czech writer
Karel Čapek, born in 1890. He is one of the authors who cannot be categorized in
one genre but lot of readers associate him with sci-fi. Therefore, one sci-fi piece of
writing should never be omitted when mentioning sci-fi, the drama R.U.R. (English:
Rossum’s Universal Robots, 1920). This particular work is very important to the scifi literary world because of the word “robot“ which was coined by his brother Josef
Čapek. Robot in R.U.R. is much similar to the Frankenstein‘s monster which actually
served as an inspirational source for Čapek. However, later and current conception of
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a robot is different than Čapek‘s. Robot is derived from the Czech archaic word
“robota“ which means mandatory labour for a landlord (aristocracy). This concept is
still valid, but later on, the theory about robots gets its own system which was
developed by Isaac Asimov with his Three Laws of Robotics. Their first appearance
is found in the collection of short stories known as I, Robot (1950). Therefore, Karel
Čapek naturally belongs to the index of sci-fi writers and not only for his application
of the word “robot“.
There is also one phenomenon left for description – the establishment of pulp
magazines. Like almost everything in the world which was intended for the rich or
educated, even the sci-fi literature began to influence the masses and not only the
rich and educated, according to Mike Ashley‘s essay (The Golden Age of Pulp
Fiction, 2005). This means the sci-fi genre got simplified in a manner of content and
incorporating the science and technology. The sci-fi works got published in an
acceptable form – cheap paper for a reasonable price, as Ondřej Neff and Jaroslav
Olša jr. point out (Encyklopedie literatury science fiction, 1995, p. 32). Because the
pulp magazines tried to approach to masses, the publishers wanted to please their
readers by giving them what they wanted, wide variety of topics and themes, usually
combined together. That lead to hiring more writers, starting a series of episodes and
sometimes for the sake of literary quality. The disputes whether the pulp magazines
are good quality literature or not could take ages. However, the sci-fi literary world
would not be as rich as it is today if it was not for some of the writers who
contributed to the pulp magazines, including Ray Bradbury.
Apart from the world wars, the pulp magazines changed the form of sci-fi
literature as well. Simply put, huge masses mean wide variety of tastes, ergo wide
variety of sci-fi stories (in order to please the wide spectrum of readers). Today‘s scifi series and universes like Halo, Dead Space, DooM, World of Warcraft or even Star
Wars and Star Trek could not be so widespread, through various mediums, if there
would not be pulp magazine and evolution of the film industry.
The golden age of sci-fi pulp magazines was between 1896 and 1955 (the first
published was Argosy Magazine). To quote Mike Ashley (The Golden Age of Pulp
Fiction, 2005), their significance is still evident in modern sci-fi. Even H. G. Wells,
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Arthur Conan Doyle and later authors like Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick and Robert
A. Heinlein also contributed to the pulp magazines. However, this subchapter
characterizes the first and important contributors to the pulp magazines like Edgar
Rice Burroughs, Robert E. Howard and John W. Campbell.
John W. Campbell stopped writing fiction after he became an editor of the pulp
magazine Astounding but during his writing period he started the series about Arcot,
Morey and Wade “in which the heroes faced a succession of battles of everincreasing size fought with a succession of wonderful Weapons of ever-decreasing
likelihood“, summarized in John Clute‘s article (Authors: Campbell, John W, Jr,
2014). That short extract basically defines the term “space opera“ first used by W.
Tucker in 1941 according to Ondřej Neff and Jaroslav Olša jr. (Encyklopedie
literatury science fiction, 1995, p. 35) which, according to Merriam-Webster (2014),
is defined as “a futuristic melodramatic fantasy involving space travelers and
extraterrestrial beings“. Campbell was not the first user of this term but was later
more quoted by other sci-fi authors such as Isaac Asimov, according to Harry
Harrison (Harry Harrison: The Official Website, 2014). Space opera became famous
mostly in 70‘s because of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) directed by
George Lucas who acknowledged early space opera stories from pulp magazines like
Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers as one of his inspirational sources, summarized in
the documentary Empire of Dreams: The Story of the ‘Star Wars‘ Trilogy (2004).
Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard are one of the first writers who
created ongoing series which later became franchise (or universe) independent on its
creators. Robert E. Howard is a creator of series known as “sword and sorcery“ (for
instance Conan series). Unfortunately, he did not contributed to sci-fi literature as
much as Burroughs. He only wrote several sci-fi stories such as Almuric which is
considered a “sword and planet“ story. His conception of fantasy (sword and sorcery)
became later one of the essential elements for writing a sci-fi story or novel. For
example Vlastislav Toman‘s novel and later comics series Pod paprsky Zářícího
(English: Under the Rays of the Shining, 1973-1976) or Michael Moorcock‘s Lord of
Spiders (1965). For the modern sci-fi writer it is not a problem to combine fantasy
and scientific elements in order to create a “sword and planet“ story. For instance, an
advanced race could visit a planet where are underdeveloped tribes and due to the
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consequences the main protagonists from an advanced race can experience the same
life as a person from the underdeveloped tribe without any further use of science or
technology. It is difficult to find boundaries between pure “sword and sorcery“ and
“sword and planet“. Nevertheless, Howard tends to be more a fantasy writer and
Burroughs a sci-fi writer, both sometimes combining the aforementioned styles like
in John Carter‘s series, officially known as The Barsoom Series.
To sum it up, the pulp magazines are significant in the sci-fi literary context
because they extended and enriched this genre by numerous elements such as
launching the series and franchise, creating the “universe“, combination of fantasy
and sci-fi and other subgenres including horror, gothic, underground, nudity, sex, and
also development of the “space opera“ stories, like Frank Herbert‘s Dune or in the
film industry like George Lucas‘ Star Wars. Unfortunately, the pulp magazines
stopped being published sometimes in 50‘s, according to Mike Ashley “the World
War II considerably depleted their numbers and survivors were shadows of their
former selves“ (The Golden Age of Pulp Fiction, 2005) and yet pulp magazines,
despite their short lifetime, inspired comics literature, motion pictures and TV
broadcasting (first known serial films from 30‘s and 40‘s were adapted in accordance
to their literary original, for example Buck Rogers was broadcasted in 1939 in 12
chapters). In conclusion, it was the World War II and new mediums which slowly
replaced the pulp magazines.
During the formation of the sci-fi genre nothing had such strong impact on sci-fi
as the First and Second World War. The change of themes in the authors‘ works was
significant mostly for the benefit of the good. One of the first authors strongly
influenced by the wars, apart from other matters, were Aldous Huxley and George
Orwell, and even Ray Bradbury but his works are considered as postmodern, ergo
were written after the World War II. Usually, the comparison of dystopian works is
carried out between Orwell and Huxley (information based on M. Vodičková‘s
lecture and presentation on British Literature: Novel Between Wars, 2008), but such
topic would lead to distraction from the main aim of this thesis and, therefore, it will
not be further described.
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2. Chapter II: Aldous Huxley
He was born in Surrey in 1894 to the prominent British family of scientists. His
two brothers were renowned eminent biologists (Julian and Andrew Huxley). Julian
was later an editor of the book of essays, tributes and reminiscences concerning his
late brother Aldous known as Aldous Huxley 1894-1963: A memorial Volume (1965).
Aldous Huxley is, without any scruples, one of the highly acclaimed writers of the
20th century and not only in the area of sci-fi literature. He was a critic, novelist,
poet, essayist, philosopher, screenwriter and above all a greatly quoted author. He
was more of an author of essays and fictional novels than a sci-fi author.
Nevertheless, his most cited work is Brave New World (1932) which rightfully
belongs to the index of sci-fi novels and stories. Other fictional novels worth
mentioning are Island (1962) and The Doors of Perception (1954) which is the
collection of essays describing the state of mind and experience while using drugs,
specifically LSD and mescaline. As European Graduate School EGS suggets, this
book became the essential narrative for the hippie culture (Aldous Huxley –
Biography, 2012). Aldous Huxley died peacefully in 1963 in Los Angeles on the
same day as J. F. Kennedy and C. S. Lewis.
In this subchapter, only two of his works will be subsequently described, Brave
New World (1932) and Brave New World Revisited (1958). The latter is basically an
addition and extension (appendix) to Brave New World. Brave New World Revisited
is a collection of essays written by Huxley more than 20 years after the publication of
Brave New World only to comment on the recent situation and some of the changes
conducted in the society and not to rewrite it which was an idea for the certain period
of time during Huxley‘s life according to David Bradshaw (Brave New World, 2004,
p. XII-XV). Later in his life, Huxley changed from being a person who was
criticizing the current situation, status quo and social values, to a person who was
contemplating about philosophical and spiritual questions which can be documented
on his friendship with the 20th century philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti. And that is
the reason why only Brave New World and Brave New World Revisited are for their
content and length sufficient enough for the following analysis. Through this
subchapter the reader of this thesis will be able to recognize Huxley‘s personal
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conception and thinking about society, individualism, technological advancement
and development.
2.1.
Analysis of Brave New World
Brave New World was published in 1932 but was written in a previous year.
Like Orwell, Huxley is a prominent figure in writing the dystopian novels whose
ideas were and are largely incorporated in the later sci-fi genres such as SF,
speculative ficiton. As Ondřej Neff and Jaroslav Olša jr. point out, the SF genre is
not only about science but also about speculations and theories (Encyklopedie
literatury science fiction, Praha, 1995, p. 33). According to Robert McCrum in his
article to The Guardian, Brave New World was listed number 53 in the top 100
greatest novels of all time (The 100 greatest novels of all time: The list, 2003), thus
sci-fi literature and literature in general could not be whole without this novel. The
reason this novel became such a big success is quite simple to understand. Before
Huxley, there was practically no one, apart from Orwell, who had created something
like Brave New World. Huxley is one of the first authors who wrote a dystopian
novel. However, simultaneously with Huxley, George Orwell was also the dominant
writer of dystopian novels, for example, Nineteen-Eighty Four (1949).
Dystopian novel or shortly dystopia is direct opposite of utopia (in past
eutopia). Utopia depicts the perfect state of society and country (land) which was
made perfect through several key changes, such as the society‘s thinking and coping
with the upcoming changes, changes in structure of the society and also economical
and political changes of the past differencies. The later excluded prefix “eu-“ in
eutopia means in Ancient Greek “good“ and “topia“ means “place“, ergo “good
place“, however, according to Thomas Moore‘s Utopia the meaning of the word is
slightly different. Utopia in Ancient Greek means “no place“, which can be
understood as a place people cannot actually live in and it would be impossible for
them to reach such status. Therefore, the utopian novels are basically the depictions
of what may be but will never become. Dystopia on the other hand is derived from
current situation of society and is based on real elements which depict the exaggarate
version of such situation. Unlike utopian novels, the dystopian novel predicts the
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worst rather than the best. In the dystopian novels, every human action leads to the
worst outcome mostly on a larger scale (global level). The prefix “dys-“ means in
Ancient Greek “bad“, thus “bad place“ to live in. Dystopia is, generally speaking, a
twisted version of reality and Aldous Huxley and Ray Bradbury, as well as George
Orwell, mastered the depiction of the dystopian ideas in their novels.
Brave New World is a short novel written between the two world wars (19181939) and after the Black Friday (1929). These two milestones in the modern history
are essential to mention in relation with Aldous Huxley and dystopia (including
George Orwell). Both milestones developed such thinking which can be found in
later dystopian novels, prominently in 70‘s (cyberpunk) and 90‘s (techno-thriller).
However, there were other events in history that influenced Huxley to form his ideas
in Brave New World. First such event was a mass production of the first automobile
in history, Ford Model T (1908). Second was a use of the assembly line where each
worker had his specific position while doing the same labour in a set time. Before,
the cars were very expansive and were produced and commissioned individually,
thus, not assembled on the line. Such transformation evidently changed the course in
economy and most importantly in work-related management and behavior.
