An important part of any context study is having multiple examples to draw upon. Being familiar with multiple different visions of the future will be an essential part of any well-developed and insightful context response. You do not need to go out and read a whole heap of different novels, but it is beneficial to expose yourself to other ideas which authors can present when dealing with the future in order to supplement your knowledge of Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.
Below are a series of short stories and novel extracts. You should pick two or three to read and make notes on, focussing on the following questions:
- What ‘future world’ has the author constructed?
- What ideas does the story explore in relation to the world of the future, the role of technology, human nature, etc.?
- What warnings could the author be giving about the world of the present, and where it may lead in the future?
- What similarities/differences exist between this vision of the future and Bradbury’s in Fahrenheit 451?
You may wish to use the following sheet to help you to record notes on each story: ‘Visions of the Future’ Story Note Taking Sheet.
George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty Four (Chapter 1)
Nineteen Eighty Four is the quintessential dystopian novel. It is perhaps the most well known and most fully realised dystopian world, where a totalitarian government monitors all aspects of it’s citizens lives, right down to the thoughts in their heads. This is the novel that gave us Big Brother, thoughtcrime, doublespeak, newspeak and the infamous Room 101. This is one of the most influential novels of all time, and should definitely make your to-read list. You can read chapter 1 below:
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World (Chapter 1)
Brave New World is one of the other classic dystopian stories. It shares many similarities with Fahrenheit 451 in it’s warnings about a world driven by a constant desire for immediate gratification, of over-valuing the quick-fixes promised by technology and science, a condemnation of consumer-society and the loss of individual identity in an increasingly fast-paced and technology-driven modern world. Much like Nineteen Eighty Four, it also deals with the dangers of an all-powerful state, here through the use of medical science to control people’s desires. You can read chapter 1 below:
Ray Bradbury, ‘All Summer in a Day’
This is a haunting short story by Ray Bradbury about life on a colony on Venus, where summer lasts for only a few short hours once every seven years. Personally, I find what happens to the Margot to be heartbreaking. This is a subtle, powerful and thought-provoking story about human nature and our capacity for cruelty. You can read it below:
Ray Bradbury, ‘August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains‘
This post-apocalyptic short story reveals a world after humans have destroyed themselves. It is a bleak and pessimistic warning about where our capacity for war could lead, with a world left lifeless, people gone, nature decaying and only a few technological relics left fighting a losing battle against the forces of destruction. This is perhaps Bradbury’s most damning condemnation of the dangers posed by unbridled technological development. You can read it below:
Phillip K Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Chapters 1 and 2)
Better known by its film adaptation, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is a classic science fiction novel that is set in a future Earth which has been devastated by war and industry, where the rich have fled for life in off-world ‘colonies’, and where life has been reduced to crude, robotic imitations of its past glory. The main character – Rick Deckard – is a bounty hunter who hunts down highly-evolved robotic androids who attempt to come to Earth. The novel is rich with themes of morality, what it means to be human, and whether there is a place where technology and life may become one and the same. You can read the first two chapters below:
