Well, I was hoping to be able to figure this one out on my own, but when it comes to finding meanings in stories, I'm on the weak side.

For English, we're required to write an essay about a famous American Poet or Author of short stories and their works compared to the time period they were written in. After given a list of accepted authors, I chose Ray Bradbury, because, well, his stories are so... original, and they keep my attention, they're works that I don't have to push myself to read.

So, this brings me to my question: Out of all of Bradbury's works, what is a common theme that reoccurs throughout most of them? I've been browsing and some that I've found at this point are:
- Conformity
- Repression (of imagination)
- Conflict between possessions and desires

Which, unfortunatley, aren't any items I'm able to work with. In the past two weeks, I've read through "Ahmed and the Oblivion Machines," most of "One More For The Road," most of "Bradbury Speaks," and only the first chapter of "Something Wicked This Way Comes," but I haven't been able to draw one theme that really fits all of them.

I'm a lower level reader, it seems, so I'm definatley having trouble finding much of the hidden messages, and well, the themes throughout them, although I know they're there and I keep having pieces poke out at me, but I can't seem to put them all together.

The smallest bit of insight would be much appreciated. The thesis for this project is due in about two days, so I'll be checking back in between stories.

His common themes tend to be the feelings and human responses evoked by the situations.

Not much help, I know.

You might go for themes of nostalgia, positive outlooks, the good old days meet a fantastical future, and perhaps most importantly, the wonder of childhood, and the importance of staying young.

His newest, "Farewell Summer" speaks to that very subject, focusing on the fight between young and old.

Do good work!

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Originally posted by Doug Spaulding:
Not much help, I know.

It's one step further than I've gotten so far, thanks for your input.

Dude,

Welcome aboard the good ship Bradbury. The innocence of wonder is what seems to lie at the very root of most of RB's work. For me, anyways. Ever see the movie CITY SLICKERS? Well, the most common theme in RB's work is "one thing".

Where abouts north of Sactown?

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One theme might be loss. Some titles I can think of are: “All Summer in A Day”, “There Will Come Soft Rains”, “The Lake”, “I Sing The Body Electric”, “Dandelion Wine”, “Something Wicked This Way Comes”, “Fahrenheit 451”, “I see You Never”.

The HOLT SCIENCE FICTION READER says one common theme by RB is that technology should never have a human price tag.

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Originally posted by grasstains:
Where abouts north of Sactown?

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In Roseville, it's about a 10min drive, tops, to get to the edge of it for me.

Thanks for all the help guys, I'm finally on my way to getting my thesis topic done!

So after reading further through "One More For The Road," I think I'm going to end up going with the conflict between being young and old, although I'm not sure that that would be the strongest topic to sum up Ray Bradbury's work. I don't know, I've only been reading his works since this project started though, so I don't know too much about him, heh heh.

Well, how this assignment is going is I need my topic sentence turned in tomorrow, and 5 stories in which I got my idea for that topic sentence. I'm thinking I should have picked books like "Fahrenheit 451," and "The Martian Chronicals," to be able to focus more on Science Fiction and Fantasy. I wish I would have figured that out sooner, heh.

Well, these two paragraphs are really just a roundabout way in asking: Would the conflict between youth and old age be a weak topic to write a 5 page essay about?



((P.S. Sorry for asking for so much homework help, I usually like to consider myself independent and only needing to rely on myself to work harder in order to find the answers, but I feel like I'm stuck with this one. ))

If you add his new novel, "Farewell Summer", you have some good source material for a conflict between young and old theme. Also, off the top of my head, be sure to get "Zero Hour" for an invasion where the "aliens" work through the kids to take over the world.

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be sure to get "Zero Hour" for an invasion where the "aliens" work through the kids to take over the world.

Zero Hour... That's in... The Illustrated Man, correct?

Correct.

Thought you were gonna split, glad you haven't. We live in Citrus Heights and my fourteen year old son attends Mesa Verde High School. Howdy neighbor.

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If you're looking at youth and old age, you might get some further insights from 'The Small Assassin' (about an evil baby), 'Hail and Farewell' (about a boy who never grows old), 'There Was an Old Woman' and 'Death and the Maiden' (both about women at the end of life).

Yes, yes, young/old; good/evil; technology/traditions; reality/possibility; and I like his theme of Hope/Pass it On - DW, F451, Rocket, Kaleidoscope, Wide World, Toynbee, Ice Cream Suit, Million Year Picnic, Body Electric, Chicago Abyss, Day it Rained, others...

Also, Tragic/Ironic Loss: Rocketman, Soft Rains, All Summer in a Day, Musicians, Lake, Emissary, others as well...

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Thought you were gonna split, glad you haven't. We live in Citrus Heights and my fourteen year old son attends Mesa Verde High School. Howdy neighbor.

Naw, I'm going to stick around here even after I'm done with this project. I'd feel like a jerk if I just up and left after everyone helped me out, I have to wait till my turn to help comes around before I won't feel guilty for leavin.

Find the essay in Bradbury Speaks, among several on urban planning, about how he would design the ideal town square, to bring back human scale and pedestrian interaction to Los Angeles. Look at what types of shops and other buildings he places around his square. It's a microcosm of the World of Ray Bradbury, the things he loves, the themes he keeps returning to in his works.