Brave New World is a story depicting a perfect “civilized“ society in future,
specifically AD 2540, however, since the story describes the future society, their
calendar starts with the first mass-produced car in 1908. It means that people in the
future address their period as A.F. 632 (“Anno Ford“ or “in the years of Ford“ which
is similar to “Anno Domini“). This process of adopting different calendar suggests
the tone of the story which is centered around the mass production, consumerism,
mainstream, perfection, stability, control, sufficiency, all conducted through the
justification of each aforementioned. Generally speaking, the story can be divided
into three main parts, because the book is only divided into chapters (I – XVIII)
without further diversification. However, the readability of the novel is not deprived
by such division and through the narrative and characters of the story, the novel
remains very consistent.
The first so-called part (chapter I – VI) describes the function of the society in
Central London of the World State. During the narrative the reader is introduced to a
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wide variety of characters, each representing specific viewpoints on the world and
society. At the very beginning of the novel, the reader is introduced with the peoplemaking process. The society of the World State A.F. 632 is divided into 5 castes,
alphas, betas, gammas, deltas and epsilons. The fertilization process is conducted in
vitro and whole nurturing system of newborns takes place in “Central London
Hatchery and Conditioning Centre“. Alphas and betas are produced differently than
the last three. They are produced “normally“ from single egg cell without any
alterations, however, the gammas, deltas and epsilons are bokanovskified – each egg
cell can produce more buds from which the people are produced. Considering castes,
it means that each caste is predestined to do its specific work and is given a social
position in the World State. Alphas and betas are considered “higher“ people
destined for service-related works – basically, they are recognized as perfect, smart,
more comprehensive people in good physical condition. The last three castes are
products of bokanovskification which is alteration of the essential human genome.
The hatchery mingles with the physical condition as well as with the psychological
condition influenced, for example, by the lack of oxygen in the brain for a certain
time, according to Mr. Foster: “the lower the caste, the shorter the oxygen“ (Brave
New World, 2004, p. 11). The diversification of the society is final and from the
World State‘s perspective permanent. After, the reader is moved to a place
conducting hypnopaedic teaching in the “Infant Nurseries, Neo-Pavlovian
Conditioning Rooms“. The reader is, basically, introduced with the means of
teaching people from an infancy but in a different way than the traditional
perspective of teaching offers. Hypnopaedic teaching is managed during sleeping
which leads to all varieties of knowledge and information in people‘s brains, such as
knowledge of specific information about Nile or aversion towards nature. Each idea
can be implemented. The problem of it is that people know these information when
they are triggered but they do not provide the closer context and association with
other information.
Then, the reader is introduced with rituals such as Godhood of Henry Ford (O
Ford or crossing with T – based on model Ford T – and not with the Christian cross,
etc.), orgy-porgy (ritual sex orgy), the introduction and behavior of His Fordship
Mustapha Mond, Resident World Controller of Western Europe, the dating fashion
and how people see each other socially and sexually, drug and antidepressant abuse
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(in the novel the reader is also familiarized with the effects of soma drug with
detailed description of its effects). For example, Lenina, who is one of the main
characters, does not want to date Bernard Marx (one of the main protagonist in the
story) only because it is rumoured he was supplied with alcohol into his bloodstream
during the hatching proces, which in reality means, that he was deformed according
to the Alpha‘s standards. The story also introduces some of the main characters with
their flaws and how they are living in the World State. The individuality and solitude
is regarded as wrong. Lenina quite often points out: “After all, everyone belongs to
everyone else,…“ (Brave New World, 2004, p. 37). Everybody in the World State
has a job and a place in the society according to the caste a person was born into, all
for the sake of the World State stability. One of the examples of paths to the
perfection can be found in the depiction of gammas‘ dislike of nature. They were
bred for the work in the mines and, therefore, to be in the nature or even like it, might
cause an obstacle in obtaining the work results. Another example of seeking the
perfection is undergoing the hypnopaedic liking of public transportation which
eventually leads to spending money on public transportation and, thus, keep the work
cycle in order.
Nevertheless, the more the reader is introduced with wonders and functions of
the World State, the more the reader is surprised that such society allowed the
development of the Reservation. In the second part of the story (chapters VII-IX), teh
reader is moved to this place and meets another main protagonist, John the Savage,
who is actually a son of Thomas the DHC (The Director of Hatcheries and
Conditioning, a person introduced in the first chapter) and long lost World State
resident Linda who crashlanded in the Reservation. The reader is also familiarized
with the Reservation‘s inner system consisting of totemism, archaic ethics and
philosophy, referring to the old gods including Jesus Christ. Then the reader gets to
know more about Linda and John (via flashbacks). Linda is a product of the World
State and her behavior is corresponding to it even in the Reservation (in chapter VII,
Linda describes her atrocities she went through in the Reservation). Nevertheless,
Linda was able to raise John with the help of local Malpais and leftovers from the
crashlanding. John‘s personality and place in the world are mixtures of the
Reservation and the World State. He is a part of both but belongs to none. Even
though John is not particularly bright looking person, quite often quotes Shakespeare
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(prominently Othello, Romeo & Juliet and The Tempest whose line “O brave new
world“ served Huxley as a title for his novel) and is able of deep and thoughtful
critique of the current status and situation which is more elaborated in the following
chapters.
In the third part, the reader is taken back to London but with John as an
invited guest of honor. However, it needs to be said that John‘s invitation was not a
good will of Mustapha Mond but rather an elaborated plan of Bernard Marx of how
to get rid of DHC Thomas who wanted to relocate him to Iceland in previous
chapters. Through the last nine chapters the reader can see the amazement and
subsequential disillusionment of John the Savage during his stay in the World State.
Good example of such depiction is when John became amazed by Helmholtz
Watson‘s knowledge and love for literature which is suddenly followed by
disillusionment because Helmholtz, no matter how much he tried, is still a product of
the World State and while reading Romeo & Juliet to him, he started laughing on the
portrayal of the parents of Juliet. Another example of the disillusionment can be the
death of his mother Linda, who was not taken care of properly, still believed in the
World State, or Lenina‘s sexual affections toward John and his subsequent denial of
her. In essence, the last part can be described as rise and fall of John the Savage.
During the last three chapters John is familiarized with the true Mustapha Mond and
what he is capable of. Mustapha Mond starts to uncover the truth about the World
State and its society. It is interesting but Mustapha Mond, and possibly other
controllers as well, are the only ones who understand the world in its true essence
and who are identified with the world‘s system and function. According to the book,
Mustapha Mond is aware of every happening in the the World State but for the sake
of stability he refused, for example, the artistic books because they are old and when
people are interested in old, they do not buy the new ones. He knows that there is no
ideal society (if everybody would be Alpha or Beta, some of them would still have to
do the menial work which would not be favorite among those who would be doing
it), he would rather prefer the implemented social differencies – he said: “The
optimum population is modelled on the iceberg – eight-ninths below the water line,
one-ninth above“ (Brave New World, 2004, p. 197) or for the sake of stability every
change becomes dangerous. He is also aware of godhood and the God himself, but
depicts it in a rather peculiar way that it is actually for the young and prosperous.
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At the end, John cannot identify himself with Mustapha Mond and the World
State and rather chooses a solitude near the lighthouse but still in the World State.
Later on, he happens to be the public‘s interest which eventually leads to the
simplification of his ideas and beliefs as he becomes some sort of an attraction, for
instance, through his self-whipping. John becomes furious with people not minding
their own businesses. When his “fans“ saw him in the documentary motion picture
about him they start to gather around the lighthouse. Among his “fans“ is Lenina
with her date, Henry Foster and while seeing her, he participates in beating and
chanting concluded with orgy-porgy. John realized what he did and before anyone is
able to stop him, he commits a suicide by hanging himself. For him the world of the
World State was too much to handle.
2.2.
Abridged Analysis of Brave New World Revisited
Brave New World Revisited is a collection of essays published in 1958 in
USA and in 1959 in UK. However, unlike its inspirational source, this collection is
non-fiction. Written almost 30 years after Brave New World, Huxley comments on
the current situation in the world and compares whether the ideas and assumptions
presented in Brave New World happened or not. He considered it an appendix to his
novel during writing process because he did not reckon necessary to rework Brave
New World after all.
Going through his essays, Huxley realized that the status of the world
presented in Brave New World changed much faster than he originally thought. He
began to analyze closely the aspects and events in the book, such as overpopulation
and means of controlling the population, or even more, the effects of drugs and
subliminal suggestion, but from different perspective than the book was published.
As mentioned before, Huxley became interested in spiritual (conversion to Hindu
Vedanta) and philosophical questions and teachings. He started from that perspective
to comment on these aspects and happenings. At the end of the collection, in Chapter
XII. What Can Be Done?, he suggests how to prevent a democracy from turning into
a totalitarian state defined in Brave New World. For example, he advocates an
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opinion that there can be “preventive legislation“ and such legislation should be
“limiting the right of public officials, civil or military, to subject the captive
audiences under their command or in their custody to sleep-teaching“ or “There
could and, I think, there should be legislation prohibiting the use of subliminal
projection in public places or on television screens.“ (Brave New World Revisited,
1998-2008). To summarize Aldous Huxley‘s later opinions (during and after his
conversion) about freedom, the urge to quote the very last paragraph looks not only
critical but also very prudent especially for the young people today: “Meanwhile
there is still some freedom left in the world. Many young people, it is true, do not
seem to value freedom. But some of us still believe that, without freedom, human
beings cannot become fully human and that freedom is therefore supremely valuable.
Perhaps the forces that now menace freedom are too strong to be resisted for very
long. It is still our duty to do whatever we can to resist them.“ (Brave New World
Revisited, 1998-2008).
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3. Chapter III: Ray Bradbury
One of the most renowned writers of the 20th and 21st century and highly
recommended authors at schools was born in 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois, USA.
Bradbury was prominently famous for his writing fiction but he was also a
playwright, poet, screenwriter, essayist and also a person with number of ideas and
roles outside the literature. For example, he was active in the filmmaking process, in
1982 he created the interior metaphors for the Spaceship Earth display at Epcot
Center, Disney World. Even though Bradbury was known to public as a great writer,
only few people know that numerous of his stories were adapted into successfull
movies, TV series and even theatre plays. During his life he made a lot of impact on
culture, he made acquaintances with number of cultural figures like Aldous Huxley,
whom he befriended and later alienated due Huxley‘s alleged LSD abuse (Bradbury
refused such substances), Frank Frazetta (a famous painter, illustrator of books, book
covers, magazines and comics) and most of all, Ray Harryhausen, a special effect
creator and filmmaker with whom he made a lifelong friendship till his death in
2012, Harryhausen died a year later.
But before he became a writer, he was introduced into literature by Edgar
Rice Burroughs‘ stories (see subchapter 1.2.3.) and later was influenced by Edgar
Allan Poe, Ambrose Bierce and H. P. Lovercraft. Bradbury said about Burroughs:
“he [Edgar Rice Burroughs] was, and is, the most influential writer, bar none, of our
century.“ (Edgar Rice BurroughsTM, 2014). In his nineteens he published in Los
Angeles a fanzine called Futuria Fantasia. Later, he contributed to the magazines
like Super Science Stories, Planet Stories, Thrilling Wonder Stories, Weird Tales
(see subchapter 1.2.3.) but also to Playboy magazine (for example, in the Playboy
Book of Science Fiction, 1998, a short story called The Lost City of Mars, 1967 was
included in this anthology). His carrier was, however, kickstarted by the novel The
Martian Chronicles (1950) and The Illustrated Man (1951) and not by Fahrenheit
451 (1953) as some may think. Nevertheless, Fahrenheit 451 made him popular
because, as Aldous Huxley, Bradbury criticized and questioned the current values
and status quo through clearly stated opinions and points. Bradbury is considered an
essential literature and cultural figure and his works are included in the mandatory
reading list in the UK and USA. Thus, the next subchapters are primarily focused on
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a dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451, two episodes from The Martian Chronicles and
two short stories, The Fog Horn and A Sound of Thunder.
