Ray Bradbury The Metaphor Is The Medicine Sparknotes

The Metaphor is the Medicine

Acclaimed American author and screen writer of over 200 stories, Ray Bradbury, in his compilation of essays, Zen in the Art of Writing, endeavors to inspire would-be writers with personal anecdotes and advise from his own successful writing career. Bradbury adopts a kind and mentor-like tone to inspire and encourage the would-be-writers who read his book.

Ray Bradbury uses an elaborate metaphor to explain what the following essays will be about in his preface. “So that, one way or another, is what this book is all about. Taking your pinch of arsenic every morn so you can survive to sunset. Another pinch at sunset so that you can more-than-survive until dawn” (Bradbury XIII). In his metaphor the “pinch of arsenic” is writing. He claims

writing every day is the key to surviving every day. He explicitly states writing is not therapy later in the preface, but it is his way of dealing with the things life throws at him. Bradbury claims by writing one can deal better with the world around him/her. For his readers that already aspire to become authors this is already a self-evident fact. This section of the preface is aimed more at those readers who have yet to commit to Bradbury’s suggested writing-intensive lifestyle. Bradbury claims writing is a cure so those who are still on the fence might continue reading and come to agree with him.
Bradbury uses a very casual tone and second-person pronouns throughout his essays to keep a friendly bond between himself and the reader. These bonds strengthen any claims he makes because people tend to take advice more willingly from a friend than from a stranger. It is this bond that helps to encourage the reader to try writing for his/herself which is Bradbury’s motive for writing these pieces.
The first essay in the collection is “The Joy of Writing” written by Bradbury in 1973. This essay focuses on the two characteristics Bradbury believes every successful writer should have. These characteristics are “zest” and “gusto”. Both terms are vague when taken at face value. Bradbury elaborates with an extensive list of authors followed by “They all knew the joy of creating in large or small forms, in unlimited or restricted canvases” (Bradbury 3). Bradbury claims a writer must find joy in his/her work to make something great. He then carries his examples beyond the world of literature and into the world of art. “Look at El Greco’s elongation and tell me, if you can, that he had no joy in his work?” (Bradbury 4). The sheer quantity of his examples strengthens Bradbury’s logical appeal in his argument. He goes on to appeal to emotion by warning the reader “if you are writing without zest, without gusto, without love, without fun, you are only half a writer” (Bradbury 4). This quote could be used to summarize the entire essay. Bradbury claims the one thing writers must have is a love for writing and an ability to enjoy it. The rest of the essay consists of examples from Bradbury’s own writing experiences to encourage the reader to write about something he/she passionately loves or hates so the zest and gusto is apparent in the piece written. “… ideas lie everywhere, like apples fallen and melting in the grass for lack of wayfaring strangers with an eye and tongue for beauty, whether absurd, horrific, or genteel” (Bradbury 8). Since this essay comes first in the book it is reasonable to assume these are the most basic tools Bradbury believes a writer needs.
“Run Fast, Stand Still, or The Thing at the Top of the Stairs, or New Ghosts from Old Minds” is the second essay in Bradbury’s compilation. This essay focuses on the source of inspiration in writers. Bradbury’s first piece of advice in this essay is this: “In quickness is truth. The faster you blurt, the more swiftly you write the more honest you are. In hesitation is thought. In delay comes the effort for a style, instead of leaping upon truth which is the only style worth dead falling or tiger-trapping” (Bradbury 13). Bradbury encourages his reader/writer to avoid the uncertainty in hesitation. Rapid-firing writing is how Bradbury claims truths are written. He continues the essay by explaining author mimicry. He claims young writer will often copy the style of their favorite authors for years before finding their own voice. Bradbury uses his own experience in this regard as an example. By telling the reader he has made the same mistake he transitions from chastising to understanding. It reassures the reader these errors are universal and not irrevocable.
“I wrote at least a thousand words a day every day from the age of twelve on” (Bradbury 15). Several times throughout his essays Bradbury claims one must write regularly for a long time to become a good writer. While Bradbury meant for this to be encouraging, to convince his readers that anyone can become a good writer, instead he comes off as intimidating. Writing 1,000 words a day is an intimidating idea. Especially since Bradbury claims there will not a relevant story written for many years with this method. His method for story subjects is much less daunting. “… along through those years I began making lists of titles, to put down long lines of nouns” (Bradbury 17). Bradbury follows his example list of titles with the claim that they emerged from his subconscious. He contests these title lists, and their accompanying stories will help writers discover their own style and voice. He backs this claim with examples from his own list and their accompanying stories. These personal anecdotes are meant to encourage prospective writers to make their own lists and find their own successes.
Essay three, “How to Keep and Feed A Muse”, is about motivation.

