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PALACKÝ UNIVERSITY OLOMOUC Faculty of Education Department of English

Bc. Karel Chladil Teaching English at Lower Secondary Schools Teaching the Foundations of Social and Civics in Secondary School and Basic School Classes 6 to 9

The Recency of A. Huxley‘s and R. Bradbury‘s Ideas from the Selected Works in Comparison in Historical-Contemporary Context Diploma Thesis

Vedoucí práce: Mgr. Andrea Hoffmannová, Ph.D.

OLOMOUC 2014

Declaration

I declare that I worked on my diploma thesis, titled The Recency of A. Huxley‘s and R. Bradbury‘s Ideas from the Selected Works in Comparison in Historical- Contemporary Context, on my own and that I used only the sources mentioned in the bibliography, references and web sources.

In Olomouc, ……………………......

Signature ……………………......

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank my supervisor, Mgr. A. Hoffmannová, Ph.D., for her professional support and valuable advice during the writing process of this thesis. Next thanks belong to Bc. Dis. Lenka Richterová, Václav Andrš and Mgr. Martin Zapletal for their correction of this thesis. Contents

INTRODUCTION ...... - 1 -

THEORETICAL PART ...... - 3 -

1. Chapter I: Development of sci-fi until early 20th century ...... - 3 -

1.1. The first work considered sci-fi ...... - 3 -

1.2. Pioneers of the sci-fi : ...... - 4 -

1.3. Pioneers of the sci-fi genre: Herbert George Wells...... - 7 -

1.4. Sci-fi in the late 19th and early 20th century ...... - 9 -

2. Chapter II: ...... - 14 -

2.1. Analysis of Brave New World ...... - 15 -

2.2. Abridged Analysis of Brave New World Revisited...... - 20 -

3. Chapter III: ...... - 22 -

3.1. Analysis of ...... - 23 -

3.2. Abridged Analyses of The Chronicles and other stories ...... - 27 -

4. Chapter IV: Comparison of Aldous Huxley and Ray Bradbury ...... - 32 -

4.1. Comparison of the and language ...... - 32 -

4.2. Comparison of the historical and social context ...... - 33 -

4.3. Comparison of the conception of the head theme...... - 34 -

4.4. Comparison of the story‘s characters...... - 35 -

4.5. Comparison of the story‘s setting ...... - 36 -

4.6. Comparison of the story‘s ending ...... - 37 -

4.7. Comparison of the authors‘ personal conceptions and opinions on various themes ...... - 38 -

4.8. Supplement: Differencies and similarities in general ...... - 42 -

4.9. reference ...... - 44 -

PRACTICAL PART ...... - 46 -

5. Chapter V: Practical use of Huxley‘s and Bradbury‘s ideas ...... - 46 - 5.1. Expectations of the teaching practice ...... - 46 -

5.2. Lesson plan: Teaching of the 4th-year students in the English seminar - 48 -

5.3. Lesson plan: Teaching of the 2nd-year students in the English lesson .. - 51 -

5.4. Summary of the teaching practice ...... - 54 -

CONCLUSION ...... - 56 -

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES ...... - 58 -

WEB SOURCES ...... - 62 -

APPENDICES ...... - 67 -

ANNOTATION ...... - 78 - INTRODUCTION

The reason to write diploma thesis about Aldous Huxley and Ray Bradbury is because the author of this thesis believes that the ideas and concepts from the selected works can be found useful and valid in the 21st century. Even though these two authors are representantives of the same literary genre, they belong to different time periods. For the author of this thesis it is a challenge to compare two authors from different period whose writing is based on different background. Nonetheless, it is remarkable to see the similarities and differencies in their works which were published either between the world wars or after the World War II.

The diploma thesis is divided into theoretical and practical part. The main theme of the theoretical part is comparison and analysis of the selected works of A. Huxley and R. Bradbury. Focus of this thesis is aimed on the works concerning the society or describing the society in which some of the sci-fi elements are incorporated, such as Fahrenheit 451 and Brave New World.

However, the actual analyses and comparison of Huxley and Bradbury in Chapters II-IV must be first set in the historical and social context which is, for the sake of this thesis‘ credibility, described in further details in Chapter I. In essence, Chapter I serves as an introduction of Chapter II (Huxley) and Chapter III (Bradbury). The reader of this thesis is then equipped with closer comprehension of Huxley‘s and Bradbury‘s authorship and is able to better understand the analyses of the selected works.

Chapter IV then summarizes, in a form of comparison, the aim of this thesis where several themes are compared individually in order to describe the similarities and differencies in Huxley‘s and Bradbury‘s selected works. Firstly, Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451 will be compared individually from various perspectives. Secondly, both authors will be compared from the broader perspective which is derived from other works as well. Thirdly, it will be described on some examples how much both authors had on other authors or influenced formation of some sci-fi subgenre.

- 1 - The last part of the thesis, Chapter V, is focused on practical application of some of Huxley‘s and Bradbury‘s ideas and concepts from the selected works. Such task will be performed via teaching in English lessons in the upper secondary classes of grammar school (Gymnázium Šumperk). In summary, students‘ feedback in a form of questionnaire, supplemented by the diagrams, confirms the 21st century‘s usefulness and validity of some ideas and concepts from Aldous Huxley‘s and Ray Bradbury‘s selected works.

The bibliography, references and web sources, which helped the author of this thesis to elaborate such piece of writing, are placed after the Conclusion on pages 58 – 66.

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THEORETICAL PART

1. Chapter I: Development of sci-fi until early 20th century

As it is portrayed in many historical schoolbooks, literature belongs to cultural manifestation of people since the ancient times and since people learned how to write when they realized that they would like to distribute their ideas and opinions . Like other cultural manifestations, literature barged its way through many cultural periods developing many and styles, forming number of nations, groups, societies and people.

One of these genres is fiction. According to definiton of the teacher Lisa Storm Fink, this genre of fiction is exclusively based on science, technology of the future and its current achievements (Finding the Science Behind through Paired Readings - Definition of Science Fiction, 2005). In essence, it uses science and its discoveries in a manner to make society look advanced, developed and mostly changed for the better which is basically the fundamental definition of . There are two ways of implementing science into the literature. Either the author applies science based on reality with an urge for a potential discovery in future such as Jules Verne‘s works, or the author uses science as a tool to create something totally new, never heard before or very unrealistic in a way of potential discovery in future, such as Herbert George Wells‘ works.

1.1. The first work considered sci-fi

Before defining H. G. Wells‘ and Jules Verne‘s contributions to literature, it is necessary to mention first to be called sci-fi work and why it was such a breakthrough later on. The first such work is Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818) by , wife of Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Frankenstein belongs to Romantic period but is considered a first gothic novel rather than first sci-fi novel. The work was not well received by the audience in the time of its publication. But the reason why Frankenstein being sci-fi is simple. The

- 3 - book presents scientific elements used in a form of unrealistic realisation. Even today scientists are not able to resurrect a person from death while using lightning as a life- giving inductor, nor to create life using sown body parts and alchemy. The scientific element taken from reality is the power of electricity which only makes an illusion of creating life. The nerves in a corpse or in its part can absorb electricity and then make a motion.

Her work, however, is not about implementing the 19th century scientific elements. The motive to write Frankenstein was different than to use sci-fi elements and, thus, create “first“ sci-fi work ever. She wanted to write her own version of Prometheus in a modern manner which comprises of horror, gore and scientific elements which, unlike in sci-fi literature, was not the main reason to write such work. It was the time after her, but still in the Romantic period, when sci-fi literature took place and scientific elements became dominant in writing the sci-fi literature.

Later, the sci-fi genre began to develop with its typical features and many authors started to express their ideas through sci-fi, like aforementioned Wells and Verne. There were more authors in the late 19th century and early 20th century, like Arthur Conan Doyle and Edgar Rice , but Verne and Wells are the most prolific and commonly known to a broad audience. Those two can be called sci-fi pioneers. Mary Shelley only used scientific elements and Frankenstein‘s including the process of his creation are the only sci-fi elements in the book. Her book is still considered the gothic or romantic novel and she, as an author, is considered a romantic writer. Wells and Verne on the other hand were writing purely sci-fi literature which is known as Romantic science.

1.2. Pioneers of the sci-fi genre: Jules Verne

Jules Verne, born in 1828, is an instant synonym to the word “sci-fi“. Generally, people think of Jules Verne more than of any other sci-fi writer while speaking about sci-fi. Even though Jules Verne is a French writer, he is well-known all over the world. His works were adapted, transformed and reworked many times and many writers were inspired by his stories, which also served as a basis for many inventors

- 4 - and thinkers. Jules Verne is known for his scientific accuracies and specific narratives in his works which includes inventions, future possibilities and technology. Some of them were discovered by later scientists (for example travelling in space, submarines, etc.), or at least disproved (for example underworld life and ocean). Jules Verne was, nevertheless, later compared with his “successor“ H. G. Wells who was, on the contrary, criticized by Verne during his lifetime via correspondence. As , an American filmmaker, points out in the documentary H. G. Wells: The Father of Science Fiction (2005), there was a certain rivalry among them and while Verne calculated every equation, took every aspect in consideration, for example, travelling in space should be carried out in spaceships, Wells only invented stuff, like “cavorite“, without any “science“ as Verne referred to him.

To understand sci-fi as a literary genre in this thesis, three of his works will be briefly described within this subchapter. It will be those which concern utopia, technology and setting as an essential element. First such novel is Voyage au Centre de Terre (English: Journey to the Center of the Earth) which was written in 1864. The plot of this novel is primarily aimed on the discovery of Earth‘s core through the Icelandic volcano Snæfellsjökull. The reason why this novel is one of the prototypes of sci-fi is because Jules Verne trustworthily combines real scientific elements with scientific-based assumptions, like Earth-core ocean with its natural wonders, and writing in a very specific narrative form which makes it a believable story. It is necessary to realize that planning and preparations for the trip are no more different from those we do now when we are planning to explore caves and similar rockish phenomenons.

Second of his novels described in this thesis is De la Terre à la Lune (English: From the Earth to the Moon) which later includes the sequel Autour de la Lune (English: Around the Moon). Both novels were published separately, the first in 1865 and the second in 1870). These novels are considered the most reliable because the science and technology described in these novels became reality almost hundred years later since the publication of the books. The future inspiration for the space travelling and its fulfilling was found in Jules Verne‘s novels as well, for example, the shape of the spaceship. The plot of these novels describes the trip of three friends

- 5 - to the Moon and back to Earth while the reader meets the protagonists‘ experience with the Columbiad cannon launch and zero gravity or landing in the ocean. Again, these two novels show the remarkable observation and scientific precision of Jules Verne. Willy Ley, in his book Rockets, Missiles & Space Travel (1957) mentions that during the times of Apollo 8 and 11, Verne made astonishing number of correct predictions about the actual missions (derived from Mark Wade‘s article Jules Verne Moon Gun, 2014).