3.1.
Analysis of Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451 was the third Bradbury‘s novel in a sequence, published in
1953 which was actually based on his early short story The Pedestrian (1951) and
novella The Fire Man (1951). As mentioned earlier, this was not the type of work
that had kickstarted his writing career but it made him actually enormously popular
according to Ondřej Neff and Jaroslav Olša, jr (Encyklopedie literatury science
fiction, 1995, p. 201). Alongside Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451 belongs to the
index of dystopian novels because Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451 exaggarated a current
situation which , in 50‘s, was the McCarthy era and the threat of book burning. The
novel is divided into three main chapters set sometimes after 1960 (after few atomic
wars) in a typical small American town possibly in the suburbs (at least the novel
provides through its narrative such connotations). The reason this novel being so
popular is quite simple, Bradbury warns the audience about a potential misuse of
American dream, supported in the novel by technological advancement (such as
fireproof houses, the hound), lack of education related workplaces (such as university
teacher), no demand for education and therefore books, lack of longing for
happiness, expansion of TV broadcasting via simplification of the information
content, general simplification of cultural mediums.
The main plot of the story is about firemen who are burning books in the
future instead of fighting the fire. That leads to the title of the novel which was based
on the actual heating temperature while burning the books. Through the time the
society found no need for preservation and reading the books which became also
against the law. Proportionally with that, the level of technical advancement became
higher leading to the fireproof houses and no use for the firemen. Through some
years the firemen were given a new task, to burn the books with Kerosene and
flamethrower. One of these firemen is Guy Montag who might be considered as a
typical man shaped by the society described in the novel with one characteristical
flaw – he starts to think critically. That could not happen without any reason just for
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the sake of the story. He needed a guidance which he found in a 16-year old girl
Clarisse McClellan, Professor Faber and also in his future “enemy“ Captain Beatty.
Chapter I (The Hearth and the Salamander) starts with the firemen burning
the books. Their work is considered valuable to society and it seems that the firemen
believe they are “doing a great job“. Guy Montag, one of the firemen, starts to see a
young girl Clarisse who provides Montag, through her spirit and individual thinking,
a sequence of serious spiritual questions, for example, if he is happy. Montag cannot
understand Clarisse‘s opinions and actions. For instance, Clarisse asks him personal
questions about his firemanship or that she must see the psychiatrist because she
likes being in forest and watching birds. In the first chapter, the author provides us
with a number of regular events and actions, such as aforementioned, which are
portrayed in the book as highly suspicious and unordinary. Also, the author took in
consideration to describe the environment which might give the reader an actual
background for the story (such matter can be found, dominantly, in the third chapter
when Montag is on the run). Later on, Montag becomes critical of his life and
realizes that the life he is living, gives him nothing and has no outcoming value. He
has a wife Mildred but further in the story, he realizes he has no relationship with
her. Mildred is portrayed as a product of mass media and is a consumeristic person
who does not care about life, marriage or herself. She only wants to watch TV on the
wall in a parlor and is more interested in gossip and simplified versions of
information. Nevertheless, she seems to be supportive at the beginning when Montag
brought a book from a house whose landlady burnt herself alive during the book
burning. When the story moves forward, Montag starts to bring even more books,
such as The Holy Bible or collection of poetry including Dover Beach by James
Arnold.
The end of chapter I finishes in an educational spirit by the visit of Montag‘s
boss Captain Beatty who seems to be bright enough to provide Montag with answers
to his doubtful questions, such as the beginning of book burning or impact of
minorities on the future course of the society. However, it seems that Captain Beatty
is providing such information in order to be considered a critical person but in reality
he is explaining all matters in a way to set Montag to his previous self. At the
beginning, it appears that Captain Beatty and Montag are friends or he is Montag‘s
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mentor but further in the novel Captain Beatty becomes his “enemy“ but not in a
“standoff“ way. Captain Beatty might be understood as a representative of the
system. Everything wrong with the system interpreted in the novel is included in the
Captain Beatty‘s personality. Basically, Montag is not fighting him but the system at
the end of chapter II (The Sleeve and the Sand) and the beginning of the chapter III
(Burning Bright).
In chapter II, Montag is acquainted with the university professor Faber who
becomes his true guide on a path to become “a new man“ who fits to the world of
tomorrow. Clarisse was dominant figure in the first pages of the chapter I but soon is
excluded from the story and is considered dead which is confirmed by Captain
Beatty during his visit. Faber was briefly mentioned in the chapter I as a strange
person stuffing something into his coat. Later on, Montag wants to meet him in order
to understand books because Montag sees help in books. Such allegations makes
Faber to call Montag “a hopeless romantic“. Faber told him it is not books the
mankind needs but some of the things that once were in books (Fahrenheit 451,
1991, p. 82).
Montag‘s later behavior in the story was based on the consumeristic society
that was not thinking neither about their past nor of their future and was only
enjoying present while being happy about it. The books were banned because they
made people unhappy, as Captain Beatty suggests. The people were not even aware
of an upcoming war conflict. Mildred and her friends were more interested in TV
walls and the presidential elections which, to some extent, summarize the
mainstream view of political preferences in the story. For example, Mildred favors
one of the candidates, president Noble, a perfect choice because he is nicest-looking
and the other is short and mumbles. This particular situation during Mildred‘s party
including the shallow manner she and her friends are talking about their husbands,
war and children, makes Montag furious. He then starts to read a poem, Dover Beach
which makes Mrs. Phelps cry and other members of the party uncomfortable. In
conclusion, such incident provided Captain Beatty with necessary ground for his case
against Montag who at the end of the second chapter arrived home with the rest of
the firemen in order to burn his house and the books in them. It is interesting to
mention that some of the doubtful firemen can generally take a book to their
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household but must read it and burn it within 24 hours. Captain Beatty himself was
an avid reader but soon realized that the life without books is better because the
books made people unhappy through the time and it made them talk about people
and situations that did not exist. However, Captain Beatty made Montag burn his
house after all because Montag does not behave accordingly and continues to explore
the world by reading about it. Before Montag is about to burn his house, he was
mocked and threatened with an arrest by Captain Beatry. From these two reasons
Captain Beatty is also burnt alongside Montag‘s house even though Montag was told
by Faber through an ear device not to. The fear of the Hound coming back did not
convince Montag to stop killing Captain Beatty.
Last chapter is more descriptive than previous chapters. The author provides
the reader with description of the environment where each element of the nature
serves as a story-telling component, in this case the manner of Montag‘s runaway.
From the middle of the third chapter Montag is on the run and is chased by the
authorities, his wife Mildred had ran away from him before the house was burnt, and
the only help possible so far can be found in Faber‘s house. Further in conversation
between Faber and Montag it is revealed that in numerous places all over the state
live groups of the Exiles who are living differently than it is expected. One of those
groups is lead by Granger who resides somewhere in the south. Montag manages to
evade the chasers and the Hound and manages to escape them by the river which
eventually guides him to the Granger‘s group. He is saved from the chasers and is
welcomed by Granger as a long lost brother. He then discovers that his fears of being
caught are misguided as Granger reveals him upon arrival that for the sake of rating
the chase of Montag must continue. Through the Granger‘s radio some voice is
heard: “The chase continues north in the city! Police helicopters are converging on
Avenue 87 and Elm Grove Park!“ Granger nodded “They‘re faking. You threw them
off at the river. They can‘t admit it. They know they can hold their audience only so
long. The show‘s got to have a snap ending, quick! If they started searching the
whole damn river it might take all night. So they‘re sniffing for a scape-goat to end
things with a bang. Watch. They‘ll catch Montag in the next five minutes!“
(Fahrenheit 451, 1991, p. 148). However, for the observant readers, such
phenomenon is not only a matter of 50‘s or Fahrenheit 451‘s. For the sake of
programme or rating, such situation is quite common in the 21st century.
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Nevertheless, in this tone the story ends, the society fakes their victory over
Montag‘s unwanted ideas and opinions and while the war is on the verge, the
bombing of several cities takes place and possibly kills a majority of population in
the state. But the ending of the story can be identified as positive because before the
bombing, Granger revealed the goal of his group to Montag. Each of them
memorizes an entire book they once preferred and due to Mr. Simmons‘ technique
of recalling the book from the anyone‘s memory the group can, therefore, reproduce
any book if needed in current situation, according to Granger: “The most important
single thing we had to pound into ourselves was that we were not important, we
mustn‘t be pedants; we were not to feel superior to anyone else in the world. We‘re
nothing more than dust-jackets for books, of no significance otherwise“ (Fahrenheit
451, 1991, p. 153). The situation that occurred after the bombing is compared by
Granger to the phoenix who always lives and will survive through the death and
rebirth. The story ends when the Granger‘s group and other groups like his prepare
themselves to offer a help in order to rebuild the society in the humblest approach
possible.
3.2.
Abridged Analyses of The Martian Chronicles and other stories
In order to primarily emphasize the content and views in Fahrenheit 451, the
focus on The Martian Chronicles and other short stories is not going to be as
thorough as in the previous subchapter, therefore, only these two short stories in The
Martian Chronicles are going to be analysed: The Third Expedition; and Way in the
Middle of the Air, and only two short stories from the book collection Classic Stories
1- From The Golden Apples of the Sun and R is for Rocket (1990): The Fog Horn;
and A Sound of Thunder. However, some may raise a question that for better
understanding of Fahrenheit 451 a different collection of short stories titled A
Pleasure to Burn: Fahrenheit 451 Stories (2011) should be analysed in this
subchapter. That would really expand the reader‘s quantity of information and
knowledge about Fahrenheit 451 and its “universe“ but the potential reader of this
thesis must be aware of Bradbury‘s literary scope and, thus, those aforementioned
are sufficient for additional analysis.
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The Martian Chronicles is a collection of short stories published in its
entirety in 1950. Bradbury was writing each short story separately and included them
into pulp magazines, all of them sharing the theme of colonizing Mars. The
collection contains 28 short stories (episodes) and some would rather suggest
different episodes for subsequent analysis than those mentioned previously. Some
may suggest the short story that was published first for an analysis, The Million-Year
Picnic which was published shortly after the World War II in Planet Stories in 1946.
According to Pat Black, the book‘s single best story is The Third Expedition
(Review: The Martian Chronicles, 2012). Way in the Middle of the Air was chosen
because of its controversial content.
The Third Expedition was firstly published in Planet Stories in 1948 under
the title Mars is Heaven!. Later on, it was renamed and included in the collection as
the sixth story, according to the collection‘s chronology. The plot of this short story
takes place in April 2000 and tells the story of a crew coming down from space to
Mars‘ surface. During the crew‘s visit on Mars they are able to recognize the
surroundings as Earth-like but from different time (crew thinks of it as 1920s small
American town). Suddenly, three astronauts, Captain John Black, Navigator Lustig
and the archeologist Hinkston are stunned by the appearance of their long dead
relatives. The crew actually ignores Captain‘s orders and rather spent some time with
their relatives who said have been given a second chance. However, unlike the crew
who idealized this place as some sort of God‘s infinite ways or Heaven, Captain
Black seems to be the only one who still did not subdue to the magic of the place and
its inhabitants. He thinks of this phenomenon as some sort of a trap invented by
Martians where the dead relatives serve as a bait in order to lure the astronauts
(Martians probably had an acces into memory of the astronauts). The story ends with
a burial of 16 coffins where the mourners sometimes resemble humans and
sometimes “something else“ (the Martians) as Captain Black pointed out few times.
