Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, could be thought of as the middle section of an it’s all your fault sci-fi trilogy, between George Orwell’s 1984 and Philip K Dick’s The Man In The High Castle. They all share the same quiet despair, and the same acceptance of an inevitable fate; but they also, ultimately, put the blame for that fate firmly on the reader’s own failings. The ruling states (or their representations) are faceless and amoral, but we are forced to look at our own amorality; the characters cause each other pain, purposely or otherwise, simply by reacting as perhaps we would.
This something that seems to be lacking from culture at present; the ability to empathise without agreeing, to ask the reader to consider their own instinctive reactions to difficult situations. In 1984, Winston Smith sells out the woman he loves because he is scared of rats; in Fahrenheit 451 society’s crime seems to be nothing more sinister than liking fun. The Man In The High Castle’s conclusion – “America won the war” – could be considered to be the characters discovering they themselves are fictional, but could also be read as a plea for the reader to consider their own reactions to the culture around them. The characters accept the fascistic state in which they live, and their interest in The Grasshopper Lies Heavy (the novel within the novel) does not actually change anything about the way they live.
This kind of self examination is important; it in considering our motivations that we find a way of acting. Much of the current criticism of governance (however justified), and specifically of the Bush / Blair relationship, has been relentlessly smug. And yet this can be seen as influenced by understandable weaknesses – an unconsidered desire for safety and security, perhaps.
Satire is a powerful tool, and causing those in power to seem ridiculous is a valuable tool in undermining confidence in spin – it has a vital part to play in any society. However, considering our own fears, and the way we react to those, is also an important way of effecting change. Fears and weaknesses are difficult to think about, and rarely talked about, because they are so easily mocked. But knowing what is mockable about ourselves is just as potent as an agent of change.
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