The third and last novel to be described is Vingt Mille Lieues sous les Mers (English: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) written and published in 1870. For its content and story, this novel is considered one of the most favorite of all Jules Verne‘s novels. To answer the question, why is this novel so popular and why is it one of the prototypes of sci-fi, is in its narrative form which uses scientific and technological elements in the right time and place in the story. The readers are thrilled with and expectations and they also learn something valid. The very important theme for future reference in writing the sci-fi novel is a thematic focus on “man against man“ as Zaki Hasan points out in his essay (Quicklet on Jules Verne‘s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, 2014). Zaki Hasan expands his idea that it is, no matter the scientific and technological progress and advancement which humans make, “man‘s own hubris and predilection towards self-destructive behavior always ensures that true, lasting peace remains just out of arm‘s reach“.

To sum up this subchapter about Jules Verne, he is the pioneer and key representantive of the sci-fi literature. Nonetheless, he was trying, apart from writing fictional novels, to describe the true scientific and technological achievements based on math, calculations, logic and thorough preparation. So, there might be some unanswered question whether he is or he is not an absolute sci-fi writer. He was trying to prove his ideas scientifically and his true intentions were to show his ideas in an entertaining manner while sharing credible information. Therefore, Jules Verne served and for some people still serves as a prophet of the 20th and 21st century sci- fi.

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1.3. Pioneers of the sci-fi genre: Herbert George Wells

H. G. Wells is a British author born in 1886 to the poor British family. Commonly known as a founding father of the sci-fi genre – the title shared with Jules Verne. However, Wells denied such allegations and referred to his novels as “scientific romances“ as Teddy Wayne points out in his study (ClassicNote on The Time Machine, 2002).

H. G. Wells unlike Jules Verne demontrated his own much more in essence of using science and technology in his novels. Wells is a great storyteller who applies science and technology as a necessary and interesting tool to tell his story which is about plot and message hidden in the subtext. It can be said that Jules Verne acknowledged the importance of science and technology in his novels by proving and calculating it, however, in Wells‘ works the main part is the story with the hidden message and the main protagonist followed by science and technology. His novels were strongly influenced by the poverty he grew up in, which later formed his socialistic views, and by studying under estemeed Darwinist T. H. Huxley (Aldous Huxley‘s grandfather). According to Teddy Wayne (ClassicNote on The Time Machine, 2002), Wells was politically active before and during the World War II, he was corresponding with a huge amount of various authors, like Henry James, and his opinions and literature were both admired and detracted in the literary world. Nevertheless, his significance in the late 20th century and dawning 21st century is indisputable and solid.

This subchapter, therefore, briefly analyses three publicly acclaimed and well- known novels which contain both typical sci-fi themes. Chronologically first in the sequence is The Time Machine, published in 1895. As Teddy Wayne suggests in his study (ClassicNote on The Time Machine, 2002), it could be said that from today‘s perspective this novel is a harsh critique of capitalism. Wells was avid critic of capitalism and strong supporter of socialism, though he later rejected it. Through his novel Wells wanted to warn about the impacts of exploitation of the workers for the benefit of the rich. According to the essay by Teddy Wayne, the novel contains 5 major themes, for example, critique of capitalism; social Darwinism and evolution. Later sci-fi novels incorporate either critique of social order (in this case capitalism)

- 7 - or advancement of the humans (mostly on genetical level, ergo evolution) as one of the major themes. There are several parallels with Wells‘ political views. It serves as a satisfaction to him that the situation will eventually turn in future, however, he also recognized that future status quo is not acceptable as well. Both is commented on in the novel by the narrator and the main protagonist, The Time Traveler. Morlocks turning on Eloi can be interpreted as the October Revolution and the lack of abstract thought of Morlocks can be interpreted as class consciousness developed through the time of oppression to overthrow the ruling class. Basically, Wells wanted to warn the readers about the expansion of the industrial revolution if gone wrong way.

The second novel from the sequence is (sometimes referred to as The War Between the Worlds) which was published in serialized form for the first time in 1897 in the British and American magazines. According to the Study Guide – The War of the Worlds Themes (2014), the novel explicitly states what its head theme is – the parallel between the and human colonists can be demonstrated by the following short extract from the novel: “And before we judge of them too harshly we must remember what ruthless and utter destruction our own species has wrought, not only upon animals, such as the vanished bison and the dodo, but upon its inferior races. The Tasmanians, in spite of their human likeness, were entirely swept out of existence in a war of extermination waged by European immigrants, in the space of fifty years. Are we such apostles of mercy as to complain if the Martians warred in the same ?“ (The War of the Worlds, Book I, Chapter I, 2004). To sum it up, Wells puts the readers to the reversed position of us being the oppressed instead of being the oppressors. It is actually very shocking to realize how would it be if the humans were also colonized by some very powerful race. The significant theme of the novel is depiction of the brutality of the Martians toward the humans which serves as a parallel to colonizing the native Indians by the British in past.

Last book from the sequence The First Men in the Moon was published in 1901. The reason this novel being mentioned in this thesis is to show the unlimited imagination of H. G. Wells which is one of the key elements to write a sci-fi novel. As Nicholas Meyer points out in the documentary H. G. Wells: The Father of Science Fiction (2005), Wells invented some of the scientific methods just for the

- 8 - sake of the story. In this novel he needed an anti-gravitational element to make the ship capable of interstellar travelling and from this particular reasons he invented “cavorite“.

To summarize it, H. G. Wells undoubtedly belongs to sci-fi literature. Where Verne uses real science and calculations, Wells uses sheer fantasy and pure imagination. Nevertheless, both approaches are essential in writing sci-fi. For example, Arthur C. Clarke wrote a book containing only calculations known as Interplanetary Flight: An Introduction to Astronautics (1950) which lead him to write a novel 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). However, for the sake of readability, the invented element is sometimes more important than the real one. Both approaches are very common in modern sci-fi stories.

1.4. Sci-fi in the late 19th and early 20th century

The next subchapter deals with the expansion of the sci-fi genre into various subgenres and styles. This subchapter, firstly, refers to other important writers such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, John W. Campbell, , Robert E. Howard or Karel Čapek, and secondly, it describes the development of pulp magazines like Thrill Book, or and importance of the First World War on sci-fi writers.

The evolution of the sci-fi literary genre was not paved by individual steps with given time for feedback, nor it was invented by some group of writers who decided how it should be created. Alongside Mary Shelley, Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, there are other acclaimed authors of sci-fi or considered sci-fi writers that are worth a reference. To move back on the timeline, it is essential to mention Sumers and the Indians of Latin and South America, such as Aztecs and Incas, who already thought of higher beings living outside Earth, helping to evolve our species, giving us instructions in exchange for labour force and gold, as Frank Lake suggests (Aliens Here to Take Our Gold?, 2011). The point is, to question whether it is a true story or sheer oral fantasy.

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To move forward, several works still have their current validity and may be considered, from today‘s perspective, sci-fi as well. For example, utopian works such as Plato‘s Politea (English: The Republic, around 380 BC); Thomas More‘s Utopia (1506); Tommaso Campanella‘s La Città del Sole (English: The City of the Sun, 1602), or metaphysical works (inspiration for fantasy elements in sci-fi) such as Dante Alighieri‘s Divina Commedia (English: Divine Comedy, 1308) or John Milton‘s Paradise Lost (1667). Centuries later, when the fiction started to find its boundaries in the Romantic period, works of other writers might be considered as proto-sci-fi too, for instance, Victor Hugo‘s utopia/ La Légende des Siècles (English: The Legend of the Centuries, 1859); Jane C. Loudon‘s The Mummy!: Or a Tale of the Twenty-Second Century (1836) which shares Frankenstein‘s mad scientist attribute; George Tucker‘s first American sci-fi novel A Voyage to the Moon (1827).

These aforementioned works and novels also shaped the modern and contemporary sci-fi literary world providing wide variety of subgenres. To expand the list of sci-fi authors before the First World War, few of them must never be excluded from the index of sci-fi literature. First of them is a British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, known mostly as an author of Sherlock Holmes. Only few people are aware of Doyle‘s sci-fi novel The , published in 1912. This novel, however, does not share the same scientific approach with Verne and Wells. Still The Lost World contains fictional features about a hidden plateau somewhere in the Amazons which is rich in extinct animals and dinosaurs. The novel is based on this assumption and is accompanied by the real scientific preparations and expedition lead by Professor Challenger. Basically, The Lost World combines realistic and fictional elements, ergo it is considered a sci-fi novel as well.

Next author in the sequence of great influence on sci-fi writers is a Czech writer Karel Čapek, born in 1890. He is one of the authors who cannot be categorized in one genre but lot of readers associate him with sci-fi. Therefore, one sci-fi piece of writing should never be omitted when mentioning sci-fi, the drama R.U.R. (English: Rossum’s Universal , 1920). This particular work is very important to the sci- fi literary world because of the word ““ which was coined by his brother Josef Čapek. Robot in R.U.R. is much similar to the Frankenstein‘s monster which actually served as an inspirational source for Čapek. However, later and current conception of

- 10 - a robot is different than Čapek‘s. Robot is derived from the Czech archaic word “robota“ which means mandatory labour for a landlord (aristocracy). This concept is still valid, but later on, the theory about robots gets its own system which was developed by with his Three Laws of Robotics. Their first appearance is found in the collection of short stories known as I, Robot (1950). Therefore, Karel Čapek naturally belongs to the index of sci-fi writers and not only for his application of the word “robot“.

There is also one phenomenon left for description – the establishment of pulp magazines. Like almost everything in the world which was intended for the rich or educated, even the sci-fi literature began to influence the masses and not only the rich and educated, according to Mike Ashley‘s essay (The Golden Age of Pulp Fiction, 2005). This means the sci-fi genre got simplified in a manner of content and incorporating the science and technology. The sci-fi works got published in an acceptable form – cheap paper for a reasonable price, as Ondřej Neff and Jaroslav Olša jr. point out (Encyklopedie literatury science fiction, 1995, p. 32). Because the pulp magazines tried to approach to masses, the publishers wanted to please their readers by giving them what they wanted, wide variety of topics and themes, usually combined together. That lead to hiring more writers, starting a series of episodes and sometimes for the sake of literary quality. The disputes whether the pulp magazines are good quality literature or not could take ages. However, the sci-fi literary world would not be as rich as it is today if it was not for some of the writers who contributed to the pulp magazines, including Ray Bradbury.

Apart from the world wars, the pulp magazines changed the form of sci-fi literature as well. Simply put, huge masses mean wide variety of tastes, ergo wide variety of sci-fi stories (in order to please the wide spectrum of readers). Today‘s sci- fi series and universes like Halo, Dead Space, DooM, World of Warcraft or even and could not be so widespread, through various mediums, if there would not be and evolution of the film industry.

The golden age of sci-fi pulp magazines was between 1896 and 1955 (the first published was Argosy Magazine). To quote Mike Ashley (The Golden Age of Pulp Fiction, 2005), their significance is still evident in modern sci-fi. Even H. G. Wells,

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Arthur Conan Doyle and later authors like Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick and Robert A. Heinlein also contributed to the pulp magazines. However, this subchapter characterizes the first and important contributors to the pulp magazines like Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E. Howard and John W. Campbell.

