After you read a book you’ll often find yourself looking for more titles by the same author, and you may notice that even though they have completely different plots they still sound generally the same. Two of Ray Bradbury’s books, Something Wicked This Way Comes and Fahrenheit 451, sound similar because of the stylistic patterns. Bradbury has a very unique style of writing; many of his books, even in the joyful parts, still have a very sadistic undertone. Because of the uniqueness of his writing, it can make it challenging at times to analyze his style.
Bradbury’s diction is often vengeful. “Well that’s one way to get an audience. Hold a gun on a man and force him to listen to your speech. Speech away. What’ll it be this time? Why don’t you belch Shakespeare at me, you fumbling snob? ‘There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats, for I am arm’d so strong in honesty that they pass me as an idle wind, which I respect not!’ How’s that? Go ahead, now, you second-hand litterateur, pull the trigger (Page 119).” Two men, who once considered each other good friends, are now battling a war with each other. They once worked side by side, and as soon as one of them became as knowledgeable as the other about books and such, the other is threatened. With his newly acquired knowledge, Guy Montag is fighting his former friend, Beatty, for past threats, mockeries, and embarrassments. Bradbury’s choice of words, and the way he strings them together, makes for an impressive dialogue between angry characters. “‘You can’t hurt me!’ the boy shrieked. ‘Funny,’ said Charles Halloway. ‘I think I can.’ He pressed the boy, almost lovingly, close, very close. ‘Murder!’ wailed the boy. ‘Murder.’ ‘I’m not going to murder you, Jed, Mr. Dark, whoever, whatever you are. You’re going to murder yourself because you can’t stand being near people like me, not this close, close, not this long (Page 203).’” While Charles Halloway and Mr. Dark were never friends, or even acquaintances, the both were searching for the opportunity to take the other’s life. Both of these quotes show Bradbury’s unique word choice, which gives his writing an underlying tone of curiosity, but also vengeance.
The tone in Bradbury’s writing is very curious. “‘But most of all,’ she said, ‘I like to watch people. Sometimes I ride the subway all day and look at them and listen to them. I just want to figure out who they are and what they want and where they’re going (Page 30).” In Fahrenheit 451, Clarisse is just one of the many curious characters. She always wants to know why something works, or how something works. She is never just satisfied with the simple fact that it does, or does not work. She wants to diagnose it, whether it has a problem or not. Montag may not be quite as curious as Clarisse, but his curiosity was what got him in his trouble. He wanted to know about books in a world where reading them was a crime, and he had to pay the price. “‘For cri-yi, I’m froze, let’s go watch them set up!’ ‘At three A.M.?’ ‘At three A.M.!’ Jim vanished… Jim slid down the drainpipe on his house, toward the sleeping lawns. ‘Jim! Wait!’ Will thrashed into his clothes. ‘Jim don’t go alone!’ And followed after (Page 34-35).” Both Jim and Will were curious about the carnival arriving in town at three in the morning. They wanted to know why there were there, and how they set up, so they went down to take a look and watch the carnival rise from the ground. Little did they know how treacherous such a tiny decision could be. Their single decision to watch the carnival set up will endanger their lives, but they go anyway, oblivious to the danger looming ahead. Neither Jim and Will, nor Montag could control their curiosity, they just couldn’t help it.
Bradbury creates a mysterious mood by adding in little quarks here and there that are never fully explained. He likes to leave some of the thinking, the imagination of the image, up to the readers. “The mechanical hound slept but did not sleep, lived but did not live in its gently humming, gently vibrating, softly illuminated kennel back in a dark corner of the firehouse (Page 24).” These words, lead the reader to wonder how something mechanical can be living, at all in the first place, and then not living at all. How can it sleep but not sleep? It seems impossible, but it is a story, it is simply writing, so is anything ever actually impossible? You just can’t help but wonder. “The Illustrated Man thrust out his hands. Will’s father lurched. Tattooed in bright blue ink, Will’s face gazed up at him from the palm of the right hand. Ink-sewn to the left palm, Jim’s face was indelible and natural as life. ‘You know them?’ The Illustrated Man saw Mr. Halloway’s throat clench, his eyelids squinch, his bones struck vibrant as from a sledge-hammer blow. ‘Their names (Page 127-128)?’” Readers see a mystery. How can the Illustrated man have tattoos of Will and Jim on his palms, especially ones that look so lifelike? How did they get there? What does the Illustrated Man want to do to Jim and Will? So many questions, only creating a mystery, that doesn’t necessarily have to be solved. Both books are filled with unresolvable questions, or at least ones that don’t need to be answered, and thus creating a mystery.
Ray Bradbury has a very distinctive writing style that you don’t often see in other others. Bradbury knew the perfect combination of comedy, tragedy, mystery, and sci-fi to create fascinating, gripping stories. It may be hard for some people to recognize some of the aspects of Bradbury’s writing because of the advance style he has. Any piece of writing you read from Bradbury will seem similar to his other works because of tone, mood, and diction. The plots may change from book to book, but the author still uses the same writing techniques in all their work.
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