What bradbury stories, if any, have effected you the most or changed your views/outlook on life? Which ones do you consider have the deepest meaning or value?

Mycroft,
This is a great topic you've started here. I like you already. Welcome home.
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The stories with lifelong influence on my ideals would probably have to be:

1)THE VELDT-Because it warns of the dangers of having your children raised by an electronic device(ie. TV, internet, video games) and the way families can drift apart because of these insidious creations. <looks over shoulder and hollers to hungry, crying children, "Shut up! Can't you see I'm on the computer?">

2)THERE WILL COME SOFT RAINS-Because of how effectively and dramatically it conveys a sense of loss of all things good. The stuff I'd read by him earlier in my life helped turn me into a nostalgic 12-14 year old(I didn't read this story until my early 20's), but it epitomizes that element of his writing. The silhouette burned into the side of the house of the children with their arms reaching for a ball which would never come down is similarily forever burned into my memory, hanging in the gallery of my mind.

3)PICASSO SUMMER-Because it effectively shows how the moving hand of time not only writes and moves on, but also erases some things. It taught me to behold the glory before my eyes and cherish it. One of my favorite quotes sums it up: "Look at everything as if you were seeing it either for the first or last time. That way your time on earth will be filled with glory." -Betty Smith

4)MARIONETTES INC.-Because I came from a broken home and I can remember the nite my father left that his suitcase was already packed. They fought in the kitchen, he walked into their room, he immediately walked back out with his suitcase, he left and never came back. Which was a good thing, but the "already having his suitcase packed" thing happened to be very similar to the story and it's something I often wonder about.

P.S.

-Not knowing which of the duplicate threads to post on, I've done so on both.

Thanks.

there is really no way i could choose just one of his stories, every time i consider one i find myself thinking, "but what about this? and this?" They all appeal in different ways. Probably one that i would have to list is The Fog Horn. I started reading bradbury's stories when i was very young and couldnt understand some of them, but the haunting imagery left me almost crying. Ill never be able to forget the picture that entered my mind of the lonely creature swimming away wailing its cry. this was probably one story that really got me into reading him. Since then there has been some that i liked more, but for the longest time it was my favorite.

Great choice, Mycroft! I once approached Ray about a teacher of mine who didn't like his work and "The Fog Horn" was the story he suggested as the ONE which might just make a convert! It didn't work on the teacher--who was utterly hopeless--but glad to see you recognized its value!

hello. i want to reply by first stating that when i type like this it is not a style point nor am i imitating cummings, but i am holding my 7-month-old in one arm while he falls deeper into sleep..

second by pointing out that i am 30 and only found bradbury this year. i can see where he would have had great appeal to me at age 12 or 13, but nonetheless i began reading his stories at more than twice that age and so i presume my experiences are markedly different from one who had. i will add, although that boy would have greatly enjoyed mr. bradbury's storytelling, this man has also greatly benefitted from the opportunity to read these stories for the first time.

thirdly, i have not yet read many of the favorites commonly noted such as the veldt and soft rains. looking back at those i marked in one collection for particular appreciation (i was amazed by all the stories just these one were favorites), i note that the fog horn is not checked. it seems that my selections gravitated towards the innocence of youth or a longing for that innocence. i'm not sure if this speaks to my entering this fourth decade, as i have always approached life with a strong sense of wonder, or that's what i'm told.

i selected in this collection the april witch, in which we can experience our first crush, third-hand... the murderer, a truly prophetic story wherein a man rebels against the ever-invasive cell phone... R is for Rocket, which brought me tears, here there be tygers in which a planet expresses infatuation and jealousy, and frost and fire the epic struggle for life, told in the story of a race of man who lives but for 8 days.

mike d

Great topic!
However, I would be remiss in my r�le as linguistic nit-picker if I failed to point out that it should be "...affected you..." as the verb is required here. (Effect is a noun.)
Anyway, there are so many great stories, but one story that really moved me early on was
"A scent of Sarsaparilla".

quote:

Originally posted by Braling II:
Great topic!
However, I would be remiss in my r�le as linguistic nit-picker if I failed to point out that it should be "...affected you..." as the verb is required here. (Effect is a noun.)
Anyway, there are so many great stories, but one story that really moved me early on was
"A scent of Sarsaparilla".

Thanks, i wasnt quite sure which it was and i decided just to leave it. oh well, i guess i learned something