John W. Campbell stopped writing fiction after he became an editor of the pulp magazine Astounding but during his writing period he started the series about Arcot, Morey and Wade “in which the heroes faced a succession of battles of ever- increasing size fought with a succession of wonderful Weapons of ever-decreasing likelihood“, summarized in John Clute‘s article (Authors: Campbell, John W, Jr, 2014). That short extract basically defines the term ““ first used by W. Tucker in 1941 according to Ondřej Neff and Jaroslav Olša jr. (Encyklopedie literatury science fiction, 1995, p. 35) which, according to Merriam-Webster (2014), is defined as “a futuristic melodramatic fantasy involving space travelers and extraterrestrial beings“. Campbell was not the first user of this term but was later more quoted by other sci-fi authors such as Isaac Asimov, according to (Harry Harrison: The Official Website, 2014). Space opera became famous mostly in 70‘s because of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) directed by who acknowledged early space opera stories from pulp magazines like and as one of his inspirational sources, summarized in the documentary Empire of Dreams: The Story of the ‘Star Wars‘ Trilogy (2004).

Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard are one of the first writers who created ongoing series which later became franchise (or universe) independent on its creators. Robert E. Howard is a creator of series known as ““ (for instance Conan series). Unfortunately, he did not contributed to sci-fi literature as much as Burroughs. He only wrote several sci-fi stories such as which is considered a ““ story. His conception of fantasy (sword and sorcery) became later one of the essential elements for writing a sci-fi story or novel. For example Vlastislav Toman‘s novel and later comics series Pod paprsky Zářícího (English: Under the Rays of , 1973-1976) or ‘s Lord of Spiders (1965). For the modern sci-fi writer it is not a problem to combine fantasy and scientific elements in order to create a “sword and planet“ story. For instance, an advanced race could visit a planet where are underdeveloped tribes and due to the

- 12 - consequences the main protagonists from an advanced race can experience the same life as a person from the underdeveloped tribe without any further use of science or technology. It is difficult to find boundaries between pure “sword and sorcery“ and “sword and planet“. Nevertheless, Howard tends to be more a fantasy writer and Burroughs a sci-fi writer, both sometimes combining the aforementioned styles like in John Carter‘s series, officially known as The Barsoom Series.

To sum it up, the pulp magazines are significant in the sci-fi literary context because they extended and enriched this genre by numerous elements such as launching the series and franchise, creating the “universe“, combination of fantasy and sci-fi and other subgenres including horror, gothic, underground, nudity, sex, and also development of the “space opera“ stories, like ‘s or in the film industry like George Lucas‘ Star Wars. Unfortunately, the pulp magazines stopped being published sometimes in 50‘s, according to Mike Ashley “the World War II considerably depleted their numbers and survivors were shadows of their former selves“ (The Golden Age of Pulp Fiction, 2005) and yet pulp magazines, despite their short lifetime, inspired comics literature, motion pictures and TV broadcasting (first known serial films from 30‘s and 40‘s were adapted in accordance to their literary original, for example Buck Rogers was broadcasted in 1939 in 12 chapters). In conclusion, it was the World War II and new mediums which slowly replaced the pulp magazines.

During the formation of the sci-fi genre nothing had such strong impact on sci-fi as the First and Second World War. The change of themes in the authors‘ works was significant mostly for the benefit of the good. One of the first authors strongly influenced by the wars, apart from other matters, were Aldous Huxley and , and even Ray Bradbury but his works are considered as postmodern, ergo were written after the World War II. Usually, the comparison of dystopian works is carried out between Orwell and Huxley (information based on M. Vodičková‘s lecture and presentation on British Literature: Novel Between Wars, 2008), but such topic would lead to distraction from the main aim of this thesis and, therefore, it will not be further described.

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2. Chapter II: Aldous Huxley

He was born in Surrey in 1894 to the prominent British family of scientists. His two brothers were renowned eminent biologists (Julian and Andrew Huxley). Julian was later an editor of the book of essays, tributes and reminiscences concerning his late brother Aldous known as Aldous Huxley 1894-1963: A memorial Volume (1965). Aldous Huxley is, without any scruples, one of the highly acclaimed writers of the 20th century and not only in the area of sci-fi literature. He was a critic, novelist, poet, essayist, philosopher, screenwriter and above all a greatly quoted author. He was more of an author of essays and fictional novels than a sci-fi author. Nevertheless, his most cited work is Brave New World (1932) which rightfully belongs to the index of sci-fi novels and stories. Other fictional novels worth mentioning are Island (1962) and The Doors of Perception (1954) which is the collection of essays describing the state of mind and experience while using drugs, specifically LSD and mescaline. As European Graduate School EGS suggets, this book became the essential narrative for the hippie culture (Aldous Huxley – Biography, 2012). Aldous Huxley died peacefully in 1963 in on the same day as J. F. Kennedy and C. S. Lewis.

In this subchapter, only two of his works will be subsequently described, Brave New World (1932) and Brave New World Revisited (1958). The latter is basically an addition and extension (appendix) to Brave New World. Brave New World Revisited is a collection of essays written by Huxley more than 20 years after the publication of Brave New World only to comment on the recent situation and some of the changes conducted in the society and not to rewrite it which was an idea for the certain period of time during Huxley‘s life according to David Bradshaw (Brave New World, 2004, p. XII-XV). Later in his life, Huxley changed from being a person who was criticizing the current situation, status quo and social values, to a person who was contemplating about philosophical and spiritual questions which can be documented on his friendship with the 20th century philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti. And that is the reason why only Brave New World and Brave New World Revisited are for their content and length sufficient enough for the following analysis. Through this subchapter the reader of this thesis will be able to recognize Huxley‘s personal

- 14 - conception and thinking about society, individualism, technological advancement and development.

2.1. Analysis of Brave New World

Brave New World was published in 1932 but was written in a previous year. Like Orwell, Huxley is a prominent figure in writing the dystopian novels whose ideas were and are largely incorporated in the later sci-fi genres such as SF, speculative ficiton. As Ondřej Neff and Jaroslav Olša jr. point out, the SF genre is not only about science but also about speculations and theories (Encyklopedie literatury science fiction, Praha, 1995, p. 33). According to Robert McCrum in his article to , Brave New World was listed number 53 in the top 100 greatest novels of all time (The 100 greatest novels of all time: The list, 2003), thus sci-fi literature and literature in general could not be whole without this novel. The reason this novel became such a big success is quite simple to understand. Before Huxley, there was practically no one, apart from Orwell, who had created something like Brave New World. Huxley is one of the first authors who wrote a dystopian novel. However, simultaneously with Huxley, George Orwell was also the dominant writer of dystopian novels, for example, Nineteen-Eighty Four (1949).

Dystopian novel or shortly dystopia is direct opposite of utopia (in past eutopia). Utopia depicts the perfect state of society and country (land) which was made perfect through several key changes, such as the society‘s thinking and coping with the upcoming changes, changes in structure of the society and also economical and political changes of the past differencies. The later excluded prefix “eu-“ in eutopia means in Ancient Greek “good“ and “topia“ means “place“, ergo “good place“, however, according to Thomas Moore‘s Utopia the meaning of the word is slightly different. Utopia in Ancient Greek means “no place“, which can be understood as a place people cannot actually live in and it would be impossible for them to reach such status. Therefore, the utopian novels are basically the depictions of what may be but will never become. Dystopia on the other hand is derived from current situation of society and is based on real elements which depict the exaggarate version of such situation. Unlike utopian novels, the dystopian novel predicts the

- 15 - worst rather than the best. In the dystopian novels, every human action leads to the worst outcome mostly on a larger scale (global level). The prefix “dys-“ means in Ancient Greek “bad“, thus “bad place“ to live in. Dystopia is, generally speaking, a twisted version of reality and Aldous Huxley and Ray Bradbury, as well as George Orwell, mastered the depiction of the dystopian ideas in their novels.

Brave New World is a short novel written between the two world wars (1918- 1939) and after the Black Friday (1929). These two milestones in the modern history are essential to mention in relation with Aldous Huxley and dystopia (including George Orwell). Both milestones developed such thinking which can be found in later dystopian novels, prominently in 70‘s () and 90‘s (techno-). However, there were other events in history that influenced Huxley to form his ideas in Brave New World. First such event was a mass production of the first automobile in history, Ford Model T (1908). Second was a use of the assembly line where each worker had his specific position while doing the same labour in a set time. Before, the cars were very expansive and were produced and commissioned individually, thus, not assembled on the line. Such transformation evidently changed the course in economy and most importantly in work-related management and behavior.

Brave New World is a story depicting a perfect “civilized“ society in future, specifically AD 2540, however, since the story describes the future society, their calendar starts with the first mass-produced car in 1908. It means that people in the future address their period as A.F. 632 (“Anno Ford“ or “in the years of Ford“ which is similar to “Anno Domini“). This process of adopting different calendar suggests the tone of the story which is centered around the mass production, consumerism, mainstream, perfection, stability, control, sufficiency, all conducted through the justification of each aforementioned. Generally speaking, the story can be divided into three main parts, because the book is only divided into chapters (I – XVIII) without further diversification. However, the readability of the novel is not deprived by such division and through the narrative and characters of the story, the novel remains very consistent.

The first so-called part (chapter I – VI) describes the function of the society in Central London of the World State. During the narrative the reader is introduced to a

- 16 - wide variety of characters, each representing specific viewpoints on the world and society. At the very beginning of the novel, the reader is introduced with the people- making process. The society of the World State A.F. 632 is divided into 5 castes, alphas, betas, gammas, deltas and epsilons. The fertilization process is conducted in vitro and whole nurturing system of newborns takes place in “Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre“. Alphas and betas are produced differently than the last three. They are produced “normally“ from single egg cell without any alterations, however, the gammas, deltas and epsilons are bokanovskified – each egg cell can produce more buds from which the people are produced. Considering castes, it means that each caste is predestined to do its specific work and is given a social position in the World State. Alphas and betas are considered “higher“ people destined for service-related works – basically, they are recognized as perfect, smart, more comprehensive people in good physical condition. The last three castes are products of bokanovskification which is alteration of the essential human genome. The hatchery mingles with the physical condition as well as with the psychological condition influenced, for example, by the lack of oxygen in the brain for a certain time, according to Mr. Foster: “the lower the caste, the shorter the oxygen“ (Brave New World, 2004, p. 11). The diversification of the society is final and from the World State‘s perspective permanent. After, the reader is moved to a place conducting hypnopaedic teaching in the “Infant Nurseries, Neo-Pavlovian Conditioning Rooms“. The reader is, basically, introduced with the means of teaching people from an infancy but in a different way than the traditional perspective of teaching offers. Hypnopaedic teaching is managed during sleeping which leads to all varieties of knowledge and information in people‘s brains, such as knowledge of specific information about Nile or aversion towards nature. Each idea can be implemented. The problem of it is that people know these information when they are triggered but they do not provide the closer context and association with other information.