Way in the Middle of the Air was originally published in Other Worlds in
1950. The story is set in an unspecified Southern American town where the group of
local caucasian men found out about mass departure of African-Americans to Mars.
One of the men, strong racist, Mr. Teece is furious when he discovers this
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information in his hardware store. He has such remarks as “the black fool just
pedaled off to Mars?“ (The Martian Chronicles, 1979, p. 90). Meanwhile, before the
planned departure he has two visits, both of African-American people. One of them
is a debtor Belter who is not capable to pay off his 50$ debt and a boy Silly who had
a signed work contract with Mr. Teece. Both African-American were rescued by the
people in the hardware store. But in a case of Silly, after he was rescued by Mr.
Teece‘s grandafther, he was later chased by both of them due to Silly‘s remark about
the “nights“. They did not catch him and when they returned to the store Mr. Teece
refuses to watch the rockets depart. As some sort of satisfaction for Mr. Teece was
that Silly addressed him during the chase as “Mister“.
The Fog Horn was published for the first time in 1951 but later it became a
part of the collection of short stories The Golden Apples of the Sun (1953). The story
is about two lighthouse keepers, Mr. McDunn and Johnny, who provided the
background monologue in some parts of the story. Mr. McDunn keeps telling Johnny
a story about a very old Beast that lives in the deepest Deeps. While talking, the
lighthouse maintained producing a sound in the book depicted as: “The Fog Horn
blew.“ (Classic Stories 1- From The Golden Apples of the Sun and R is for Rocket,
1990, p. 7). This particular sound attracted the Beast and after a while it destroys the
lighthouse. Fortunately, the keepers hide themselves in a place under the stairs. The
story would look very plain if it was only depicting the Beast and its mating rituals
resulting in the destruction of the lighthouse. The Bradbury‘s mastery resides in the
narrative form through the description of the environment where each detail
happening around the keepers is defined in a very poetic manner as Ondřej Neff and
Jaroslav Olša jr. define in their book (Encyklopedie literatury science fiction, 1995,
p. 201). Even the repeated phrase “The Fog Horn blew“ may remind some people
The Raven‘s “Nevermore“. The definition of the ocean‘s power may serve as another
example: “You know, the ocean‘s the biggest damned snwoflake ever? It rolls and
swells a thousand shapes and colors, no two alike.“ (Classic Stories 1- From The
Golden Apples of the Sun and R is for Rocket, 1990, p. 5). Even the atmosphere
depicted in the story may resemble a melancholy, for instance in the last Johnny‘s
line: “I sat there wishing there was something I could say.“ (Classic Stories 1- From
The Golden Apples of the Sun and R is for Rocket, 1990, p. 13) which he said after
he sighed over the past life he had experienced with Mr. McDunn. Somehow it
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seems that Johnny misses the lighthouse, and even the Beast. These ideas and
conceptions about nature in a “clash“ with the civilization served as a reason for this
analysis.
A Sound of Thunder is the last Bradbury‘s work presented in this thesis. It was
published for the first time in Collier‘s magazine in 1952 and the reason why it was
chosen for this analysis is for its application of the butterfly effect theory. The story
is based on the theory of time-travelling for the hunting experience but with one
additional aspect. There are strict rules for behaving in the past environment. The
company who conducts such expansive trips sends two of their employees Travis, the
guide, and Lesperance, the zoologist, to the prehistoric past. In the “time machine“
both men tell Eckels, the customer, about each possible outcome if something is
going to be changed in the past, as Travis explained to him: “A Time Machine is
finicky business. Not knowing it, we might kill an important animal, small bird, a
roach, a flower even, thus destroying an important link in a growing species.“
(Classic Stories 1- From The Golden Apples of the Sun and R is for Rocket, 1990, p.
214). Travis then explains that killing one mouse can lead to killing hundreds of
offspring of various species including the hominids. It needs to be emphasized that
such theory in 50‘s must seemed pretty elaborated and from today‘s perspective it
shares quite a reasonable number of similiraties (for example time paradoxes
presented in the animated series Futurama, 1999-2013). Bradbury also enjoys, as in
The Fog Horn, the description of nature and what was happening around. He is also a
critique of himself and other selves, he respects that his theories might be wrong, for
instance: “Perhaps only a soft breath a whisper, a hair, pollen on the air, such a
slight, slight change that unless you looked close you wouldn‘t see it. Who knows?
Who really can say he knows? We don‘t know. We‘re guessing.“ (Classic Stories 1From The Golden Apples of the Sun and R is for Rocket, 1990, p. 215-216). The
story ends neither negativelly, nor positivelly, but there happened a change in the
course of history which is based on Eckels‘ fear of Tyrannosaurus Rex. His stepping
on a butterfly during teh standoff with Tyrannosaurus Rex leads to the change of the
presidential elections they talked about before the trip. Bradbury shares his fears that
even the slightest change, like killing the butterfly, can cause immeasurable
alterations in the society, as Miroslava Genčiová explains in her comparative genre
study (Vědeckofanatstická literatura, 1980, p. 127-128). At the beginning of the story
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the group enjoys the outcome of the presidential elections. The new president Keith
would make a fine president unlike his rival Deutscher whom the group think of as a
dictator. Nevertheless, the end of the story depicts quite the opposite. When the
group finally reaches the present, the receptionist behind the desk says that Keith is a
weakling and that they finally have got an iron man, a man with guts.
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4. Chapter IV: Comparison of Aldous Huxley and Ray Bradbury
Comparison of Huxley and Bradbury is divided into the subchapters for the
specific reason: there might occur a potential confusion whether the comparison is
based only on the analysed novels (Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451) or is
strictly general.
Subchapters 4.1 – 4.7. deal with the comparison of dystopian novels Brave
New World and Fahrenheit 451 only. In these subchapters it will be answered
whether Huxley and Bradbury share some similarities or where they differ. This is
extended by the subsequent explanation of what might have caused the similarities
and differencies. Basically, each important theme is compared individually in order
to present the particular difference or similarity either from the literary perspective or
the authors‘ personal perspective.
Comparison in subchapter 4.8. includes other information than those
presented in Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451 and, thus, provide the supplement
for subchapters 4.1 – 4.7. The supplement incorporates other short stories analyzed in
the previous chapters and information about the authors based on the bibliography,
references and web sources (contemporary ideas and concepts, usually university or
educational, are frequent in this subchapter in order to present their validity in the
21st century). Lastly, subchapter 4.9. summarizes the Huxley‘s and Bradbury‘s ideas
and concepts in a form of future reference, inviting the reader to realize the
importance and the impact which Huxley and Bradbury had on later writers and
artists.
4.1.
Comparison of the writing style and language
The reader of both books is able to recognize the difference of style and
language in both novels. Aldous Huxley describes the World State and its society in
every dimension possible in order to provide as many details of his universe by
applying scientific neologisms based on his extensive knowledge. Nevertheless, it is
peculiar that Huxley does so in a style called “taunting“. For example, as Shmoop
- 32 -
presents it: “…Huxley delays the disclosure of important information… Even then,
we‘re never explicitly told what‘s up – we‘re just given enough info to put two and
two together ourselves or the way the reader finds out about John‘s death “…we‘re
being taunted with the prospect of a cash-in moment when all will be revealed.“
(Brave New World Writing Style, 2008).
Bradbury on the other hand describes the environment and events making a
scientific reference, nor does he applies so many neologisms like Huxley does. In
Fahrenheit 451 Bradbury uses colloquial language and rather focuses on the story.
To quote Shmoop Editorial Team: “While this novel isn‘t praised for its sentence
construction, it‘s famous today for its story, its message, its important questions and
incredibly relevant concerns“ (Fahrenheit 451 Writing Style, 2008).
4.2.
Comparison of the historical and social context
From the previous chapters it is quite obvious that both books were published
in different time periods. Huxley was influenced by the technological advancement
and model Ford T, first car produced on an assembly line in history. Brave New
World serves as Huxley‘s warning to mankind, as David Pearce and BLTC Research
point out in their article: “It is his attempt to make man realize that since knowledge
is power, he who controls and uses knowledge wields the power. Science and
technology should be the servants of man - man should not be adapted and enslaved
to them.“ (Brave New World Monarch Notes: Introduction to Aldous Huxley, 2008).
Bradbury was influenced by the era of McCarthy and he feared potential book
censoring or even burning. It is well documented in Gene Beley‘s biography in
chapter 16 (The Joe McCarthy Influence): “...there were threats about censoring
books in libraries, but no action was taken.“ and he also suggests that McCarthy‘s
cloak of invisibility was Bradbury‘s seed of anger that grew into Fahrenheit 451
(Ray Bradbury: Uncensored! The Unauthorized Biography, 2006, p. 139-141).
Both authors published their novels after the world war. However, each world
war had a different impact on both authors, which also signals the difference between
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modernism and postmodernism. As Zdeněk Novotný suggests: “The technological
successes of the 19th century strengthened the optimistic belief about infallibility and
rightness of reason. On the other hand the experience of early 20th century – use of
technology in both world wars, culminating during holocaust in gas chambers and
ending with Hiroshima and Nagasaki – shew how atrocious can be the consequences
of this modernism. The sense of safety and security is getting lost; nothing is
guaranteed, anything is possible.“ (translated from Jak (se) učit, 2004, p. 137).
Basically, World War II made the writers cautious about the technology and
its consequences if put to the “wrong hands“. Since Brave New World was published
before the First World War, it is remarkable that Huxley shares some similarities
about science and technology and quite often negativelly highlights the importance
of science which helped to shape the World State and also urges for containment of
science, as Mustapha Mond tells John “Science is dangerous; we have to keep it
most carefully chained and muzzled.“ (Brave New World, 2004, p. 198). On the
other hand, Bradbury rather emphasizes his disillusionment about technological
advancement and overuse of the word points out the alienation of people between
each other and technology as well, like in the conversation between Clarisse and
Montag: “Is it true that long ago firemen put fires out instead of going to start
them?... No. Houses have always been fireproof, take my word for it.“ (Fahrenheit
451, 1991, p. 8).
4.3.
Comparison of the conception of the head theme
Huxley‘s conception of “hidden message“ can be summarized by Huxley‘s
own words: “the theme of Brave New World is the advancement of science as it
affects human individuals.“ In 1931, when he was writing his novel, each advance in
science and technology was being hailed not only as evidence of man‘s progress but
also as the hope of man‘s future. Huxley felt that this unqualified praise of science
was wrong, that man‘s advances in science and technology were fraught with
danger, that the misuse of knowledge results in evil, not good. Projecting his novel
into the future he offers a picture of the world as it might become if Man becomes
subservient to Science rather than Science subservient to Man.“ (Brave New World
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Monarch Notes: Introduction to Aldous Huxley, 2008). Generally, simplification and
taking “things“ for granted lead to the opportunity for organizing the World State
society in A.F. 632. Eventually, the people in the World State felt that the world
order is adequate.
Bradbury was on the other hand afraid of lack of interest in books and in
asking questions. Julian Moore expands the concept in his article: “The novel itself
warns us of the dangers of anti-intellectualism, increasing violence, instant
gratification, the dissolution of schools, the rising hum of technological devices, and
many more things in his classic novel Fahrenheit 451.“ (Bradbury‘s Fahrenheit 451
and His Warnings for Our Future, 2005).
