Comparing Fahrenheit 451 And The Space Trilogy

Insight or Foresight?

Downplayed and underestimated, science fiction as a genre suffers many misconceptions. People assume that the authors of the stories in this genre are just making very loose predictions of what may be in the future, but this genre goes much deeper, into the writer’s intrinsic beliefs and original insights into reality. Science fiction novels contain the author’s perception concerning social elements of the present extrapolated far into the future. This genre deals with the futuristic possible, whether addressing technology or alien life. Although both Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and The Cosmic Trilogy by C.S. Lewis are generally categorized as science fiction, Fahrenheit 451 better fits the criteria.

Ray Bradbury

recognized society’s degradation in 1950s America. Both teenagers and adults were being desensitized to immorality, and knowledge was continually being devalued. Progressively valuing feeling over thought, humanity began to turn away from interacting with the great intellectual giants and started spending more and more time in front of the television and radio. Bradbury extrapolated these issues into the future, picturing a society left to its own devices. In making a futuristic prediction, he matched the first characteristic of science fiction. The teenagers in Bradbury’s novel, rather than just being a little desensitized to immorality, intentionally run over people with their speeding cars (Bradbury 122). Women have dozens of abortions and divorce their husbands whenever they feel the slightest provocation (Bradbury 98). Men have no qualms about watching a woman burn alive in the midst of her adored books and house when she decides that dying is better than living in such a mindless vortex (Bradbury 37). Seeing culture heading toward an ignorant, oppressive society, captive to its perverse social norms and averse to anything other than uniformity, Bradbury set out to warn his readers in Fahrenheit 451. This type of extrapolative warning is one of the main merits of the genre of science fiction. By awakening in his readers the awareness of a flaw in society, an author can express to them his fear of the results if the flawed trajectory continues. Bradbury’s book exemplifies this; consequently, it perfectly fits the criteria for the genre in this regard.
On the other hand, Lewis seldom utilizes futuristic prediction in his Cosmic Trilogy. While he predicted elements regarding the feminist and progressive movements, his intent was more to illustrate human nature than to predict society’s path. Lewis made his characters very self-assured and individualistic because he saw that humanity was and always would be that way. This point is continually illustrated by Jane, a vital character in That Hideous Strength. Lewis describes her internal disgust after she had been vulnerable and shown dependence on her husband by saying, “She also knew, of course, that she was deeply angry with herself for the collapse which had betrayed her last night, into being what she most detested—the fluttering, tearful ‘little woman’ of sentimental fiction running for the comfort of male arms” (Hideous Strength 44). Wanting to incorporate theology in the trilogy, Lewis used this element in his characters to show the disparity and degenerateness of this mindset, and to prove that it is not wrong to be humble and reliant. Another significant difference between Lewis and Bradbury is that Lewis’ book was not based far into the future, as is the case with most science fiction. In the case of The Cosmic Trilogy, the readers at the time it was published would have assumed that the context of his fictional world was much the same as their own, adding to the relatability and thus gravity of his work. This fact further illustrates that Lewis was not necessarily intending to write about future possibilities, but rather about what he saw ingrained in human nature.
Evaluation of the impact of potential technology on the future constitutes the second main element of science fiction. An author in the English Department of Berkley said, “The idea that science might become a diabolical and anti-social force is the foundation for one of science fiction's most basic assumptions: while many celebrate science as the end of superstition and ignorance, science fiction warns us that science can also be used as a tool of oppression, violation, and narrow-minded destructiveness. Indeed, as many critics of industrialism explained, the products of scientific thought ultimately did more harm than good” (University of Berkeley). Lest the genre inch its way into the realm of fantasy, pure science fiction must deal with technology, not the fantastical. During the time Ray Bradbury was writing, flat screen televisions, ear buds, and Bluetooth devices had not yet been dreamt of; however, the technology in Fahrenheit 451 corresponds incredibly closely with each of these. In Bradbury’s time, these advances still seemed out of reach but were far from implausible. Not only did the technological advances become reality, but people’s responses to these advances also continually mirror what Bradbury predicted over a half a century ago. In modern society, children are abandoning intellectual pursuits and becoming obese by sitting in front of the television for long lengths of time. An increasing number of people tune everyone else out by inserting ear buds and getting lost in their own little worlds. In Fahrenheit 451, the people are all consumed by the cars, televisions, and movies of the time (Bradbury 52). Technology is their life. While people still value books and knowledge, Bradbury’s prediction of the impact of technology on society is progressively bearing more and more resemblance to reality. Pure science fiction places a heavy emphasis on technology and its impact on society; therefore, Fahrenheit 451 is a prime fit for this genre.
The Space Trilogy includes technology as well, but it does not play as constant a role as in Fahrenheit 451.

