Comparative Essay: Fahrenheit 451 and Brave New World

During world history, there were many turning points/events that have a major impact on economic, political, social, literature, and much more. Such relatable events to this essay are going to be World War II and certain events that happened during 1950 that influence the writing of Fahrenheit 451.  Fahrenheit 451 is a novel based on a dystopia/totalitarian society in which we are in an unknown place in the world where books are being burned. Literature(part of the superstructure) plays a major role in trying to warn the proletariat about the danger of the bourgeoisie and how they should form new hegemonies as stated, “Such a revolution can begin if working-class people write their own literature (dramas, poems, and novels) their own music, and their own paintings, thereby establishing an alternative hegemony to challenge the bourgeoisie’s hegemony”(Bressler 168). Fahrenheit 451 is a criticism of Nazis burning books and blacklisting, which is supported by the fact of what was happening during his time, burning books prohibit superstructure to help the proletariat, and book burning leads to consumption of more advanced technology and also it share some similarities with Brave New World which is also a dystopian novel bases on totalitarian, it shared some relationship with book.

Knowing the fact that Fahrenheit 451 was published around 1953, a few years ago from that time period two major events occurred which was the end of World War II in 1945 and blacklisting. According to Bressler’s criticism “Necessarily, Marixts argues, the study of literature and the study of the society and intricately bound”(Bressler 168) the author’s time period affects what he writes. The first event was book burning which is seen in the Nazis as stated, “On April 6, 1933, the Nazi German Student Association's Main Office for Press and Propaganda proclaimed a nationwide “Action against the Un-German Spirit,” to climax in a literary purge or “cleansing” (Säuberung) by fire. Local chapters were to supply the press with releases and commissioned articles, offer blacklists of “un-German” authors, sponsor well-known Nazi figures to speak at public gatherings, and negotiate for radio broadcast time”(Holocaust Encyclopedia), show that they blacklisted and burn books in order to not let outside know what they were doing. The influence can be seen in Fahrenheit 451, as it states, “It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed.”(Bradbury 1), showing that they are in a society of burning books and it is as censorship of literature. Also the time Herny Ford and Brave New World (which was way before around 1900 - 1930, but still have a huge impact) also have impacted the writing of Fahrenheit 451 which will be discussed later on.

 According to Marxism, the only way to take down the dominant power is by these superstructures which in this case is literature. However, as we can see in Fahrenheit 451 books are being burned, no one read them which means that the bourgeoisie is taking advantage of the working classes. As Bradbury states, “Because literature is part of a society’s superstructure, its relationship to other elements of the superstructure and to the base becomes the central focus in varying Marxist literary theories”(Bressler 171). So if there isn’t literature then the relationship of the superstructure and the base is invalid. The above quote is supported by Fahrenheit 451 when a turning point in which Montag started to read the book and became influenced by it which led him to go against Beatty leading to the destruction of the town (due to war, not Montag) and the bourgeoisie’s hegemony.

This part is the meat of the whole shebang, money and how Fahrenheit 451 relates to Henry Ford! First, let's discuss history, Henry Ford’s influence and the Brave New World before the publication of Fahrenheit 451 as we can see that if you burn books, then society can consume money on advanced technology rather than wasting time on books. As shown in Fahrenheit 451 “‘When did it all start, you ask, this job of ours, how did it come about, where, when? Well, I'd say it really got started around about a thing called the Civil War. Even though our rule-book claims it was founded earlier. The fact is we didn't get along well until photography came into its own. Then--motion pictures in the early twentieth century. Radio. Television. Things began to have mass." Montag sat in bed, not moving. "And because they had mass, they became simpler," said Beatty. "Once, books appealed to a few people, here, there, everywhere. They could afford to be different. The world was roomy. But then the world got full of eyes and elbows and mouths. Double, triple, quadruple population. Films and radios, magazines, books leveled down to a sort of paste pudding norm, do you follow me?’”(Bradbury 51). First of all, during the 20 century in world history, we can see the advent of radio and television, and later on, mass media/communication and much more, which show that in that quote the effect of technology on society as a whole, at first there was a lower usage of book, and more on technology, however, we could see that the government take control by the mean of economic by banning books so people can consume more on innovative product also Fahrenheit 451 predicted the advent of wireless earbud technology; there is a connection between Fahrenheit 451 and Brave New World which is focus on people consumerism as stated in the Brave New World, “‘Back to culture. Yes, actually to culture. You can’t consume much if you sit still and read books.’” (Huxley 50). This shows that both novels show the negative effect of books on consumerism, knowing that Brave New World was published first, it shows an effect on the writing on Fahrenheit 451. This proves that fueling the fire with books does result in economic benefits to the governments.