To sum up, Huxley feared the world order where there is no need for asking
questions because nobody would care; and Bradbury feared that it would be
undesirable to ask the questions. Nonetheless, both share the similarity in the
conception of individualism which is essential for critical thinking (critical thinking
is a typical feature of modernism and postmodernism as Zdeněk Novotný quite often
summarizes in his lectures). The only difference is that the World State was
organized by the reason and the city in Bradbury‘s novel was organized
unintentionally.
4.4.
Comparison of the story‘s characters
In Brave New World the reader might have the feeling that there is not the
only one main protagonist. There are at least two, Bernard Marx and John the Savage
and some might also suggest Lenina, Helmholtz, DHC Thomas or even Mustapha
Mond. Somehow it is not clear whether the main character is Bernard or John. Yet,
to some extent we realize later in the novel that the rest of the mentioned characters
are not the protagonists as the reader would have thought at the beginning. It can be
said that each chapter has its main character. To sum it up, according to David Pearce
and BLTC Research, character serves as a spokesman of Huxley‘s ideas and beliefs
(Brave New World Monarch Notes: Introduction to Aldous Huxley, 2008) and,
therefore, it might lead to the assumption that the reader is not exactly sure who is
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the main protagonist in Brave New World because Huxley‘s ideas and beliefs matter
the most.
Bradbury clearly defined the main character as Guy Montag. Everything that
happens or is described in the novel, happens around Montag or it is related to him.
The supporting characters enrich and develop Montag. Julian Moore summarizes it
adequately in his article: “Clarisse, in her silly childlike way makes Montag question
everything he ever believed about life. They are walking along chattering and she
asks him the question that changes his life – “Are you happy?“ She asks.“
(Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and His Warnings for Our Future, 2005).
4.5.
Comparison of the story‘s setting
Huxley set his story in the future because he wanted to show the significant
difference between the world that used to be before model Ford T was assembled and
the current world derived from the events influenced by the first assembled car like
the nine-year civil war and advancement in technology such as hypnopaedic
teaching. According to David Pearce and BLTC Research, Huxley feared the
accelerated technological progress which will consume people and, thus, formation
of such state described in Brave New World (Brave New World Monarch Notes:
Introduction to Aldous Huxley, 2008).
Same as Huxley, Bradbury set the story in the future. But in the novel it does
not seem to be the most important element to be aware of, as Shmoop Editorial Team
claims in his article: “We get a sense of the world in which this story takes place
from a variety of details“ (Fahrenheit 451 Setting, 2008) such as technological
advancement, massmediazitation, alienation among people. Only once the reader is
aware of the time period, as in: “We‘ve started and won two atomic wars since
1990“ (Fahrenheit 451, 1991, p. 73). The reader somehow knows the story is set in
future but not that distant as in Brave New World.
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4.6.
Comparison of the story‘s ending
Huxley defied the status quo and social values of his times. He did not want
to step back from his opinions and it can be elaborated that the negative ending could
have a more severe impact on one‘s mind, essentially nobody would want such
ending to happen. John the Savage killed himself because the World State‘s system
was too much for him to handle and rather chose death after all the resistance
because none of his actions suggest the World State changed somehow. “John tries
to make an escape by secluding himself at the lighthouse, but his self-mutilation
there distorts what ought to be a return to normalcy, to his own world. His death
may be thrilling, but it isn't exactly an escape and return. Or is it? If John defined the
difference between the two worlds as being that of suffering and the absence of
suffering, then his death was either the ultimate form of self-punishment, or the
ultimate escape from suffering.“ as Shmoop Editorial Team states in his article
(Brave New World as Booker‘s Seven Basic Plots Analysis: Voyage and Return Plot,
2008). The ending of the novel can result in us thinking that no matter what John the
Savage did to save himself, the World State will always be too much for him to
handle.
However, some may have an impression that Bradbury ended his novel more
positivelly than Huxley. Shmoop Editorial Team compares Fahrenheit 451‘s ending
to the biblical idea of “the tree of life“, for example: “Something is destroyed, but
something is created at the same time … To everything there is a season. A time to
break down, and a time to build up.“ (Fahrenheit 451 Ending, 2008). Some may
argue that the vast eradication of people due to the bombing is also a negative
ending, but still Bradbury planted the seeds of hope in his ending and everything will
be eventually good as the righteous inherit the Earth. On the other hand, Bradbury
was sometimes as sceptical as Huxley. He was aware of the situation in the USA and
it is truly enlightening to read the humble opinions of Granger‘s group in the novel
(see the quote on p. 27 in subchapter 3.1.).
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4.7.
Comparison of the authors‘ personal conceptions and opinions
on various themes
The second part of the comparison is dedicated to the daily-basis topics on
which each author reflected in a different way. Of course, the other person dealing
with the same topic might find different topics for comparison.
The religious themes are approached quite similarly. Both authors find the
Holy Bible to be an essential reading resource and both are aware of the significance
of religion in general, for example Granger considers The Book of Ecclesiastes a
“fine reading“, Mustapha Mond has the Holy Bible locked in his vault and is able to
quote from it as well. For Mustapha Mond the drug soma is “Christianity without
tears“. Both then expand on religion. Montag is aware of shallowness of Mildred‘s
friends and Huxley goes over the limits. Huxley is more critical of the organized
religion than Bradbury, according to Eva Mádrová “Stability is considered to be the
highest value due to which the traditional values [for example religion] had to be
deleted and the references concerning them prohibited.“ (The de-individualization in
Brave New World and Island by Aldous Huxley, 2011, s. 30). For instance, when
Mustapha Mond explains the order in the World to John the Savage: “One of the
numerous things in heaven and earth that these philosophers didn‘t dream about was
this“ (he waved his hand), “us, the modern world. You can only be independent of
God while you‘ve got youth and prosperity; independence won‘t take you safely to
the end.“ (Brave New World, 2004, p. 206).
The issues about ethnicity are more elaborated in Fahrenheit 451 than in
Brave New World. For example, Captain Beatty explains Montag that the current
situation was based on the differencies between minorities and their rights where
ethnic groups belong to as well “The bigger your market, Montag, the less you
handle controversy“ says Captain Beatty (Fahrenheit 451, 1991, p. 57). It is the
author‘s opinion on an outcome of what may happen in future if people will not
cooperate and will not tolerate each other‘s beliefs and opinions in a respectful
manner, which actually summarizes Bradbury‘s humanistic tendencies as Miroslava
Genčiová corresponds to it in her comparative genre study (Vědeckofanatstická
literatura, 1980, p. 107-108). Huxley depicts the racial differencies on the theory of
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castes which is rather based on Darwins‘s principles of natural selection as Tereza
Zbíralová suggests in her thesis (Konec civilizace Aldouse Huxleyho a koncepce
ideálního státu v evropské filozofii, 2008, p. 6). However, from the World State
perspective, could someone say the situation is unbearable and needs radical change?
Each caste has its role and work in the society which is based on its conditioning.
According to Martin Zapletal, Marriage and relationships are strongly
opposed in Brave New World because Huxley defines the society which does not
need such convenience as marriage or serious relationship. Family members (mother
and father) are considered vulgar, for example, Helmholtz laughed on Juliet‘s
parents‘ attitudes when John was reading him an extract from Romeo and Juliet
(Concept of Family in Selected Works of Dystopian Fiction, 2013, p. 21). It is
considered normal to have recreational sex with various number of people. Huxley
predicts the worst possible outcome, unlike Bradbury who basically keeps the same
concept of marriage, family and relationships but through the progress of time,
followed by simplification of people‘s lives, it leads to the different attitude toward
them, as Martin Zapletal summarizes in his thesis “There is no emotional connection
between Guy and Mildred due to the many intrusions into their life. The causes for
this may be multiple, but mainly it is faulty system of values that Mildred adopted,
namely the one that does not recognize sharing experience with the partner (spouse).
Although Guy is deeply attached to Mildred (or to what she used to be) when
escaping the city, she seems to be emotionally burnt out.“ (Concept of Family in
Selected Works of Dystopian Fiction, 2013, p. 60). Marriage is still marriage, family
is still family, but in each period it means something different, for example, when
Clarisse tells Montag about the children: “Sometimes I‘m ancient. I‘m afraid of
children my own age. They kill each other. Did it always used to be that way? My
uncle says no. Six of my friends have been shot in the last year alone.“ (Fahrenheit
451, 1991, p. 30).
The approach towards the government, the urges to mention behavior,
education, leisure time, social roles and social status must not be omitted because
they share a very important connection. When Bradbury writes about the presidential
election, he wants to show the readers what it would be like if our minds became
simplified, for example Mildred‘s friend Mrs. Bowles votes for the president because
he is nicest-looking person and the rival, though highly articulated, is not voted for
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by her because he mumbles. It is quite obvious that Bradbury cared about the US
political life (after all Fahrenheit 451 was influenced by mccarthyism and its
potential outcomes) which is well documented in Gene Beley‘s biography, when he
spent 200$ on a display ad message to Senator McCarthy that appeared in Daily
Variety on November 5th, 1954: “Remember, this is a two-party system. If you don‘t,
next you‘ll be out on your ass. We will send you back to Salem where you belong for
witch hunts.“ (Ray Bradbury: Uncensored! The Unauthorized Biography, 2006).
Also it seems that in Fahrenheit 451 people just “do“ something for the sake of
“doing it“. They never think about anything important, it is obvious that they do not
consider their role in the society. It appears that they are guided by someone or
something, in Mildred‘s life the TV wall was dominant. The firemen do their job and
do not ask questions. The education could not expand the individual spirit like in
Clarisse‘s case, especially when all the universities were closed down due to lack of
students. All that, unfortunately, happened naturally, people were lead toward this
order by actions like minorities‘ rights or fireproof houses. No one seems to be
seizing control of the important values in Fahrenheit 451. But Huxley‘s approach is
totally different than Bradbury‘s. Huxley‘s portrayal of government can be described
as the governement influencing the world order and seizing the status quo. Example
of seizing the status quo is obvious in creating the cult of personality (Our Lord,
Ford) as Tereza Zbíralová summarizes in her thesis (Konec civilizace Aldouse
Huxleyho a koncepce ideálního státu v evropské filozofii, 2008, p. 21). Bradbury
defines the state where the government and its people are influenced by the world
order and status quo for each period is derived from the current situation. That is the
reason why the World State has a monopol on everything: education, conditioning,
leisure time, behavior, relationships, job, social role, social status, and so on.
However, one important element must be mentioned, to some extent, even the World
State was derived from the natural cause. It is Huxley who focused on two events in
history (assembly line and hypnopaedia) and then derives every other action from
these two.
Technological and scientific advancement is present in both books. Both
novels are set in the future abundant with modern technology. Both authors describe
the machinery not present in the date of each novel‘s publication. As in Verne‘s and
other sci-fi writers‘ propositions, even Huxley and Bradbury predicted something yet
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unpresent in the days of writing their books. Huxley was even more scientific, as
mentioned earlier, than Bradbury. His ideas about hypnopaedia, creating and
nurturing babies, short-time flights, and more have much in common with the recent
times. For example, it is commonly known how much damage can alcohol cause in
the bloodstream of a pregnant woman. Or Bradbury‘s TV walls quite resemble the
plasma or LCD televisions. Mechanical hound, even though based on Baskerville‘s
hound, was not developed in exact detail, but today‘s science is able to create a dogrobot. To sum up the approach towards advancement, both authors use technological
conveniencies as facilitating tools which lead to the lack of critical thinking, as Jitka
Kratochvílová claims in her thesis (Role of Technics in Chosen Works of World
Anti-totalitarian Sci-fi Literature, 2009, p. 16).
In accordance with Miroslava Genčiová‘s comparative genre study, in his
novel, Ray Bradbury warns against over-mechanized world, besotting system via
mass media resources, shallow hatred toward everything noble and culture, and
american way of life (translated from Vědeckofanatstická literatura, 1980, p. 42).