Then, the reader is introduced with rituals such as Godhood of Henry Ford (O Ford or crossing with T – based on model Ford T – and not with the Christian cross, etc.), orgy-porgy (ritual sex orgy), the introduction and behavior of His Fordship Mustapha Mond, Resident World Controller of , the dating fashion and how people see each other socially and sexually, drug and antidepressant abuse

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(in the novel the reader is also familiarized with the effects of soma drug with detailed description of its effects). For example, Lenina, who is one of the main characters, does not want to date Bernard Marx (one of the main protagonist in the story) only because it is rumoured he was supplied with alcohol into his bloodstream during the hatching proces, which in reality means, that he was deformed according to the Alpha‘s standards. The story also introduces some of the main characters with their flaws and how they are living in the World State. The individuality and solitude is regarded as wrong. Lenina quite often points out: “After all, everyone belongs to everyone else,…“ (Brave New World, 2004, p. 37). Everybody in the World State has a job and a place in the society according to the caste a person was born into, all for the sake of the World State stability. One of the examples of paths to the perfection can be found in the depiction of gammas‘ dislike of nature. They were bred for the work in the mines and, therefore, to be in the nature or even like it, might cause an obstacle in obtaining the work results. Another example of seeking the perfection is undergoing the hypnopaedic liking of public transportation which eventually leads to spending money on public transportation and, thus, keep the work cycle in order.

Nevertheless, the more the reader is introduced with wonders and functions of the World State, the more the reader is surprised that such society allowed the development of the Reservation. In the second part of the story (chapters VII-IX), teh reader is moved to this place and meets another main protagonist, John the Savage, who is actually a son of Thomas the DHC (The Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning, a person introduced in the first chapter) and long lost World State resident Linda who crashlanded in the Reservation. The reader is also familiarized with the Reservation‘s inner system consisting of totemism, archaic ethics and philosophy, referring to the old gods including Jesus Christ. Then the reader gets to know more about Linda and John (via flashbacks). Linda is a product of the World State and her behavior is corresponding to it even in the Reservation (in chapter VII, Linda describes her atrocities she went through in the Reservation). Nevertheless, Linda was able to raise John with the help of local Malpais and leftovers from the crashlanding. John‘s personality and place in the world are mixtures of the Reservation and the World State. He is a part of both but belongs to none. Even though John is not particularly bright looking person, quite often quotes Shakespeare

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(prominently Othello, Romeo & Juliet and The Tempest whose line “O brave new world“ served Huxley as a title for his novel) and is able of deep and thoughtful critique of the current status and situation which is more elaborated in the following chapters.

In the third part, the reader is taken back to London but with John as an invited guest of honor. However, it needs to be said that John‘s invitation was not a good will of Mustapha Mond but rather an elaborated plan of Bernard Marx of how to get rid of DHC Thomas who wanted to relocate him to Iceland in previous chapters. Through the last nine chapters the reader can see the amazement and subsequential disillusionment of John the Savage during his stay in the World State. Good example of such depiction is when John became amazed by Helmholtz Watson‘s knowledge and love for literature which is suddenly followed by disillusionment because Helmholtz, no matter how much he tried, is still a product of the World State and while reading Romeo & Juliet to him, he started laughing on the portrayal of the parents of Juliet. Another example of the disillusionment can be the death of his mother Linda, who was not taken care of properly, still believed in the World State, or Lenina‘s sexual affections toward John and his subsequent denial of her. In essence, the last part can be described as rise and fall of John the Savage. During the last three chapters John is familiarized with the true Mustapha Mond and what he is capable of. Mustapha Mond starts to uncover the truth about the World State and its society. It is interesting but Mustapha Mond, and possibly other controllers as well, are the only ones who understand the world in its true essence and who are identified with the world‘s system and function. According to the book, Mustapha Mond is aware of every happening in the the World State but for the sake of stability he refused, for example, the artistic books because they are old and when people are interested in old, they do not buy the new ones. He knows that there is no ideal society (if everybody would be Alpha or Beta, some of them would still have to do the menial work which would not be favorite among those who would be doing it), he would rather prefer the implemented social differencies – he said: “The optimum population is modelled on the iceberg – eight-ninths below the water line, one-ninth above“ (Brave New World, 2004, p. 197) or for the sake of stability every change becomes dangerous. He is also aware of godhood and the God himself, but depicts it in a rather peculiar way that it is actually for the young and prosperous.

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At the end, John cannot identify himself with Mustapha Mond and the World State and rather chooses a solitude near the lighthouse but still in the World State. Later on, he happens to be the public‘s interest which eventually leads to the simplification of his ideas and beliefs as he becomes some sort of an attraction, for instance, through his self-whipping. John becomes furious with people not minding their own businesses. When his “fans“ saw him in the documentary motion picture about him they start to gather around the lighthouse. Among his “fans“ is Lenina with her date, Henry Foster and while seeing her, he participates in beating and chanting concluded with orgy-porgy. John realized what he did and before anyone is able to stop him, he commits a suicide by hanging himself. For him the world of the World State was too much to handle.

2.2. Abridged Analysis of Brave New World Revisited

Brave New World Revisited is a collection of essays published in 1958 in USA and in 1959 in UK. However, unlike its inspirational source, this collection is non-fiction. Written almost 30 years after Brave New World, Huxley comments on the current situation in the world and compares whether the ideas and assumptions presented in Brave New World happened or not. He considered it an appendix to his novel during writing process because he did not reckon necessary to rework Brave New World after all.

Going through his essays, Huxley realized that the status of the world presented in Brave New World changed much faster than he originally thought. He began to analyze closely the aspects and events in the book, such as overpopulation and means of controlling the population, or even more, the effects of drugs and subliminal suggestion, but from different perspective than the book was published. As mentioned before, Huxley became interested in spiritual (conversion to Hindu Vedanta) and philosophical questions and teachings. He started from that perspective to comment on these aspects and happenings. At the end of the collection, in Chapter XII. What Can Be Done?, he suggests how to prevent a democracy from turning into a totalitarian state defined in Brave New World. For example, he advocates an - 20 - opinion that there can be “preventive legislation“ and such legislation should be “limiting the right of public officials, civil or military, to subject the captive audiences under their command or in their custody to sleep-teaching“ or “There could and, I think, there should be legislation prohibiting the use of subliminal projection in public places or on television screens.“ (Brave New World Revisited, 1998-2008). To summarize Aldous Huxley‘s later opinions (during and after his conversion) about freedom, the urge to quote the very last paragraph looks not only critical but also very prudent especially for the young people today: “Meanwhile there is still some freedom left in the world. Many young people, it is true, do not seem to value freedom. But some of us still believe that, without freedom, human beings cannot become fully human and that freedom is therefore supremely valuable. Perhaps the forces that now menace freedom are too strong to be resisted for very long. It is still our duty to do whatever we can to resist them.“ (Brave New World Revisited, 1998-2008).

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3. Chapter III: Ray Bradbury

One of the most renowned writers of the 20th and 21st century and highly recommended authors at schools was born in 1920 in Waukegan, , USA. Bradbury was prominently famous for his writing fiction but he was also a playwright, poet, screenwriter, essayist and also a person with number of ideas and roles outside the literature. For example, he was active in the filmmaking process, in 1982 he created the interior for the display at Center, Disney World. Even though Bradbury was known to public as a great writer, only few people know that numerous of his stories were adapted into successfull movies, TV series and even theatre plays. During his life he made a lot of impact on culture, he made acquaintances with number of cultural figures like Aldous Huxley, whom he befriended and later alienated due Huxley‘s alleged LSD abuse (Bradbury refused such substances), (a famous painter, illustrator of books, book covers, magazines and comics) and most of all, , a special effect creator and filmmaker with whom he made a lifelong friendship till his death in 2012, Harryhausen died a year later.

But before he became a writer, he was introduced into literature by Edgar Rice Burroughs‘ stories (see subchapter 1.2.3.) and later was influenced by , and H. P. Lovercraft. Bradbury said about Burroughs: “he [Edgar Rice Burroughs] was, and is, the most influential writer, bar none, of our century.“ (Edgar Rice BurroughsTM, 2014). In his nineteens he published in Los Angeles a called . Later, he contributed to the magazines like , , Thrilling , Weird Tales (see subchapter 1.2.3.) but also to magazine (for example, in the Playboy Book of Science Fiction, 1998, a called The Lost City of , 1967 was included in this anthology). His carrier was, however, kickstarted by the novel (1950) and (1951) and not by Fahrenheit 451 (1953) as some may think. Nevertheless, Fahrenheit 451 made him popular because, as Aldous Huxley, Bradbury criticized and questioned the current values and status quo through clearly stated opinions and points. Bradbury is considered an essential literature and cultural figure and his works are included in the mandatory reading list in the UK and USA. Thus, the next subchapters are primarily focused on - 22 - a dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451, two episodes from The Martian Chronicles and two short stories, and .

3.1. Analysis of Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 was the third Bradbury‘s novel in a sequence, published in 1953 which was actually based on his early short story (1951) and novella The Fire Man (1951). As mentioned earlier, this was not the type of work that had kickstarted his writing career but it made him actually enormously popular according to Ondřej Neff and Jaroslav Olša, jr (Encyklopedie literatury science fiction, 1995, p. 201). Alongside Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451 belongs to the index of dystopian novels because Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451 exaggarated a current situation which , in 50‘s, was the McCarthy era and the threat of . The novel is divided into three main chapters set sometimes after 1960 (after few atomic wars) in a typical small American town possibly in the suburbs (at least the novel provides through its narrative such connotations). The reason this novel being so popular is quite simple, Bradbury warns the audience about a potential misuse of American dream, supported in the novel by technological advancement (such as fireproof houses, the hound), lack of education related workplaces (such as university teacher), no demand for education and therefore books, lack of longing for happiness, expansion of TV broadcasting via simplification of the information content, general simplification of cultural mediums.

The main plot of the story is about firemen who are burning books in the future instead of fighting the fire. That leads to the title of the novel which was based on the actual heating temperature while burning the books. Through the time the society found no need for preservation and reading the books which became also against the law. Proportionally with that, the level of technical advancement became higher leading to the fireproof houses and no use for the firemen. Through some years the firemen were given a new task, to burn the books with Kerosene and flamethrower. One of these firemen is who might be considered as a typical man shaped by the society described in the novel with one characteristical flaw – he starts to think critically. That could not happen without any reason just for - 23 - the sake of the story. He needed a guidance which he found in a 16-year old girl Clarisse McClellan, Professor Faber and also in his future “enemy“ Captain Beatty.

Chapter I (The Hearth and the Salamander) starts with the firemen burning the books. Their work is considered valuable to society and it seems that the firemen believe they are “doing a great job“. Guy Montag, one of the firemen, starts to see a young girl Clarisse who provides Montag, through her spirit and individual thinking, a sequence of serious spiritual questions, for example, if he is happy. Montag cannot understand Clarisse‘s opinions and actions. For instance, Clarisse asks him personal questions about his firemanship or that she must see the psychiatrist because she likes being in forest and watching birds. In the first chapter, the author provides us with a number of regular events and actions, such as aforementioned, which are portrayed in the book as highly suspicious and unordinary. Also, the author took in consideration to describe the environment which might give the reader an actual background for the story (such matter can be found, dominantly, in the third chapter when Montag is on the run). Later on, Montag becomes critical of his life and realizes that the life he is living, gives him nothing and has no outcoming value. He has a wife Mildred but further in the story, he realizes he has no relationship with her. Mildred is portrayed as a product of mass media and is a consumeristic person who does not care about life, marriage or herself. She only wants to watch TV on the wall in a parlor and is more interested in gossip and simplified versions of information. Nevertheless, she seems to be supportive at the beginning when Montag brought a book from a house whose landlady burnt herself alive during the book burning. When the story moves forward, Montag starts to bring even more books, such as The Holy Bible or collection of poetry including by James Arnold.

