I enjoy how Bradbury consistently uses the genre of science fiction for his own ends. It is clear that Bradbury crafts many of the vignettes about the future and the colonization of Mars as critiques of American society in the 1940s and 50s. Perhaps this is why Bradbury always said that he is not a ‘science fiction writer’ – because he makes the genre serve as a contemporary social critique so well.
In “And the Moon Be Still As Bright,” the archaeologist Spender, who is on the fourth expedition, criticizes American culture by contrasting it with the ‘ideal’ Martian civilization. On pp. 64-66, he says “'They know how to live with nature and get along with nature...They knew how to blend art into their living. It's always been a thing apart for Americans. Art was something you kept in the crazy son's room upstairs...They'll be flopping their filthy atom bombs up here, fighting for bases to have wars. Isn't it enough they've ruined one planet, without ruining another…Anything that’s strange is no good to the average American." Doubtlessly Bradbury is reacting to the McCarthy conformism and Cold War trends prevalent during the time he wrote The Martian Chronicles. Spender is so fed up with American culture that he is willing to betray his own species and embrace Martian culture as his own. He has forsaken his own and made himself the other.
Aside from the obvious critique on segregation and slavery in “Way In The Middle Of The Air,” another compelling social commentary is the story “Usher II.” This one reminds me a lot of Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. Apparently Bradbury takes conformism, censorship and McCarthyism to its logical evolution and envisions “moral climate people” whose job it is to ban fantasy in literature and all forms of media. I see the main character as Bradbury himself in this story – perhaps this is what he would do in a similar situation and what he would like to do to all those people that try to censor his work. It is obvious that he, or at least Mr. Stendahl, holds art and the imagination as highly as human life
It's very true that Bradbury's style of storytelling is clearly a social critique. It is so clear, in fact, that I can imagine that during our discussion in class we will find it much easier to discern his "hidden" meanings and the ideas behind the readings. Nevertheless, as mginsberg points out, there are many interesting comments on the state of American society and humanity as a whole.
ReplyDeleteOne section that I found particularly interesting, as mginsberg did, was the "Usher II" chapter. His clear condemnation of censorship is taken to an extreme level with Mr. Stendahl murdering those responsible. The scary thing was however, that I could understand his deep anger and resentment at having classic literature and art banned from society. It is a bit troublesome to find yourself siding with a murderous character. All of us being in a science fiction class, I can imagine how enraged we would become if all unrealistic pieces of literature were banned. That would certainly eliminate all the books for this class. Realistically, though, I cannot imagine that censorship could ever progress so far without some very drastic trigger event; people are far too attached to the act of escaping everyday life through books and movies.