Authors often make use of rhetorical strategies for additional effects, appeals to the reader, relating to an audience, or even for simply drawing attention to a specific section/part of a work. Nonetheless, these Rhetorical Strategies can prove crucial in the unraveling of such a work. The preceding is the case for a work entitled Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury. Within the context of the story, a circus enters a small town and changes its overall atmosphere with never before seen mystical evils. Only two boys, Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade, stand in their way. These uncanny occurrences bring out the morality and malevolence of several characters in the story. In Bradbury’s work, there are many discrepancies in the moralities of each character relative to the development of the plot and their overall portrayal in the novel. Bradbury adds many instances in which certain characters have to make a choice between what they wish to do and what they should do. Such decisions accurately portray the conflict as an internal discontinuity between the ultimatums of good and evil. Thus, making the readers question his or her interpretation of each and challenge the societal parameters that encompass them.
The father of a character named Will, is seemingly facing a midlife crisis; wishing to regain the years lost in order to fill the hole that life had dug into his soul: “Add up all the rivers never swum in, cakes never eaten, and by the time you get my age, Will, it’s a lot to miss out on...”(Bradbury 136). As a result, his philosophies of being are inherently influenced by such a mindset. In one portion of the book, his son asked him straightaway what was hindering his happiness; the father then described what happines...
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...o exploit the imperfections of the human mind and the impurities that cause them. Bradbury may not have explicitly stated the preceding; however, he allowed for his audience to pick these ideals up with his objective rhetorical strategies. Hence, Bradbury broke the barrier between literature and real life by allowing the reader to reflect on their humanity and acknowledge the imperfections that arise from such an existence, thus strengthening their awareness of human limitations.
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VALUES AND DELINQUENT BEHAVIOR. Retrieved from http://digitool.library.colostate.edu/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=120518.
Bradbury, Ray. Something Wicked This Way Comes. New York City: Avon Books, 1998. Web
Throughout all of Ray Bradbury’s works, he has a writing style that is distinctly his own. He implements the use of kinesthetic imagery and impassioned diction in order to reveal to the reader the simplest truths in life.
One of the most prominent themes throughout the book Fahrenheit 451 is the lack of human communication and social relationships. Ray Bradbury, who is the author of the novel, Fahrenheit 451, emphasizes the poor or almost non-existent relationships between many of the characters in the novel. The dilapidation of human contact in this work makes the reader notice an idea that Bradbury is trying to get across. This idea is that human communication is important and can be even considered necessary, even though our technology continues to advance.
Everybody in life will have a personality that is made up of a combination of light and dark. There may be people who align towards one side more than the other, but even those people do not have completely light or dark personalities. In Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes, the two main protagonists, Jim Nightshade and Will Halloway, are close friends who lie at opposite ends of the personality spectrum. They can be considered alter egos, with Will being the lighter half and Jim being the darker half. Despite being best friends, the two boys differ in their physical appearances, personalities, and abilities to resist temptations, which emphasize how Will has a lighter personality and Jim has a darker one.
Patai, Daphne. "Ray Bradbury and the Assault on Free Thought." Society 50.1 (2013): 41-47. Academic Search Complete. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.
extreme cases, it can create chaos. In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, the author conjures up a
...ety of Fahrenheit 451 have become a reality. As shown by real world examples, Bradbury’s dystopian vision is being revealed in many aspects of our society such as freedom, privacy, and members of authority. If nothing is done to restore our impolitic society, we will lose control of everything valuable to us and ultimately become a Bradburian based society.
The philosopher Aristotle once wrote, “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” This famous quote compels people to question the significance of their joy, and whether it truly represents purposeful lives they want to live. Ray Bradbury, a contemporary author, also tackles this question in his book, Fahrenheit 451, which deals heavily with society's view of happiness in the future. Through several main characters, Bradbury portrays the two branches of happiness: one as a lifeless path, heading nowhere, seeking no worry, while the other embraces pure human experience intertwined together to reveal truth and knowledge.
It’s no doubt that the plots of Fahrenheit 451 show Ray Bradbury’s worry about the society’s progression as well as his irritation about censorship.Throughout the novel, characterizations and symbolisms illustrate that most people such as Mildred, her friends, and Beatty all lose his or her conscience and abilities as a human. Fortunately, there still exists some people such as Montag and Faber observed the crisis in the society, and these people contributed effort to rebuild culture and civilization.Reflect to today’s society, people are still facing social problems such as lack of communication and technologies replace culture. These phenomenons should catch attentions and be solved.
Through the use of figurative language devices, and narration techniques, Golding foreshadows and sets a ritualistic tone for Simon’s death, and to emphasize the boys’ eagerness to kill the “beast.” The role of fear triggers the lost of individualism, instinctual actions, and the overall innate evil of mankind.
...his manipulation of people’s knowledge creates a mindless society, so manipulation is a method Bradbury uses to convey his warning. By presenting the theme of manipulation and lies Orwell and Bradbury exhibit their warnings about society.
VanderStaay, Steven L. "Doing Theory: Words about Words about The Outsiders." English Journal81.7 (Nov. 1992): 57-61. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter and Deborah A. Schmitt. Vol. 111. Detroit: Gale Group, 1999. Literature Resource Center. Web. 12 May 2014.
In conclusion, Bradbury's criticism of the 1950's censorship and conformity opened the eyes of the public to the wrong-doings of the government at the time. Many people began to realize that they were being censored for almost everything and art, for example in the form of writing and film, was being simplified to almost nothing.
Happiness plays an important and necessary role in the lives of people around the world. In America, happiness has been engrained in our national consciousness since Thomas Jefferson penned these famous words in the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (Jefferson). Since then, Americans have been engaged in that act: pursuing happiness. The problem however, as Ray Bradbury demonstrates in his novel Fahrenheit 451, is that those things which make us happy initially may eventually lead to our downfall. By examining Guy Montag, the protagonist in Fahrenheit 451, and the world he lives in we can gain valuable insights to direct us in our own pursuit of happiness. From Montag and other characters we will learn how physical, emotional, and spiritual happiness can drastically affect our lives. We must ask ourselves what our lives, words, and actions are worth. We should hope that our words are not meaningless, “as wind in dried grass” (Eliot).
Bradbury proves that possession of knowledgeable is more important than an obsession with attaining happiness using the themes of wisdom, identity, dissatisfaction and the character Faber’s philosophy.
"The Illustrated Man: LITERARY ANALYSIS / NOTES by Ray Bradury." The Illustrated Man: LITERARY ANALYSIS / NOTES by Ray Bradbury. The Best Notes, n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. .