The end of chapter I finishes in an educational spirit by the visit of Montag‘s boss Captain Beatty who seems to be bright enough to provide Montag with answers to his doubtful questions, such as the beginning of book burning or impact of minorities on the future course of the society. However, it seems that Captain Beatty is providing such information in order to be considered a critical person but in reality he is explaining all matters in a way to set Montag to his previous self. At the beginning, it appears that Captain Beatty and Montag are friends or he is Montag‘s

- 24 - mentor but further in the novel Captain Beatty becomes his “enemy“ but not in a “standoff“ way. Captain Beatty might be understood as a representative of the system. Everything wrong with the system interpreted in the novel is included in the Captain Beatty‘s personality. Basically, Montag is not fighting him but the system at the end of chapter II (The Sleeve and the Sand) and the beginning of the chapter III (Burning Bright).

In chapter II, Montag is acquainted with the university professor Faber who becomes his true guide on a path to become “a new man“ who fits to the world of tomorrow. Clarisse was dominant figure in the first pages of the chapter I but soon is excluded from the story and is considered dead which is confirmed by Captain Beatty during his visit. Faber was briefly mentioned in the chapter I as a strange person stuffing something into his coat. Later on, Montag wants to meet him in order to understand books because Montag sees help in books. Such allegations makes Faber to call Montag “a hopeless romantic“. Faber told him it is not books the mankind needs but some of the things that once were in books (Fahrenheit 451, 1991, p. 82).

Montag‘s later behavior in the story was based on the consumeristic society that was not thinking neither about their past nor of their future and was only enjoying present while being happy about it. The books were banned because they made people unhappy, as Captain Beatty suggests. The people were not even aware of an upcoming war conflict. Mildred and her friends were more interested in TV walls and the presidential elections which, to some extent, summarize the mainstream view of political preferences in the story. For example, Mildred favors one of the candidates, president Noble, a perfect choice because he is nicest-looking and the other is short and mumbles. This particular situation during Mildred‘s party including the shallow manner she and her friends are talking about their husbands, war and children, makes Montag furious. He then starts to read a poem, Dover Beach which makes Mrs. Phelps cry and other members of the party uncomfortable. In conclusion, such incident provided Captain Beatty with necessary ground for his case against Montag who at the end of the second chapter arrived home with the rest of the firemen in order to burn his house and the books in them. It is interesting to mention that some of the doubtful firemen can generally take a book to their

- 25 - household but must read it and burn it within 24 hours. Captain Beatty himself was an avid reader but soon realized that the life without books is better because the books made people unhappy through the time and it made them talk about people and situations that did not exist. However, Captain Beatty made Montag burn his house after all because Montag does not behave accordingly and continues to explore the world by reading about it. Before Montag is about to burn his house, he was mocked and threatened with an arrest by Captain Beatry. From these two reasons Captain Beatty is also burnt alongside Montag‘s house even though Montag was told by Faber through an ear device not to. The of the Hound coming back did not convince Montag to stop killing Captain Beatty.

Last chapter is more descriptive than previous chapters. The author provides the reader with description of the environment where each element of the nature serves as a story-telling component, in this case the manner of Montag‘s runaway. From the middle of the third chapter Montag is on the run and is chased by the authorities, his wife Mildred had ran away from him before the house was burnt, and the only help possible so far can be found in Faber‘s house. Further in conversation between Faber and Montag it is revealed that in numerous places all over the state live groups of the Exiles who are living differently than it is expected. One of those groups is lead by Granger who resides somewhere in the south. Montag manages to evade the chasers and the Hound and manages to them by the river which eventually guides him to the Granger‘s group. He is saved from the chasers and is welcomed by Granger as a long lost brother. He then discovers that his fears of being caught are misguided as Granger reveals him upon arrival that for the sake of rating the chase of Montag must continue. Through the Granger‘s radio some voice is heard: “The chase continues north in the city! Police helicopters are converging on Avenue 87 and Elm Grove Park!“ Granger nodded “They‘re faking. You threw them off at the river. They can‘t admit it. They know they can hold their audience only so long. The show‘s got to have a snap ending, quick! If they started searching the whole damn river it might take all night. So they‘re sniffing for a scape-goat to end things with a bang. Watch. They‘ll catch Montag in the next five minutes!“ (Fahrenheit 451, 1991, p. 148). However, for the observant readers, such phenomenon is not only a matter of 50‘s or Fahrenheit 451‘s. For the sake of programme or rating, such situation is quite common in the 21st century.

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Nevertheless, in this tone the story ends, the society fakes their victory over Montag‘s unwanted ideas and opinions and while the war is on the verge, the bombing of several cities takes place and possibly kills a majority of population in the state. But the ending of the story can be identified as positive because before the bombing, Granger revealed the goal of his group to Montag. Each of them memorizes an entire book they once preferred and due to Mr. Simmons‘ technique of recalling the book from the anyone‘s memory the group can, therefore, reproduce any book if needed in current situation, according to Granger: “The most important single thing we had to pound into ourselves was that we were not important, we mustn‘t be pedants; we were not to feel superior to anyone else in the world. We‘re nothing more than dust-jackets for books, of no significance otherwise“ (Fahrenheit 451, 1991, p. 153). The situation that occurred after the bombing is compared by Granger to the who always lives and will survive through the death and rebirth. The story ends when the Granger‘s group and other groups like his prepare themselves to offer a help in order to rebuild the society in the humblest approach possible.

3.2. Abridged Analyses of The Martian Chronicles and other stories

In order to primarily emphasize the content and views in Fahrenheit 451, the focus on The Martian Chronicles and other short stories is not going to be as thorough as in the previous subchapter, therefore, only these two short stories in The Martian Chronicles are going to be analysed: The Third Expedition; and Way in the Middle of the Air, and only two short stories from the book collection Classic Stories 1- From The Golden Apples of the Sun and R is for Rocket (1990): The Fog Horn; and A Sound of Thunder. However, some may raise a question that for better understanding of Fahrenheit 451 a different collection of short stories titled : Fahrenheit 451 Stories (2011) should be analysed in this subchapter. That would really expand the reader‘s quantity of information and knowledge about Fahrenheit 451 and its “universe“ but the potential reader of this thesis must be aware of Bradbury‘s literary scope and, thus, those aforementioned are sufficient for additional analysis.

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The Martian Chronicles is a collection of short stories published in its entirety in 1950. Bradbury was writing each short story separately and included them into pulp magazines, all of them sharing the theme of colonizing Mars. The collection contains 28 short stories (episodes) and some would rather suggest different episodes for subsequent analysis than those mentioned previously. Some may suggest the short story that was published first for an analysis, The Million-Year Picnic which was published shortly after the World War II in Planet Stories in 1946. According to Pat Black, the book‘s single best story is The Third Expedition (Review: The Martian Chronicles, 2012). Way in the Middle of the Air was chosen because of its controversial content.

The Third Expedition was firstly published in Planet Stories in 1948 under the title Mars is Heaven!. Later on, it was renamed and included in the collection as the sixth story, according to the collection‘s chronology. The plot of this short story takes place in April 2000 and tells the story of a crew coming down from space to Mars‘ surface. During the crew‘s visit on Mars they are able to recognize the surroundings as Earth-like but from different time (crew thinks of it as 1920s small American town). Suddenly, three astronauts, Captain John Black, Navigator Lustig and the archeologist Hinkston are stunned by the appearance of their long dead relatives. The crew actually ignores Captain‘s orders and rather spent some time with their relatives who said have been given a second chance. However, unlike the crew who idealized this place as some sort of God‘s infinite ways or Heaven, Captain Black seems to be the only one who still did not subdue to the of the place and its inhabitants. He thinks of this phenomenon as some sort of a trap invented by Martians where the dead relatives serve as a bait in order to lure the astronauts (Martians probably had an acces into memory of the astronauts). The story ends with a burial of 16 coffins where the mourners sometimes resemble humans and sometimes “something else“ (the Martians) as Captain Black pointed out few times.

Way in the Middle of the Air was originally published in Other Worlds in 1950. The story is set in an unspecified Southern American town where the group of local caucasian men found out about mass departure of African-Americans to Mars. One of the men, strong racist, Mr. Teece is furious when he discovers this

- 28 - information in his hardware store. He has such remarks as “the black fool just pedaled off to Mars?“ (The Martian Chronicles, 1979, p. 90). Meanwhile, before the planned departure he has two visits, both of African-American people. One of them is a debtor Belter who is not capable to pay off his 50$ debt and a boy Silly who had a signed work contract with Mr. Teece. Both African-American were rescued by the people in the hardware store. But in a case of Silly, after he was rescued by Mr. Teece‘s grandafther, he was later chased by both of them due to Silly‘s remark about the “nights“. They did not catch him and when they returned to the store Mr. Teece refuses to watch the rockets depart. As some sort of satisfaction for Mr. Teece was that Silly addressed him during the chase as “Mister“.

The Fog Horn was published for the first time in 1951 but later it became a part of the collection of short stories The Golden Apples of the Sun (1953). The story is about two lighthouse keepers, Mr. McDunn and Johnny, who provided the background monologue in some parts of the story. Mr. McDunn keeps telling Johnny a story about a very old Beast that lives in the deepest Deeps. While talking, the lighthouse maintained producing a sound in the book depicted as: “The Fog Horn blew.“ (Classic Stories 1- From The Golden Apples of the Sun and R is for Rocket, 1990, p. 7). This particular sound attracted the Beast and after a while it destroys the lighthouse. Fortunately, the keepers hide themselves in a place under the stairs. The story would look very plain if it was only depicting the Beast and its mating rituals resulting in the destruction of the lighthouse. The Bradbury‘s mastery resides in the narrative form through the description of the environment where each detail happening around the keepers is defined in a very poetic manner as Ondřej Neff and Jaroslav Olša jr. define in their book (Encyklopedie literatury science fiction, 1995, p. 201). Even the repeated phrase “The Fog Horn blew“ may remind some people ‘s “Nevermore“. The definition of the ocean‘s power may serve as another example: “You know, the ocean‘s the biggest damned snwoflake ever? It rolls and swells a thousand shapes and colors, no two alike.“ (Classic Stories 1- From The Golden Apples of the Sun and R is for Rocket, 1990, p. 5). Even the atmosphere depicted in the story may resemble a melancholy, for instance in the last Johnny‘s line: “I sat there wishing there was something I could say.“ (Classic Stories 1- From The Golden Apples of the Sun and R is for Rocket, 1990, p. 13) which he said after he sighed over the past life he had experienced with Mr. McDunn. Somehow it

- 29 - seems that Johnny misses the lighthouse, and even the Beast. These ideas and conceptions about nature in a “clash“ with the civilization served as a reason for this analysis.