Each novel generates a lot of effort on the importance of reading books. In Brave
New World reading leads to individualism, which in turn leads to critical thinking
and, thus, forced uniformity in thinking must be established as Ondřej Neff and
Jaroslav Olša jr. suggest in their book (Encyklopedie literatury science fiction, 1995,
p. 270). Therefore, people are taught from the early childhood through hypnopaedia
what they should like and how should they behave. Mustapha Mond explains to John
that books are old and thus, should not be read because they refer to old things.
People must buy new things and not stick to the old ones otherwise they would not
buy the new ones (Brave New World, 1994, p. 193). What remains in the World
State are handbooks, manuals, recipes and annotations. People do not know how
these were created or invented (a recipe for instance) but know only how to use the
item accordingly. Bradbury‘s main idea is burning the books and, therefore, it made
the “culture“ the main topic of his novel. For Bradbury, reading is essential to
become a (critically) thinking, intellectually developed human being. Rationalization
like Beatty‘s that the books made people unhappy and sad are quite common in
Fahrenheit 451, which was portrayed on the occassion of Mrs. Phelps bursting out.
Bradbury emphasizes the significance of the book and its reading, for instance when
the group of survival-intellectuals (Granger‘s group) found a way to preserve a book.
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When anyone from the group reads some book, thanks to the preservational
technique, they are allowed to burn the books because they already have them
memorized. Such technique is based on retriving the already read book from the
memory because once a book is read, suddenly it becomes a part of a memory.
4.8.
Supplement: Differencies and similarities in general
Huxley and Bradbury are different personalities but are not as different as some
would think. Each of them was born in different time, shaped and was influenced by
different phenomenons. Huxley was more afraid of outcomes of human actions than
Bradbury. He was more critical and much more defied the system and its values and
status quo. That may be the reason why he experienced with drugs and later in his
life changed his attitudes and became more spiritual in his writing, evident, for
example, in his last novel Island as Ondřej Neff and Jaroslav Olša jr. implicate
(Encyklopedie literatury science fiction, 1995, 271). Bradbury seems to be the writer
who is dissatisfied with McCarthyism, and makes remarks on it (see quote in
subchapter 4.7. concerning an ad he published in Daily Varietes) or is mesmerized by
a certain phenomenon like time-travelling or the butterfly effect which served as a
basis for his short stories, as Miroslava Genčiová mentions in her comparative genre
study (Vědeckofanatstická literatura, 1980, p. 128).
Like Huxley, Bradbury shares, too, disillusionment with the human behavior, as
if he knew who the humans really were. Eventually, the person acts in a manner he
was programmed to, like in A Sound of Thunder. Where they are similar, they differ
in their approach, Huxley was the person questioning “everything“ but Bradbury
seems to be the person possessing hope, a person who did not give up on people, the
quote after the bombing at the end of the book can summarize such fact: “To
everything there is a season. Yes. A time to break down, and a time to build up. Yes.
A time to keep silence and a time to speak. Yes, all that. But what else. What else?
Something, something…“ (Fahrenheit 451, 1991, p. 165). Huxley‘s dissillusionment
can be demonstrated on his portrayal of John the Savage. At the beginning it seems
he is getting along in the World State and the reader somehow feels the sudden and
quick change in John‘s behavior. Such phenomenon can be seen, for example, in the
- 42 -
situation of immigrants‘ early amazement in the United States of America upon their
first arrival to the country. Later, however, the reader is aware of John‘s
dissatisfaction with the World State order and is afterwards haunted and destroyed by
the people of the World State which Ondřej Neff and Jaroslav Olša jr. understands as
“a pessimistic impression of this work“ (translated from Encyklopedie literatury
science fiction, 1995, p. 270). Where there is hope and better tomorrow in
Bradbury‘s Fahrenheit 451, there is destruction and death in Huxley‘s Brave New
World. According to David Brin, Bradbury‘s optimism can be defined as such: “The
science-fiction icon transformed the genre, but behind dystopian stories was real
hope for the future“ (Ray Bradbury, American optimist, 2012).
In general terms, it can be said that both Huxley and Bradbury, as Ondřej Neff
and Jaroslav Olša jr. mention in their book, share anti-technological tendencies
(Encyklopedie literatury science fiction, 1995, p. 201, 270) but Bradbury seems to be
less critical of the scientific and technological development than Huxley. In various
stories, according to Miroslava Gončiová, the fondness in such elements is quite
obvious (idea adopted from Vědeckofanatstická literatura, 1980, p. 53). Such
elements are the time machine (in A Sound of Thunder and The Time Machine),
spacetravelling and aliens (in The Martian Chronicles), the dinosaur-like beast (in
The Fog Horn). A Sound of Thunder expands the butterfly effect theory, Fahrenheit
451 describes regular house appliances now considered ordinary, like HD television.
Huxley on the other hand described such discoveries that are still currently
impracticable, bokanovskification (explanation on page 17), hypnopaedic teaching
and such. Distinguishing between Huxley and Bradbury is in the matter of applying
of science and technology. Huxley created it for the sake of the story but Bradbury is
the incorporator of science and technology. Bradbury was stunned by some
achievement or theory, like “the butterfly effect theory“. He then elaborated it into
some abstract such as the consequences when someone steps on a butterfly in the
past while travelling in time. In conclusion, Bradbury wants people to think of life in
a different way. To understand humans as being small in comparison with the nature
and universe and that even small details if changed in the past could cause a different
outcome in human‘s history whic can be roughly understood as being careful of
making current mistakes because they might sever consequences in our future.
- 43 -
4.9.
Future reference
The last subchapter focuses on the authors and genres that share similarity with
Huxley and Bradbury or were influnced by those authors. In order to accomplish the
aim of this thesis through bridging the gap between Chapter IV and Chapter V, the
practical part needs to be introduced.
Firstly, it must be mentioned that the time periods of both authors were
overflowing with sci-fi literature. Unlike in the previous century, the sci-fi genre was
already established (see Chapter I). Aldous Huxley extended the dystopian literature
alongside with George Orwell and Ray Bradbury expanded the sci-fi genre, now
considered classic. It was primarily these authors who did not allow the sci-fi genre
to cease to exist. The authors, however, co-existed with other significant sci-fi
authors like Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert A. Heinlein, Philip K. Dick,
Stanislaw Lem, Ursula K. Le Guin, Michael Crichton and others. Such co-existence
can be documented on Playboy Book of Science Fiction (1998) where each writer
gained recognition and popularity. Nevertheless, the authors mentioned above,
including Ray Bradbury, belong to the period after the World War II to the
postmodern literature which means, is set after the Golden Age of Science Fiction as
Ondřej Neff and Jaroslav Olša jr. claim (Encyklopedie literatury science fiction,
1995, p. 35).
Secondly, during the lifetime of Huxley and Bradbury, tremendous number of
genres came to existence. According to Ondřej Neff and Jaroslav Olša jr., such
genres are Steampunk (during the late 80‘s and early 90‘s), New Wave (in 60’s in the
UK and then in the US), Hardcore Sci-fi (firstly used by P. Schuyler Miller in 1957),
Sword and Sorcery (the term coined in 1960 by F. Leiber but used before by Edgar
Rice Burroughs or Robert E. Howard), Technothriller (during the 80‘s, dominantly
adopted by Michael Crichton) (Encyklopedie literatury science fiction, 1995, p. 2935).
However, there is a genre that is strongly influenced by Bradbury, Huxley and
the authors mentioned previously. Such genre is known as cyberpunk sub-genre.
Ondřej Neff and Jaroslav Olša jr describe in their book, cyberpunk serves as another
- 44 -
level in sci-fi literature (Encyklopedie literatury science fiction, 1995, p. 30-31).
Cyberpunk omits the fantasizing part and focuses on the prediction of the society
during the short period of time which, from the closer perspective, does not seem
optimistic. As they also points out, the difference between the genres is setting in
cyberpunk novels, mostly in the nearest future (30-50 years from the present) unlike
in space opera (usually set eons in the future). Cyberpunk is much closer to the
present situation than the rest of the genres because science and technology in
cyberpunk stories are derived from the current position. Martin Zapletal illustrates it
in his thesis as follows, the aspects of cyberpunk related to the current situation can
be traced in the conception of themes in Philip K. Dick‘s Do Androids Dream of
Electrci Sheep? (1968) whic are, for example, sexuality, solidarity or altruism.
The similarity of the aforementioned genres with Huxley and Bradbury is
obvious because of the themes and conception of those. Basically, all themes are
repeating themselves in sci-fi novels, no matter the time period the novels were
published. It cannot absolutely be said that there is a direct link between Bradbury or
even Huxley and cyberpunk. But the dystopian themes which are present in the
novels, can be regularly found in any bookshelf or library. Therefore, once some
book is read, it means it wil influence and forever stuck in someone‘s mind which
later forms the imagination and questions of young people in their theses who are
interested enough in sci-fi and its sub-genres while growing up. Similar question,
whether Bradbury and Huxley or sci-fi in general can influence other people (in this
thesis – the high school students) is elaborated in the practical part in Chapter V.
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PRACTICAL PART
5. Chapter V: Practical use of Huxley‘s and Bradbury‘s ideas
5.1.
Expectations of the teaching practice
The practical part of this thesis is aimed on practical use of, in my opinion, few
strong ideas and concepts recognizable in their works, in this case, Brave New
World, Fahrenheit 451, and other analysed works from the previous chapters.
Specifically, it means that short extract from the book, which contains some idea
worth consideration, is going to be presented in front of the class, supplemented with
the tasks related to the extracts. For understanding the teaching practice and its aim it
is also essential to read the lesson plans provided in subchapters 5.1. and 5.2. with
their corresponding enclosures.
This chapter covers two lessons of two different classes on grammar school,
Gymnázium Šumperk. First lesson deals with students from the 4th year from the
English seminar class in 90 minutes and second lesson deals with students from the
2nd year from the regular mixed English class within 45 minutes. The students from
the 4th year were given linguistically more challenging extract from Aldous
Huxley‘s Brave New World and the students from the 2nd year were given 2 short
extracts from Ray Bradbury‘s Fahrenheit 451.
In order to comprehend the extracts, the students were given the related tasks
primarily focused on conversation but also on the grammar, vocabulary and English
in use. During the lessons students are supposed to think about new opinions and
ideas (or to be provoked) and re-evaluate their actions in real life. Simply put, based
on the extracts the students should become aware of some change and that something
is happening in their minds, even on the smaller scale.
The main reason to present Huxley and Bradbury in a lesson is to show the
students some valuable and solid ideas and conceptions from the sci-fi genre. Firstly,
- 46 -
it is to show the students that sci-fi literature can be readable and, to some extent, fun
and, secondly, that such literature possess valid and excellent ideas worth thinking
and considering in a matter of personal introspective and re-evaluation. It is not
expected that the students will be different but will at least become aware of some
ideas, for example reading the books which they should not take lightly or even take
for granted. Thirdly, it is to make the students think hard over some controversial
issues they are going to cover during the lesson. What matters are the opinions of
students and the fact, that they will be at lest thinking about it, is sufficient. It is
expected at the end of the lesson that all aforementioned aims of teaching will be
summarized in a form of feedback-like questionnaire. Additionally, the whole
teaching practice including the questionnaire is going to be presented in the
summary, supplemented by the diagrams.
- 47 -
5.2.