In the first book of the series, the main character, Ransom, travels via a spaceship to Mars (Lewis, Silent Planet 32). The antagonist of the second book travels in another spaceship to Venus (Lewis, Perelandra 72). The third book of the trilogy includes a society that uses technology to sustain the “lives” of disembodied heads (Lewis, Hideous Strength 173). While these are definitely technological feats, Lewis does not address the overarching influence of technology on the society, using technology, instead, as a way to advance his plot. While the heads in the last book are assuredly important, that importance is not related to a technological aspect but rather to the spiritual aspect of the storyline. Similarly, Lewis does not direct his readers’ primary attention to spaceships but rather to the settings in which the spaceships are found. Lewis uses technology in his book to support his points rather than to make them, while purer science fiction incorporates technology’s impact as an intrinsically major

point.
The last major element of science fiction incorporates a form of existence that is different from human life. A cursory glance through Fahrenheit 451 would suggest this book does not contain any alien life. While it is true that this novel contains no extraterrestrial life-forms, the beings alien to the readers are the robots that were created by humans yet possess a will of their own. Many science fiction authors attempt to implement traditional human-like aliens; however, Bradbury’s realistic approach provides a more potent warning to his audience. He did not want his readers to dismiss his aliens as mere posh meant only to excite the imagination; therefore, his alien life-form is a juxtaposition of technology and free will. Bradbury utilizes the robotic hounds as his primary alien life forms. This is somewhat ironic, because the use of the robotic hound to sense fear and destroy the guilty directly opposes the concept of a dog being a “man’s best friend.” The typecast of something friendly and familiar is turned into something evil and out to kill those guilty of harboring books with a single prick of its lethal needle. It is the real alien, a thing that is turned against man and against its own nature-- a thing that hates and growls but does not have the capability of feeling. By employing this dichotomy, Bradbury devised a very believable and formidable alien.
The Space Trilogy, on the other hand, features traditional extraterrestrial life.

However, Lewis uses these aliens in an unusual way. These aliens signify an alternative humanity rather than a life that is foreign to both the physical and psychological elements of mankind. The aliens on Mars represented the hypothetical result of Adam and Eve not sinning while sin still affected that world itself. Likewise, Tinidril and Tor on Venus represented the result for humanity of Satan failing to taint the earth with evil. The hounds in Fahrenheit 451 fit the role of alien beings better than the aliens of The Cosmic Trilogy, given Lewis’ aliens’ similarity to humans. This similarity is pointed out to the reader when Ransom is speaking to one of these creatures. “’What is hnau?’ asked Ransom. ‘You are hnau. I am hnau. The seroni are hnau. The pfifltriggi are hnau,’ [responded the hrossa]” (Lewis, Silent Planet 69). Using the word “hnau” to describe all of the sentient creatures that were created by the god of his worlds, Lewis implies that the humans and the other three species of aliens all fall under one definition of beings with souls that can have empathy and all of the other characteristics that differentiate animals from humans on Earth. So while Lewis does introduce aliens into his story, they are much more literal rather than figurative aliens and accomplish more of a theological goal for the author rather than one that would be categorized as science

fiction.
Both Fahrenheit 451 and The Cosmic Trilogy are incredible works worthy of study, but for very different reasons. Fahrenheit 451 conforms heavily to the science fiction genre, while The Cosmic Trilogy conforms more to an allegorical fiction genre with a science fiction bent. Bradbury is primarily concerned with warning his audience of what might come to pass if the societal trajectory that he sees continues, while Lewis’ goal is to make a point about human nature through the means of a theological fairy tale. The speculation of Bradbury about the future has changed the course of events and thus the outcome of history. His warnings have been indisputably applicable, but the precise value to society will never fully be known. This capacity to influence the future is the effect of great works of science fiction and why this genre can be so powerful in the realm of literature.