A Sound of Thunder is the last Bradbury‘s work presented in this thesis. It was published for the first time in Collier‘s magazine in 1952 and the reason why it was chosen for this analysis is for its application of the theory. The story is based on the theory of time-travelling for the hunting experience but with one additional aspect. There are strict rules for behaving in the past environment. The company who conducts such expansive trips sends two of their employees Travis, the guide, and Lesperance, the zoologist, to the prehistoric past. In the “time machine“ both men tell Eckels, the customer, about each possible outcome if something is going to be changed in the past, as Travis explained to him: “A Time Machine is finicky business. Not knowing it, we might kill an important animal, small bird, a roach, a flower even, thus destroying an important link in a growing species.“ (Classic Stories 1- From The Golden Apples of the Sun and R is for Rocket, 1990, p. 214). Travis then explains that killing one mouse can lead to killing hundreds of offspring of various species including the hominids. It needs to be emphasized that such theory in 50‘s must seemed pretty elaborated and from today‘s perspective it shares quite a reasonable number of similiraties (for example time paradoxes presented in the animated series Futurama, 1999-2013). Bradbury also enjoys, as in The Fog Horn, the description of nature and what was happening around. He is also a critique of himself and other selves, he respects that his theories might be wrong, for instance: “Perhaps only a soft breath a whisper, a hair, pollen on the air, such a slight, slight change that unless you looked close you wouldn‘t see it. Who knows? Who really can say he knows? We don‘t know. We‘re guessing.“ (Classic Stories 1- From The Golden Apples of the Sun and R is for Rocket, 1990, p. 215-216). The story ends neither negativelly, nor positivelly, but there happened a change in the course of history which is based on Eckels‘ fear of Tyrannosaurus Rex. His stepping on a butterfly during teh standoff with Tyrannosaurus Rex leads to the change of the presidential elections they talked about before the trip. Bradbury shares his fears that even the slightest change, like killing the butterfly, can cause immeasurable alterations in the society, as Miroslava Genčiová explains in her comparative genre study (Vědeckofanatstická literatura, 1980, p. 127-128). At the beginning of the story

- 30 - the group enjoys the outcome of the presidential elections. The new president Keith would make a fine president unlike his rival Deutscher whom the group think of as a dictator. Nevertheless, the end of the story depicts quite the opposite. When the group finally reaches the present, the receptionist behind the desk says that Keith is a weakling and that they finally have got an iron man, a man with guts.

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4. Chapter IV: Comparison of Aldous Huxley and Ray Bradbury

Comparison of Huxley and Bradbury is divided into the subchapters for the specific reason: there might occur a potential confusion whether the comparison is based only on the analysed novels (Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451) or is strictly general.

Subchapters 4.1 – 4.7. deal with the comparison of dystopian novels Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451 only. In these subchapters it will be answered whether Huxley and Bradbury share some similarities or where they differ. This is extended by the subsequent explanation of what might have caused the similarities and differencies. Basically, each important theme is compared individually in order to present the particular difference or similarity either from the literary perspective or the authors‘ personal perspective.

Comparison in subchapter 4.8. includes other information than those presented in Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451 and, thus, provide the supplement for subchapters 4.1 – 4.7. The supplement incorporates other short stories analyzed in the previous chapters and information about the authors based on the bibliography, references and web sources (contemporary ideas and concepts, usually university or educational, are frequent in this subchapter in order to present their validity in the 21st century). Lastly, subchapter 4.9. summarizes the Huxley‘s and Bradbury‘s ideas and concepts in a form of future reference, inviting the reader to realize the importance and the impact which Huxley and Bradbury had on later writers and artists.

4.1. Comparison of the writing style and language

The reader of both books is able to recognize the difference of style and language in both novels. Aldous Huxley describes the World State and its society in every dimension possible in order to provide as many details of his universe by applying scientific neologisms based on his extensive knowledge. Nevertheless, it is peculiar that Huxley does so in a style called “taunting“. For example, as Shmoop

- 32 - presents it: “…Huxley delays the disclosure of important information… Even then, we‘re never explicitly told what‘s up – we‘re just given enough info to put two and two together ourselves or the way the reader finds out about John‘s death “…we‘re being taunted with the prospect of a cash-in moment when all will be revealed.“ (Brave New World Writing Style, 2008).

Bradbury on the other hand describes the environment and events making a scientific reference, nor does he applies so many neologisms like Huxley does. In Fahrenheit 451 Bradbury uses colloquial language and rather focuses on the story. To quote Shmoop Editorial Team: “While this novel isn‘t praised for its sentence construction, it‘s famous today for its story, its message, its important questions and incredibly relevant concerns“ (Fahrenheit 451 Writing Style, 2008).

4.2. Comparison of the historical and social context

From the previous chapters it is quite obvious that both books were published in different time periods. Huxley was influenced by the technological advancement and model Ford T, first car produced on an assembly line in history. Brave New World serves as Huxley‘s warning to mankind, as David Pearce and BLTC Research point out in their article: “It is his attempt to make man realize that since knowledge is power, he who controls and uses knowledge wields the power. Science and technology should be the servants of man - man should not be adapted and enslaved to them.“ (Brave New World Monarch Notes: Introduction to Aldous Huxley, 2008).

Bradbury was influenced by the era of McCarthy and he feared potential book censoring or even burning. It is well documented in Gene Beley‘s biography in chapter 16 (The Joe McCarthy Influence): “...there were threats about censoring books in libraries, but no action was taken.“ and he also suggests that McCarthy‘s cloak of invisibility was Bradbury‘s seed of anger that grew into Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury: Uncensored! The Unauthorized Biography, 2006, p. 139-141).

Both authors published their novels after the world war. However, each world war had a different impact on both authors, which also signals the difference between

- 33 - modernism and postmodernism. As Zdeněk Novotný suggests: “The technological successes of the 19th century strengthened the optimistic belief about infallibility and rightness of reason. On the other hand the experience of early 20th century – use of technology in both world wars, culminating during holocaust in gas chambers and ending with Hiroshima and Nagasaki – shew how atrocious can be the consequences of this modernism. The sense of safety and security is getting lost; nothing is guaranteed, anything is possible.“ (translated from Jak (se) učit, 2004, p. 137).

Basically, World War II made the writers cautious about the technology and its consequences if put to the “wrong hands“. Since Brave New World was published before the First World War, it is remarkable that Huxley shares some similarities about science and technology and quite often negativelly highlights the importance of science which helped to shape the World State and also urges for containment of science, as Mustapha Mond tells John “Science is dangerous; we have to keep it most carefully chained and muzzled.“ (Brave New World, 2004, p. 198). On the other hand, Bradbury rather emphasizes his disillusionment about technological advancement and overuse of the word points out the alienation of people between each other and technology as well, like in the conversation between Clarisse and Montag: “Is it true that long ago firemen put fires out instead of going to start them?... No. Houses have always been fireproof, take my word for it.“ (Fahrenheit 451, 1991, p. 8).

4.3. Comparison of the conception of the head theme

Huxley‘s conception of “hidden message“ can be summarized by Huxley‘s own words: “the theme of Brave New World is the advancement of science as it affects human individuals.“ In 1931, when he was writing his novel, each advance in science and technology was being hailed not only as evidence of man‘s progress but also as the hope of man‘s future. Huxley felt that this unqualified praise of science was wrong, that man‘s advances in science and technology were fraught with danger, that the misuse of knowledge results in evil, not good. Projecting his novel into the future he offers a picture of the world as it might become if Man becomes subservient to Science rather than Science subservient to Man.“ (Brave New World

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Monarch Notes: Introduction to Aldous Huxley, 2008). Generally, simplification and taking “things“ for granted lead to the opportunity for organizing the World State society in A.F. 632. Eventually, the people in the World State felt that the world order is adequate.

Bradbury was on the other hand afraid of lack of interest in books and in asking questions. Julian Moore expands the concept in his article: “The novel itself warns us of the dangers of anti-intellectualism, increasing violence, instant gratification, the dissolution of schools, the rising hum of technological devices, and many more things in his classic novel Fahrenheit 451.“ (Bradbury‘s Fahrenheit 451 and His Warnings for Our Future, 2005).

To sum up, Huxley feared the world order where there is no need for asking questions because nobody would care; and Bradbury feared that it would be undesirable to ask the questions. Nonetheless, both share the similarity in the conception of individualism which is essential for critical thinking (critical thinking is a typical feature of modernism and postmodernism as Zdeněk Novotný quite often summarizes in his lectures). The only difference is that the World State was organized by the reason and the city in Bradbury‘s novel was organized unintentionally.

4.4. Comparison of the story‘s characters

In Brave New World the reader might have the feeling that there is not the only one main protagonist. There are at least two, Bernard Marx and John the Savage and some might also suggest Lenina, Helmholtz, DHC Thomas or even Mustapha Mond. Somehow it is not clear whether the main character is Bernard or John. Yet, to some extent we realize later in the novel that the rest of the mentioned characters are not the protagonists as the reader would have thought at the beginning. It can be said that each chapter has its main character. To sum it up, according to David Pearce and BLTC Research, character serves as a spokesman of Huxley‘s ideas and beliefs (Brave New World Monarch Notes: Introduction to Aldous Huxley, 2008) and, therefore, it might lead to the assumption that the reader is not exactly sure who is

- 35 - the main protagonist in Brave New World because Huxley‘s ideas and beliefs matter the most.

Bradbury clearly defined the main character as Guy Montag. Everything that happens or is described in the novel, happens around Montag or it is related to him. The supporting characters enrich and develop Montag. Julian Moore summarizes it adequately in his article: “Clarisse, in her silly childlike way makes Montag question everything he ever believed about life. They are walking along chattering and she asks him the question that changes his life – “Are you happy?“ She asks.“ (Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and His Warnings for Our Future, 2005).

4.5. Comparison of the story‘s setting

Huxley set his story in the future because he wanted to show the significant difference between the world that used to be before model Ford T was assembled and the current world derived from the events influenced by the first assembled car like the nine-year civil war and advancement in technology such as hypnopaedic teaching. According to David Pearce and BLTC Research, Huxley feared the accelerated technological progress which will consume people and, thus, formation of such state described in Brave New World (Brave New World Monarch Notes: Introduction to Aldous Huxley, 2008).

Same as Huxley, Bradbury set the story in the future. But in the novel it does not seem to be the most important element to be aware of, as Shmoop Editorial Team claims in his article: “We get a sense of the world in which this story takes place from a variety of details“ (Fahrenheit 451 Setting, 2008) such as technological advancement, massmediazitation, alienation among people. Only once the reader is aware of the time period, as in: “We‘ve started and won two atomic wars since 1990“ (Fahrenheit 451, 1991, p. 73). The reader somehow knows the story is set in future but not that distant as in Brave New World.

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4.6. Comparison of the story‘s ending

Huxley defied the status quo and social values of his times. He did not want to step back from his opinions and it can be elaborated that the negative ending could have a more severe impact on one‘s mind, essentially nobody would want such ending to happen. John the Savage killed himself because the World State‘s system was too much for him to handle and rather chose death after all the resistance because none of his actions suggest the World State changed somehow. “John tries to make an escape by secluding himself at the lighthouse, but his self-mutilation there distorts what ought to be a return to normalcy, to his own world. His death may be thrilling, but it isn't exactly an escape and return. Or is it? If John defined the difference between the two worlds as being that of suffering and the absence of suffering, then his death was either the ultimate form of self-punishment, or the ultimate escape from suffering.“ as Shmoop Editorial Team states in his article (Brave New World as Booker‘s Seven Basic Plots Analysis: Voyage and Return Plot, 2008). The ending of the novel can result in us thinking that no matter what John the Savage did to save himself, the World State will always be too much for him to handle.