Lesson plan: Teaching of the 4th-year students in the English
seminar
School: Gymnázium Šumperk
Date: 3rd April 2014
Subject: English seminar
Class: Seminar class of VIII.A, 4.A, 4.B, 4.C
Teacher trainee: Karel Chladil
Supervising teacher: George Haag
Topic: Aldous Huxley and Brave New World
Length: 90 minutes
RVP: 5.1.2. Foreign languages: Realia of the countries of the language studied
Aims:
-
The students know the basic information about Aldous Huxley and Brave New
World
-
The students are willing to provide reasonable arguments concerning Huxley‘s ideas
-
The students are able to think about Huxley‘s issues and opinions in order to use
them in real life
Curriculum: Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
Input knowledge: British literature, sci-fi literature, English language B1/B2
Subsequent curriculum: Realia: Canada
Tools: extract from the book, handout, blackboard
Methods: presentation, dialogue, group work, pair work, group discussion
Lesson organization:
1) Organizational matters (5 min)
2) Warm-up activity (5 min)
3) Author introduction (10 min)
4) Reading exercise (15 min)
5) Grammar exercise (10 min)
6) Writing exercise (15 min)
7) Discussion (20 min)
8) Feedback (10 min)
- 48 -
Contents of the lesson:
1) Organizational matters (5 min)
- Greeting the class, absence, apologies
- Presentation of the teacher trainee and his goals
2) Warm-up activity (5 min)
- The teacher is going to ask the students several questions: about their knowledge of
literature, whether they read in general, what is their opinion of sci-fi literature, or if
they know some authors
3) Author introduction (10 min)
- Brief introduction of Aldous Huxley: “He is an English writer between the world
wars and is known for his criticism of the society and questionning the values and
status quo. Huxley belongs to the compulsory reading list in the UK and US high
schools.“
- Short summarization of Brave New World: “It‘s a book describing the perfect
society in future which is based on Henry Ford‘s achievement, first assembled car
(For model T). In this book the author criticizes the consumeristic society having,
basically, everything. Even though the book describes the scientific achievement and
technological development like hypnopaedia or genetic engineering, generally, the
people are bred as cattle, can‘t think on their own, can‘t be in solitude, can‘t have
family which is frown upon as something lesser. When John the Savage from the
Reservation visits the World State, he functions as some sort of depiction of
everything wrong happening in the World State. After the disillusionment, he defies
the system and has a long conversation with the World State Controller Mustapha
Mond explaining John the true meaning of the World State and its order. One of such
conversations is in your extracts.“
- Tell students why they are reading it (the students must have basic idea of what
Brave New World is about)
4) Reading exercise (15 min)
See “Appendix 1: Handout #1 for the 4th-year students“ and “Appendix 2: Handout
#2 for the 4th-year students“ (p. 67-68)
- 49 -
5) Grammar exercise (10 min)
See “Appendix 3: Handout #3 for the 4th-year students“ (p. 69)
6) Writing exercise (15 min)
See “Appendix 4: Handout #4 for the 4th-year students“ (p.70)
7) Discussion (20 min)
See “Appendix 5: Handout #5 for the 4th-year students“ (p. 71)
8) Feedback (10 min)
- Students will be given a questionnaire r in order to provide the feedback of the
lesson, see “Appendix 6: Feedback-related questionnaire for the 4th-year students“
(p. 72)
- They are asked to answer the questionnaire related to their recently obtained
knowledge and information.
- 50 -
5.3.
Lesson plan: Teaching of the 2nd-year students in the English
lesson
School: Gymnázium Šumperk
Date: 18th April 2014
Subject: English lesson
Class: Mixed class of 2.A, 2.B, 2.C
Teacher trainee: Karel Chladil
Supervising teacher: George Haag
Topic: Ray Bradbury and Fahrenheit 451
Length: 45 minutes
RVP: 5.1.2. Foreign languages: Realia of the countries of the language studied
Aims:
-
The students know the basic information about Ray Bradbury and Fahrenheit
451
-
The students are willing to provide reasonable arguments concerning
Bradbury‘s ideas
-
The students are able to think about Bradbury‘s issues and opinions in order
to use them in real life
Curriculum: Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
Input knowledge: British literature, sci-fi literature, English language B1
Subsequent curriculum: Textbook
Tools: extract from the book, handout, blackboard
Methods: presentation, dialogue, group work, pair work, group discussion
Lesson organization:
1) Organizational matters (2 min)
2) Warm-up activity (5 min)
3) Author introduction (10 min)
4) Reading exercise (10 min)
5) Discussion (15 min)
6) Feedback (3 min)
- 51 -
Contents of the lesson:
1) Organizational matters (2 min)
- Greeting the class, absence, apologies
- Presentation of the teacher trainee and his goals
2) Warm-up activity (5 min)
- The teacher is going to ask the students several questions: Do you consider sci-fi a
good/valuable literature?; Do you think that sci-fi has something to tell us?; Why do
you think some authors write sci-fi?; What do you think made them write sci-fi?; Do
you like sci-fi or not and why? (use of small blue ball)
3) Author introduction (10 min)
- Brief introduction of Ray Bradbury: “He is an American sci-fi writer. He is
publicly known and highly acclaimed for his ideas all over the world. His ideas and
fears were summarized in Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles). Bradbury
belongs to the compulsory reading list in the UK and US high schools.“
- Short summarization of Fahrenheit 451: “Provoked by the McCarthyism, Bradbury
was afraid of potential book burning during 50‘s. The novel is about firemen who
burn books instead of putting out fires. The setting is in future in some American
town. Bradbury depicts how society changed during the scientific achievement and
technological development. Thanks to that the people tend to be more docile and due
having “everything“ lack critical thinking. Basically, people are used to some
standard, have anything they want in order to kill time and regular values we
consider important like nature, education, socializing, family, nation, morale, etc.
are frown upon and mocked. In some extracts you will be able to see the shifts of how
something regular become abnormal.“
- Tell students why they are reading it (the students must have basic idea of what is
Fahrenheit 451 about)
4) Reading exercise (10 min)
See “Appendix 8: Handout #1 for the 2nd-year students“ and “Appendix 9:
Handout #2 for the 2nd-year students“ (p. 74-75)
- 52 -
7) Discussion (20 min)
See “Appendix 9: Handout #2 for the 2nd-year students“ (p. 75)
8) Feedback (3 min)
- Students will be given a questionnaire r in order to provide the feedback of the
lesson, see “Appendix 10: Feedback-related questionnaire for the 2nd-year students“
(p. 76)
- They are asked to answer the questionnaire related to their recently obtained
knowledge and information.
- 53 -
5.4.
Summary of the teaching practice
Both lessons taught on the grammar school, Gymnázium Šumperk, received
positive reactions which are supported by the feedback-like questionnaire (p. 72, 76)
and its derived diagrams (p. 73, 77) for each class (the questionnaire was given to all
students from both classes at the end of the lesson or seminar) and which are also
based on the feedback of supervising teacher. Additionally, the feedback from both
lessons was extended by numerous interviews with a few students. That all leads to
conclusion that such literature can be taught in the English lessons or seminars in
grammar schools, however, few following principles must be upheld.
Students from the 4th year did not consider the text comprehensible enough
and therefore other tasks and questions related to the extract were based on their lack
of comprehension. Some of the students from the 4th year also claimed the sci-fi
genre was boring and, therefore, the participation on the tasks took their toll.
According to the supervising teacher, the text was comprehensible enough, even
though the English level of the students of the 4th year was not B2, but the
presentation of the lesson‘s topic had few disruptive elements which eventually lead
to problems with comprehension. Secondly, the tasks related to the extract were not
presented in a simple and clear manner and the students received an unreasonable
amount of handouts. Overall, the students managed the reading and other tasks
sufficiently with proper enthusiasm effectively summarized in the questionnaire and
the diagram.
Students from the 2nd year presented different situation from the previous
one. Supervising teacher claimed, the English of the students from the 2nd year was
better than the English of the students from the 4th year. Although the students from
the 2nd year were given the less challenging extract, non of them displayed any
particular problem with comprehension. The students were more active and asked
more questions than the students from the 4th year. Nonetheless, trhe supervising
teacher considered this lesson lucky because through the mistakes the teaching
trainee had done, the students showed themselves to be more intuitive in a manner of
what they were supposed to do because the extract was comprehensible enough.
- 54 -
To sum it up, the teaching practice was not conducted for the sake of mere
teaching nor it was not conducted for the reason of forcing sci-fi literature on
someone during teaching. The teaching practice served as a demonstration of
practical use of some valuable and strong ideas and concepts found in Brave New
World and Fahrenheit 451. Based on the diagrams of the questionnaire it is quite
obvious that both novels had some impact on students. Few of them displayed
enthusiasm to read these books or to become more active reader in general. Based on
the diagrams, it is fair to say that students from grammar school manifested that they
were capable of elaborated answers and that they were thinking avidly over some
questions presented either in the task assignments or the questionnaire.
- 55 -
CONCLUSION
Through chapters I-IV we were introduced with the information related to the
development of the sci-fi genre as such. Furthermore, the gap between the main topic
of this thesis and the development of sci-fi was linked by the information about
establishment of different genres with “ low“ literary quality and historical context.
Chapters II and III then introduced the analyses of two dystopian novels (Brave New
World and Fahrenheit 451), one collection of essays (Brave New World Revisited)
and four short stories (two episodes from The Martian Chronicles; The Fog Horn; A
Sound of Thunder) which all have one essential – description of the society. The
analyses provide further details in Huxley‘s and Bradbury‘s ideas and conceptions in
the selected works. Without the analyses, it would not be possible to demonstrate
contemporary validity (recency) in the comparison of the selected works in Chapter
IV and, therefore, elaborate the lesson plans of teaching practice.
All the information presented in the comparison are crucial for understanding
the motives and aims of the teaching practice. For example, the different approach
for teaching of each author (Huxley or Bradbury) was based on the analyses of the
selected works and comparison of Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451. The
comparison lead to be more concrete and present well-thought ideas during the
teaching practice. Without these information, a lot of teachers might use
inappropriate approach and technique while teaching about Huxley‘s and Bradbury‘s
works.
However, mere theory is not enough to demonstrate the power of the
Huxley‘s and Bradbury‘s ideas and concepts. Only practical use proved their validity
during the teaching practice. Based on the expectations, lesson plans and their
appendices, summary and, most of all, the questionnaire and its diagrams, we can
clearly argue that Huxley‘s and Bradbury‘s ideas demonstrated that they can reach
the young student‘s mind and make him think or re-shape his or her values even
today and not only in the time of publication of these ideas in the books or recent
history.
- 56 -
For future reference, it is important for teachers to become aware of their
surroundings. Simply put, they must know that the times are changing, the students
are turning into adults and so on, each year the technological advancement gets, to
some extent, closer to the written sci-fi. Based on the facts described in chapters I-V
(including appendices), it can be stated that both authors, Huxley and Bradbury, still
provide us with valuable and strong ideas and concepts. Ergo, the teachers must
never forget the power of the written word while teaching, and especially, to never
understimate the content and value of the sci-fi genre. This thesis confirmed, through
chapters I-V (including appendices) that it is possible to pass old ideas and concepts
on young students in the 21st century.
- 57 -
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MÁDROVÁ, E. The de-individualization in Brave New World and Island by Aldous
Huxley. Univerzita Palackého, Filozofická fakulta, Katedra anglistiky a
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KRATOCHVÍLOVÁ, J. Role of Technics in Chosen Works of World Antitotalitarian Sci-fi Literature. Univerzita Palackého, Filozofická fakulta, Katedra
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WEB SOURCES
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ASHLEY, M. The Golden Age of Pulp Fiction. The Pulp Magazines Project
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MERRIAM-WEBSTER, n.d. Space Opera. Merriam-Webster.com [online]. 2014.
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HARPERCOLLINS Publishers. About Ray Bradbury. Ray Bradbury [online]. 2001.