The entire essay follows an analogy about the ancient Greek goddesses, The Muses. Bradbury starts off with a series of rhetorical questions on the muse and what to do with her. His personification of the muse is rather abstract. he compares the muse first to the concept of love by using a modified Oscar Wilde poem. Then to the specks of light that float in one’s eye. Bradbury claims a muse is something that must be ignored to work. He continues the work by discussing what to feed a muse. “… We stuff ourselves with sounds, sights, smells, tastes, and textures of people, animals, landscapes, events, large and small” (Bradbury 33). Bradbury goes on to claim these sensations are what makes a muse grow. The essay continues with Bradbury’s assessment that every person has a muse because everyone sees and witnesses’ events differently. “… when a man talks from his heart, in his moment of truth, he speaks poetry” (Bradbury 34). The discussion of everyone’s personal muse concludes with a story about Bradbury’s dad and the poetry he has spoken. This whole section functions to encourage the reader and help him/her to consider his/her own

muse.
A muse is fed on life and then on words. Bradbury continues this essay with a diet for the subconscious. He starts this diet with poetry. “Poetry expands the senses and keeps them in prime condition” (Bradbury 36). Bradbury claims poetry is essential because it keeps one in tune with their senses. His next element in this literary diet are books of essays. Bradbury encourages the reader to pick up books of essays on anything and everything. The last elements of the diet are short stories and novels. Essentially, Bradbury encourages one to read everything he/she can get his/her hands on. It is this well-rounded literary diet that feeds good authors. A slew of personal anecdotes and advice accompanies this advised diet to encourage the readers.
The next essay, “Drunk and in Charge of a bicycle”, is where Bradbury makes the claim that most literary inspiration comes from childhood interests and fears. A clear majority of this essay revolves around personal anecdotes from Bradbury’s childhood that influenced his writing later. He urges readers to look within themselves and look back at their lives to find inspiration for stories.
The next three essays are about Bradbury’s experience writing Fahrenheit 451, Dandelion Wine, and the Martian Chronicles. Each one is a personal story about the experiences without any claims or grandeur statements on the writing process. These three essays read more like chapters in a biography.
“On the Shoulders of Giants” is the last essay discussed in this paper. This essay is about the “double revolution” that children began in the literary and art worlds. Throughout his essays Bradbury attests on multiple occasions that children and childhood are of vital importance to the creative process. In this essay he gives a hypothetical example of this. Bradbury claims that children spearheaded the surge of science fiction writing in libraries across the country and later the surge of fantasy art. In his book of essays Neil Gaiman writes on the same topic: “There are no bad authors for children, that children like and want to read and seek out, because every child is different” (Gaiman 7). Both Ray Bradbury and Neil Gaiman are fiction writers, but they are from separate times. Despite this they both recognize that children must be given the freedom to read what they want to read. Bradbury expands on this idea with his claims that from childhood comes the best inspiration to write about.
Though these are only a few of the essays from Bradbury’s Compilation, Zen in the Art of Writing, they encompass the primary themes of the work. Ray Bradbury wrote these essays to inspire readers to go out and write and did so with his personal stories and friendly tone.
Works Cited
Bradbury, Ray. Zen in the Art of Writing. 1990.
Gaiman, Neil. The View from the Cheap Seats. Harper Collins Publishers. 2016.