However, some may have an impression that Bradbury ended his novel more positivelly than Huxley. Shmoop Editorial Team compares Fahrenheit 451‘s ending to the biblical idea of “the tree of life“, for example: “Something is destroyed, but something is created at the same time … To everything there is a season. A time to break down, and a time to build up.“ (Fahrenheit 451 Ending, 2008). Some may argue that the vast eradication of people due to the bombing is also a negative ending, but still Bradbury planted the seeds of hope in his ending and everything will be eventually good as the righteous inherit the Earth. On the other hand, Bradbury was sometimes as sceptical as Huxley. He was aware of the situation in the USA and it is truly enlightening to read the humble opinions of Granger‘s group in the novel (see the quote on p. 27 in subchapter 3.1.).

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4.7. Comparison of the authors‘ personal conceptions and opinions on various themes

The second part of the comparison is dedicated to the daily-basis topics on which each author reflected in a different way. Of course, the other person dealing with the same topic might find different topics for comparison.

The religious themes are approached quite similarly. Both authors find the Holy Bible to be an essential reading resource and both are aware of the significance of religion in general, for example Granger considers The Book of a “fine reading“, Mustapha Mond has the Holy Bible locked in his vault and is able to quote from it as well. For Mustapha Mond the drug soma is “Christianity without tears“. Both then expand on religion. Montag is aware of shallowness of Mildred‘s friends and Huxley goes over the limits. Huxley is more critical of the organized religion than Bradbury, according to Eva Mádrová “Stability is considered to be the highest value due to which the traditional values [for example religion] had to be deleted and the references concerning them prohibited.“ (The de-individualization in Brave New World and Island by Aldous Huxley, 2011, s. 30). For instance, when Mustapha Mond explains the order in the World to John the Savage: “One of the numerous things in heaven and earth that these philosophers didn‘t dream about was this“ (he waved his hand), “us, the modern world. You can only be independent of God while you‘ve got youth and prosperity; independence won‘t take you safely to the end.“ (Brave New World, 2004, p. 206).

The issues about ethnicity are more elaborated in Fahrenheit 451 than in Brave New World. For example, Captain Beatty explains Montag that the current situation was based on the differencies between minorities and their rights where ethnic groups belong to as well “The bigger your market, Montag, the less you handle controversy“ says Captain Beatty (Fahrenheit 451, 1991, p. 57). It is the author‘s opinion on an outcome of what may happen in future if people will not cooperate and will not tolerate each other‘s beliefs and opinions in a respectful manner, which actually summarizes Bradbury‘s humanistic tendencies as Miroslava Genčiová corresponds to it in her comparative genre study (Vědeckofanatstická literatura, 1980, p. 107-108). Huxley depicts the racial differencies on the theory of

- 38 - castes which is rather based on Darwins‘s principles of natural selection as Tereza Zbíralová suggests in her thesis (Konec civilizace Aldouse Huxleyho a koncepce ideálního státu v evropské filozofii, 2008, p. 6). However, from the World State perspective, could someone say the situation is unbearable and needs radical change? Each caste has its role and work in the society which is based on its conditioning.

According to Martin Zapletal, Marriage and relationships are strongly opposed in Brave New World because Huxley defines the society which does not need such convenience as marriage or serious relationship. Family members (mother and father) are considered vulgar, for example, Helmholtz laughed on Juliet‘s parents‘ attitudes when John was reading him an extract from Romeo and Juliet (Concept of Family in Selected Works of Dystopian Fiction, 2013, p. 21). It is considered normal to have recreational sex with various number of people. Huxley predicts the worst possible outcome, unlike Bradbury who basically keeps the same concept of marriage, family and relationships but through the progress of time, followed by simplification of people‘s lives, it leads to the different attitude toward them, as Martin Zapletal summarizes in his thesis “There is no emotional connection between Guy and Mildred due to the many intrusions into their life. The causes for this may be multiple, but mainly it is faulty system of values that Mildred adopted, namely the one that does not recognize sharing experience with the partner (spouse). Although Guy is deeply attached to Mildred (or to what she used to be) when escaping the city, she seems to be emotionally burnt out.“ (Concept of Family in Selected Works of Dystopian Fiction, 2013, p. 60). Marriage is still marriage, family is still family, but in each period it means something different, for example, when Clarisse tells Montag about the children: “Sometimes I‘m ancient. I‘m afraid of children my own age. They kill each other. Did it always used to be that way? My uncle says no. Six of my friends have been shot in the last year alone.“ (Fahrenheit 451, 1991, p. 30). The approach towards the government, the urges to mention behavior, education, leisure time, social roles and social status must not be omitted because they share a very important connection. When Bradbury writes about the presidential election, he wants to show the readers what it would be like if our minds became simplified, for example Mildred‘s friend Mrs. Bowles votes for the president because he is nicest-looking person and the rival, though highly articulated, is not voted for

- 39 - by her because he mumbles. It is quite obvious that Bradbury cared about the US political life (after all Fahrenheit 451 was influenced by mccarthyism and its potential outcomes) which is well documented in Gene Beley‘s biography, when he spent 200$ on a display ad message to Senator McCarthy that appeared in Daily Variety on November 5th, 1954: “Remember, this is a two-party system. If you don‘t, next you‘ll be out on your ass. We will send you back to Salem where you belong for witch hunts.“ (Ray Bradbury: Uncensored! The Unauthorized Biography, 2006). Also it seems that in Fahrenheit 451 people just “do“ something for the sake of “doing it“. They never think about anything important, it is obvious that they do not consider their role in the society. It appears that they are guided by someone or something, in Mildred‘s life the TV wall was dominant. The firemen do their job and do not ask questions. The education could not expand the individual spirit like in Clarisse‘s case, especially when all the universities were closed down due to lack of students. All that, unfortunately, happened naturally, people were lead toward this order by actions like minorities‘ rights or fireproof houses. No one seems to be seizing control of the important values in Fahrenheit 451. But Huxley‘s approach is totally different than Bradbury‘s. Huxley‘s portrayal of government can be described as the governement influencing the world order and seizing the status quo. Example of seizing the status quo is obvious in creating the cult of personality (Our Lord, Ford) as Tereza Zbíralová summarizes in her thesis (Konec civilizace Aldouse Huxleyho a koncepce ideálního státu v evropské filozofii, 2008, p. 21). Bradbury defines the state where the government and its people are influenced by the world order and status quo for each period is derived from the current situation. That is the reason why the World State has a monopol on everything: education, conditioning, leisure time, behavior, relationships, job, social role, social status, and so on. However, one important element must be mentioned, to some extent, even the World State was derived from the natural cause. It is Huxley who focused on two events in history (assembly line and hypnopaedia) and then derives every other action from these two.

Technological and scientific advancement is present in both books. Both novels are set in the future abundant with modern technology. Both authors describe the machinery not present in the date of each novel‘s publication. As in Verne‘s and other sci-fi writers‘ propositions, even Huxley and Bradbury predicted something yet

- 40 - unpresent in the days of writing their books. Huxley was even more scientific, as mentioned earlier, than Bradbury. His ideas about hypnopaedia, creating and nurturing babies, short-time flights, and more have much in common with the recent times. For example, it is commonly known how much damage can alcohol cause in the bloodstream of a pregnant woman. Or Bradbury‘s TV walls quite resemble the plasma or LCD televisions. Mechanical hound, even though based on Baskerville‘s hound, was not developed in exact detail, but today‘s science is able to create a dog- robot. To sum up the approach towards advancement, both authors use technological conveniencies as facilitating tools which lead to the lack of critical thinking, as Jitka Kratochvílová claims in her thesis (Role of Technics in Chosen Works of World Anti-totalitarian Sci-fi Literature, 2009, p. 16).

In accordance with Miroslava Genčiová‘s comparative genre study, in his novel, Ray Bradbury warns against over-mechanized world, besotting system via mass media resources, shallow hatred toward everything noble and culture, and american way of life (translated from Vědeckofanatstická literatura, 1980, p. 42). Each novel generates a lot of effort on the importance of reading books. In Brave New World reading leads to individualism, which in turn leads to critical thinking and, thus, forced uniformity in thinking must be established as Ondřej Neff and Jaroslav Olša jr. suggest in their book (Encyklopedie literatury science fiction, 1995, p. 270). Therefore, people are taught from the early childhood through hypnopaedia what they should like and how should they behave. Mustapha Mond explains to John that books are old and thus, should not be read because they refer to old things. People must buy new things and not stick to the old ones otherwise they would not buy the new ones (Brave New World, 1994, p. 193). What remains in the World State are handbooks, manuals, recipes and annotations. People do not know how these were created or invented (a recipe for instance) but know only how to use the item accordingly. Bradbury‘s main idea is burning the books and, therefore, it made the “culture“ the main topic of his novel. For Bradbury, reading is essential to become a (critically) thinking, intellectually developed human being. Rationalization like Beatty‘s that the books made people unhappy and sad are quite common in Fahrenheit 451, which was portrayed on the occassion of Mrs. Phelps bursting out. Bradbury emphasizes the significance of the book and its reading, for instance when the group of survival-intellectuals (Granger‘s group) found a way to preserve a book.

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When anyone from the group reads some book, thanks to the preservational technique, they are allowed to burn the books because they already have them memorized. Such technique is based on retriving the already read book from the memory because once a book is read, suddenly it becomes a part of a memory.

4.8. Supplement: Differencies and similarities in general

Huxley and Bradbury are different personalities but are not as different as some would think. Each of them was born in different time, shaped and was influenced by different phenomenons. Huxley was more afraid of outcomes of human actions than Bradbury. He was more critical and much more defied the system and its values and status quo. That may be the reason why he experienced with drugs and later in his life changed his attitudes and became more spiritual in his writing, evident, for example, in his last novel Island as Ondřej Neff and Jaroslav Olša jr. implicate (Encyklopedie literatury science fiction, 1995, 271). Bradbury seems to be the writer who is dissatisfied with McCarthyism, and makes remarks on it (see quote in subchapter 4.7. concerning an ad he published in Daily Varietes) or is mesmerized by a certain phenomenon like time-travelling or the butterfly effect which served as a basis for his short stories, as Miroslava Genčiová mentions in her comparative genre study (Vědeckofanatstická literatura, 1980, p. 128).