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BLACK, P. Review: The Martian Chronicles. Booksquawk [online]. 2012. August
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Analysis: Voyage and Return Plot. Shmoop [online]. 2008. November 2008 [cit.
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SHMOOP EDITORIAL TEAM. Fahrenheit 451 Ending. Shmoop [online]. 2008.
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<http://www.shmoop.com/fahrenheit-451/ending.html>
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BRIN, D. Ray Bradbury, American optimist. Salon [online]. 2012. June 2012 [cit.
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<http://www.salon.com/2012/06/06/ray_bradbury_american_optimist/>
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APPENDICES
Appendix 1: Handout #1 for the 4th-year students
Task 1:
Read the short extract from Aldous Huxley‘s novel Brave New World. If you find a
word that does not enable a clear understanding and it‘s not in the list of vocabulary
on Handout #2, please, ask the teacher or your neighbors. For finishing the reading
exercise, you have 15 minutes.
“… But it has also been proved (1) in actual practice. The result of the Cyprus
experiment (0) was convincing.“
“What was that?“ asked the Savage.
Mustapha Mond smiled. “Well, you can call it an experiment in rebottling if you like.
(2) It began in A.F. 473. The Controllers had the island of Cyprus cleared (3) of all
its existing inhabitants and re-colonized with a specially prepared batch of twentytwo thousand Alphas (4). All agricultural and industrial equipment was handed over
to them and they were left to manage their own affairs. The result exactly fulfilled all
the theoretical predictions. The land wasn‘t properly worked; there were strikes in all
the factories; the laws were set at naught, orders disobeyed; all the people detailed
for a spell of low-grade work were perpetually intriguing for high-grade jobs, and all
the people with highgrade jobs were counter-intriguing at all costs to stay where they
were. Within six years they were having a first-class civil war. When nineteen out of
the twenty-two thousand had been killed (5), the survivors unanimously petitioned
the World Controllers to resume the government of the island. Which they did. And
that was the end of the only society of Alphas that the world has ever seen (6).“
The Savage sighed, profoundly.
“The optimum population,“ said Mustapha Mond, “is modelled on the
iceberg–eight-ninths below the water line, one-ninth above.“
“And they‘re happy below the water line?“
“Happier than above it. Happier than your friend here (7), for example.“
He pointed.
“In spite of that awful work?“
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Appendix 2: Handout #2 for the 4th-year students
List of vocabulary:
prove
potvrdit
convincing
přesvědčivý
rebottling
přelahvování
cleared of
vyčištěna od (něčeho/někoho)
inhabitant
obyvatel
hand over
předat
affair
záležitost
fulfill
splnit, vykonat
prediction
předpověď
properly
náležitě
strike
stávka
laws were set at naught
zákony nebyly zohledňovány
disobey
neuposlechnout
low-grade job
práce nižší kvality
perpetually
trvale, neustále
intriguing
úchvatný, fascinující
highgrade job
práce vyšší kvality
counter-intriguing
v protikladu od fascinující
unanimously
jednomyslně
sigh
povzdechnout si
profoundly
hluboce
awful
hrozný
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Appendix 3: Handout #3 for the 4th-year students
Task 2:
Define in pair every grammatical element you can think of in the underlined parts of
the text (you can use a grammar game paper from the previous lesson). When you‘re
finished, compare your answers with the second half of your group. You don‘t need
to rewrite the sentences, just write down to each number a correct answer. For
finishing the reading exercise, you have 10 minutes.
For example:
0) The result of the Cyprus experiment was convincing. = past continuous
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
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Appendix 4: Handout #4 for the 4th-year students
Task 3:
In pair write down a series of thoughts or ideas about your version of continuation of
the extract. Imagine yourself in a situation like this and try to come up with the
course in the conversation between John the Savage and Mustapha Mond you would
like – What would happen then? When you’re finished, compare your notes with the
rest of the group. For finishing the reading exercise, you have 15 minutes.
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Appendix 5: Handout #5 for the 4th-year students
Task 4:
In group discuss the following questions. Try to come up with reasonable ideas based
on your knowledge and recently received information. Please, do remember, that
this author and his book can help you during your graduation exam. For the
discussion you are provided with 20 minutes.
1) Do you agree with the speech Mustapha Mond said about the civilisation of
Alphas and why?
2) Why do you think the people wanted to change the society at first place?
3) Do you believe that there might be a perfect society someday and why?
4) Do you believe that the world is becoming worse or it gets better and why?
5) Do you think there is some sort of recipe for perfection?
6) What do you think about Mustapha Mond‘s idea of optimum population?
Don‘t you think that we are actually living in such situation?
7) Do you think that Aldous Huxley has something to tell us even now in the
21st century?
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Appendix 6: Feedback-related questionnaire for the 4th-year students
Can you, please, help me with my diploma thesis and answer few questions?
Questionnaire, answer either YES or NO, please:
1) Do you think the extract from Brave New World is comprehensible enough?
2) Do you consider Aldous Huxley an interesting writer?
3) Did the text provoke you in some way?
4) Would you like to read more about him or read Brave New World?
5) Do you think the extract contains something meaningful and worth thinking
over?
6) Do you agree with Mustapha Mond‘s idea about optimum population?
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Appendix 7: Diagram #1 of the feedback-related questionnaire for the 4th-year
students
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Appendix 8: Handout #1 for the 2nd-year students
Task 1:
Read the short extract (#1) from Ray Bradbury‘s novel Fahrenheit 451. If you find a
word that does not enable a clear understanding and it‘s not in the list of vocabulary
on Handout #2, please, ask the teacher or your neighbors. For finishing the reading
exercise, you have 10 minutes.
Extract #1: Dialogue between Clarisse and Montag
“Why aren‘t you in school? I see you every day wandering around.“
“Oh, they don't miss me,“ she said. “I'‘m anti-social, they say. I don‘t mix.
It‘s so strange. I'm very social indeed. It all depends on what you mean by social,
doesn‘t it? Social to me means talking about things like this.“ She rattled some
chestnuts that had fallen off the tree in the front yard. “Or talking about how strange
the world is. Being with people is nice. But I don‘t think it‘s social to get a bunch of
people together and then not let them talk, do you? An hour of TV class, an hour of
basketball or baseball or running, another hour of transcription history or painting
pictures, and more sports, but do you know, we never ask questions, or at least most
don‘t; they just run the answers at you, bing, bing, bing, and us sitting there for four
more hours of film-teacher. That‘s not social to me at all…“
Extract #2: Dialogue between Montag and Captain Beatty
There you have it, Montag. It didn‘t come from the Government down. There was no
dictum, no declaration, no censorship, to start with, no! Technology, mass
exploitation, and minority pressure carried the trick, thank God. Today, thanks to
them, you can stay happy all the time, you are allowed to read comics, the good old
confessions, or trade-journals.“
“Yes, but what about the firemen, then?“ asked Montag.
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Appendix 9: Handout #2 for the 2nd-year students
List of vocabulary for Extract #1
List of vocabulary for Extract #2
wander
toulat se
dictum
prohlášení; výrok
rattle
chřestit
declaration
usnesení; ustanovení
chestnut
kaštan
mass exploitation masové vykořisťování
bunch
hrstka
pressure
transcription
přepis
carried the trick
confession
tlak
provedly ten „trik“
zpověď; doznání
trade-journal obchodní noviny; oběžník
Task 2:
In groups, discuss the following questions and statements. Try to come up with
reasonable ideas based on your knowledge and the recently received information. For
the discussion, you have 15 minutes.
1) Based on the Extract #1, why do you think Clarisse was considered antisocial?
2) Do you agree with the statement that Clarisse is anti-social and why?
3) Based on the Extract #1, how would you describe in your words “being antisocial“ ? Is it similar to Clarisse‘s definition or not?
4) Now, read the Extract #2 and try to explain in your group the meaning of this
short paragraph. What is happening between Montag and Cpt. Beatty.?
5) Do you agree with the statement that it‘s not the Government but us making
the changes in the society, especially today in real life?
6) Do you think that submitting ourselves to the minorities‘ needs can lead to the
worse or better system in our society?
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Appendix 10: Feedback-related questionnaire for the 2nd-year students
Can you, please, help me with my diploma thesis and answer few questions?
Questionnaire, answer either YES or NO, please:
1) Do you think the extract from Fahrenheit 451 is comprehensible enough?
2) Do you consider Ray Bradbury an interesting writer?
3) Did the text provoke you in some way?
4) Would you like to read more about him or read Fahrenheit 451?
5) Do you think the extract contains something meaningful and worth thinking
over?
6) Do you agree with Cpt. Beatty‘s ideas about certain happenings and events
which eventually lead to change in society?
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Appendix 11: Diagram #2 of the feedback-related questionnaire for the 2nd-year
students
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ANNOTATION
Jméno a příjmení:
Karel Chladil
Katedra:
Katedra anglického jazyka, PdF UP Olomouc
Vedoucí práce:
Mgr. Andrea Hoffmannová, Ph.D.
Rok obhajoby:
2014
Název práce:
Aktuálnost myšlenek ve vybraných dílech A. Huxleyho
a R. Bradburyho ve srovnání v historicko-současných
souvislostech
The Recency of A. Huxley‘s and R. Bradbury‘s Ideas
from the Selected Works in Comparison in HistoricalContemporary Context
Anotace práce:
Práce je zaměřena na prokázání aktuální platnosti
některých myšlenek a pojetí zabývající se společností ve
vybraných dílech Aldouse Huxleyho a Ray Bradburyho
ve srovnání v historických a současných souvislostech.
Kapitola I. se zabývá původem a popisem sci-fi žánru
k zasazení II.-IV. kapitoly do kontextu. Kapitola II.-III.
se zabývá samotnými autory a analýzou jejich
vybraných děl. Kapitola IV. pak srovnává pojetí
konkrétních témat z vybraných děl a částečně i z jejich
způsobu života. Závěrem kapitoly IV. je srovnání
následně zasazeno do kontextu současného sci-fi a
uvozuje tak praktickou část. Praktická část se zabývá
aplikovatelností některých myšlenek a pojetí
z vybraných děl A. Huxleyho a R. Bradburyho
v hodinách anglického jazyka na vyšším gymnáziu.
Praktická část je podpořena plány hodin, přílohou,
dotazníkem a, s ním spojenými, grafy, které tento
princip potvrzují ve shrnutí praktické části.
Klíčová slova:
Sci-fi, Mary Shelley, Jules Verne, H. G. Wells,
romantistické sci-fi, pulpové magazíny, Aldous Huxley,
Ray Bradbury, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451
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Anotace v angličtině:
The thesis is aimed on proving the contemporary
validity of some ideas and concepts dealing with society
in selected works of Aldous Huxley and Ray Bradbury
in comparison in historical-contemporary context.
Chapter I is focused on the origin and description of scifi genre in order to set chapter II-III into context.
Chapter II-III deal with the authors and analysis of the
selected works. Chapter IV then compare the conception
of concrete themes from the selected works and, to some
extent, from their lives. At the end of the chapter IV, the
comparison is put in context of the contemporary sci-fi
and introduces the practical part. The practical part deals
with application of some ideas and concepts from the
selected works of A. Huxley and R. Bradbury in the
English lessons on grammar school. The practical part is
supported by the lesson plans, appendix, questionnaire
and its related diagrams, which confirms this principle
in a summary of the practical part.
Klíčová slova
v angličtině:
Sci-fi, Mary Shelley, Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, romantic
science, pulp magazines, Aldous Huxley, Ray Bradbury,
Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451
Přílohy vázané v práci:
CD ROM
Rozsah práce:
77 s. (126 722 znaků)
Jazyk práce:
Angličtina
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