Like Huxley, Bradbury shares, too, disillusionment with the human behavior, as if he knew who the humans really were. Eventually, the person acts in a manner he was programmed to, like in A Sound of Thunder. Where they are similar, they differ in their approach, Huxley was the person questioning “everything“ but Bradbury seems to be the person possessing hope, a person who did not give up on people, the quote after the bombing at the end of the book can summarize such fact: “To everything there is a season. Yes. A time to break down, and a time to build up. Yes. A time to keep silence and a time to speak. Yes, all that. But what else. What else? Something, something…“ (Fahrenheit 451, 1991, p. 165). Huxley‘s dissillusionment can be demonstrated on his portrayal of John the Savage. At the beginning it seems he is getting along in the World State and the reader somehow feels the sudden and quick change in John‘s behavior. Such phenomenon can be seen, for example, in the - 42 - situation of immigrants‘ early amazement in the United States of America upon their first arrival to the country. Later, however, the reader is aware of John‘s dissatisfaction with the World State order and is afterwards haunted and destroyed by the people of the World State which Ondřej Neff and Jaroslav Olša jr. understands as “a pessimistic impression of this work“ (translated from Encyklopedie literatury science fiction, 1995, p. 270). Where there is hope and better tomorrow in Bradbury‘s Fahrenheit 451, there is destruction and death in Huxley‘s Brave New World. According to , Bradbury‘s optimism can be defined as such: “The science-fiction icon transformed the genre, but behind dystopian stories was real hope for the future“ (Ray Bradbury, American optimist, 2012).

In general terms, it can be said that both Huxley and Bradbury, as Ondřej Neff and Jaroslav Olša jr. mention in their book, share anti-technological tendencies (Encyklopedie literatury science fiction, 1995, p. 201, 270) but Bradbury seems to be less critical of the scientific and technological development than Huxley. In various stories, according to Miroslava Gončiová, the fondness in such elements is quite obvious (idea adopted from Vědeckofanatstická literatura, 1980, p. 53). Such elements are the time machine (in A Sound of Thunder and The Time Machine), spacetravelling and aliens (in The Martian Chronicles), the dinosaur-like beast (in The Fog Horn). A Sound of Thunder expands the butterfly effect theory, Fahrenheit 451 describes regular house appliances now considered ordinary, like HD television. Huxley on the other hand described such discoveries that are still currently impracticable, bokanovskification (explanation on page 17), hypnopaedic teaching and such. Distinguishing between Huxley and Bradbury is in the matter of applying of science and technology. Huxley created it for the sake of the story but Bradbury is the incorporator of science and technology. Bradbury was stunned by some achievement or theory, like “the butterfly effect theory“. He then elaborated it into some abstract such as the consequences when someone steps on a butterfly in the past while travelling in time. In conclusion, Bradbury wants people to think of life in a different way. To understand humans as being small in comparison with the nature and universe and that even small details if changed in the past could cause a different outcome in human‘s history whic can be roughly understood as being careful of making current mistakes because they might sever consequences in our future.

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4.9. Future reference

The last subchapter focuses on the authors and genres that share similarity with Huxley and Bradbury or were influnced by those authors. In order to accomplish the aim of this thesis through bridging the gap between Chapter IV and Chapter V, the practical part needs to be introduced.

Firstly, it must be mentioned that the time periods of both authors were overflowing with sci-fi literature. Unlike in the previous century, the sci-fi genre was already established (see Chapter I). Aldous Huxley extended the dystopian literature alongside with George Orwell and Ray Bradbury expanded the sci-fi genre, now considered classic. It was primarily these authors who did not allow the sci-fi genre to cease to exist. The authors, however, co-existed with other significant sci-fi authors like Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert A. Heinlein, Philip K. Dick, Stanislaw Lem, Ursula K. Le Guin, and others. Such co-existence can be documented on Playboy Book of Science Fiction (1998) where each writer gained recognition and popularity. Nevertheless, the authors mentioned above, including Ray Bradbury, belong to the period after the World War II to the postmodern literature which means, is set after the Golden Age of Science Fiction as Ondřej Neff and Jaroslav Olša jr. claim (Encyklopedie literatury science fiction, 1995, p. 35).

Secondly, during the lifetime of Huxley and Bradbury, tremendous number of genres came to existence. According to Ondřej Neff and Jaroslav Olša jr., such genres are (during the late 80‘s and early 90‘s), New Wave (in 60’s in the UK and then in the US), Hardcore Sci-fi (firstly used by P. Schuyler Miller in 1957), Sword and Sorcery (the term coined in 1960 by F. Leiber but used before by Edgar Rice Burroughs or Robert E. Howard), Technothriller (during the 80‘s, dominantly adopted by Michael Crichton) (Encyklopedie literatury science fiction, 1995, p. 29- 35).

However, there is a genre that is strongly influenced by Bradbury, Huxley and the authors mentioned previously. Such genre is known as cyberpunk sub-genre. Ondřej Neff and Jaroslav Olša jr describe in their book, cyberpunk serves as another

- 44 - level in sci-fi literature (Encyklopedie literatury science fiction, 1995, p. 30-31). Cyberpunk omits the fantasizing part and focuses on the prediction of the society during the short period of time which, from the closer perspective, does not seem optimistic. As they also points out, the difference between the genres is setting in cyberpunk novels, mostly in the nearest future (30-50 years from the present) unlike in space opera (usually set eons in the future). Cyberpunk is much closer to the present situation than the rest of the genres because science and technology in cyberpunk stories are derived from the current position. Martin Zapletal illustrates it in his thesis as follows, the aspects of cyberpunk related to the current situation can be traced in the conception of themes in Philip K. Dick‘s Do Androids Dream of Electrci Sheep? (1968) whic are, for example, sexuality, solidarity or altruism.

The similarity of the aforementioned genres with Huxley and Bradbury is obvious because of the themes and conception of those. Basically, all themes are repeating themselves in sci-fi novels, no matter the time period the novels were published. It cannot absolutely be said that there is a direct link between Bradbury or even Huxley and cyberpunk. But the dystopian themes which are present in the novels, can be regularly found in any bookshelf or library. Therefore, once some book is read, it means it wil influence and forever stuck in someone‘s mind which later forms the imagination and questions of young people in their theses who are interested enough in sci-fi and its sub-genres while growing up. Similar question, whether Bradbury and Huxley or sci-fi in general can influence other people (in this thesis – the high school students) is elaborated in the practical part in Chapter V.

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PRACTICAL PART

5. Chapter V: Practical use of Huxley‘s and Bradbury‘s ideas

5.1. Expectations of the teaching practice

The practical part of this thesis is aimed on practical use of, in my opinion, few strong ideas and concepts recognizable in their works, in this case, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, and other analysed works from the previous chapters. Specifically, it means that short extract from the book, which contains some idea worth consideration, is going to be presented in front of the class, supplemented with the tasks related to the extracts. For understanding the teaching practice and its aim it is also essential to read the lesson plans provided in subchapters 5.1. and 5.2. with their corresponding enclosures.

This chapter covers two lessons of two different classes on grammar school, Gymnázium Šumperk. First lesson deals with students from the 4th year from the English seminar class in 90 minutes and second lesson deals with students from the 2nd year from the regular mixed English class within 45 minutes. The students from the 4th year were given linguistically more challenging extract from Aldous Huxley‘s Brave New World and the students from the 2nd year were given 2 short extracts from Ray Bradbury‘s Fahrenheit 451.

In order to comprehend the extracts, the students were given the related tasks primarily focused on conversation but also on the grammar, vocabulary and English in use. During the lessons students are supposed to think about new opinions and ideas (or to be provoked) and re-evaluate their actions in real life. Simply put, based on the extracts the students should become aware of some change and that something is happening in their minds, even on the smaller scale.

The main reason to present Huxley and Bradbury in a lesson is to show the students some valuable and solid ideas and conceptions from the sci-fi genre. Firstly,

- 46 - it is to show the students that sci-fi literature can be readable and, to some extent, fun and, secondly, that such literature possess valid and excellent ideas worth thinking and considering in a matter of personal introspective and re-evaluation. It is not expected that the students will be different but will at least become aware of some ideas, for example reading the books which they should not take lightly or even take for granted. Thirdly, it is to make the students think hard over some controversial issues they are going to cover during the lesson. What matters are the opinions of students and the fact, that they will be at lest thinking about it, is sufficient. It is expected at the end of the lesson that all aforementioned aims of teaching will be summarized in a form of feedback-like questionnaire. Additionally, the whole teaching practice including the questionnaire is going to be presented in the summary, supplemented by the diagrams.

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5.2. Lesson plan: Teaching of the 4th-year students in the English seminar

School: Gymnázium Šumperk Date: 3rd April 2014 Subject: English seminar Class: Seminar class of VIII.A, 4.A, 4.B, 4.C Teacher trainee: Karel Chladil Supervising teacher: George Haag Topic: Aldous Huxley and Brave New World Length: 90 minutes RVP: 5.1.2. Foreign languages: Realia of the countries of the language studied Aims: - The students know the basic information about Aldous Huxley and Brave New World - The students are willing to provide reasonable arguments concerning Huxley‘s ideas - The students are able to think about Huxley‘s issues and opinions in order to use them in real life Curriculum: Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Input knowledge: British literature, sci-fi literature, English language B1/B2 Subsequent curriculum: Realia: Canada Tools: extract from the book, handout, blackboard Methods: presentation, dialogue, group work, pair work, group discussion Lesson organization: 1) Organizational matters (5 min) 2) Warm-up activity (5 min) 3) Author introduction (10 min) 4) Reading exercise (15 min) 5) Grammar exercise (10 min) 6) Writing exercise (15 min) 7) Discussion (20 min) 8) Feedback (10 min)

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Contents of the lesson: 1) Organizational matters (5 min) - Greeting the class, absence, apologies - Presentation of the teacher trainee and his goals

2) Warm-up activity (5 min) - The teacher is going to ask the students several questions: about their knowledge of literature, whether they read in general, what is their opinion of sci-fi literature, or if they know some authors

3) Author introduction (10 min) - Brief introduction of Aldous Huxley: “He is an English writer between the world wars and is known for his criticism of the society and questionning the values and status quo. Huxley belongs to the compulsory reading list in the UK and US high schools.“ - Short summarization of Brave New World: “It‘s a book describing the perfect society in future which is based on Henry Ford‘s achievement, first assembled car (For model T). In this book the author criticizes the consumeristic society having, basically, everything. Even though the book describes the scientific achievement and technological development like hypnopaedia or genetic engineering, generally, the people are bred as cattle, can‘t think on their own, can‘t be in solitude, can‘t have family which is frown upon as something lesser. When John the Savage from the Reservation visits the World State, he functions as some sort of depiction of everything wrong happening in the World State. After the disillusionment, he defies the system and has a long conversation with the World State Controller Mustapha Mond explaining John the true meaning of the World State and its order. One of such conversations is in your extracts.“ - Tell students why they are reading it (the students must have basic idea of what Brave New World is about)

4) Reading exercise (15 min) See “Appendix 1: Handout #1 for the 4th-year students“ and “Appendix 2: Handout #2 for the 4th-year students“ (p. 67-68)

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5) Grammar exercise (10 min) See “Appendix 3: Handout #3 for the 4th-year students“ (p. 69)

6) Writing exercise (15 min) See “Appendix 4: Handout #4 for the 4th-year students“ (p.70)

7) Discussion (20 min) See “Appendix 5: Handout #5 for the 4th-year students“ (p. 71)

8) Feedback (10 min) - Students will be given a questionnaire r in order to provide the feedback of the lesson, see “Appendix 6: Feedback-related questionnaire for the 4th-year students“ (p. 72) - They are asked to answer the questionnaire related to their recently obtained knowledge and information.

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5.3. Lesson plan: Teaching of the 2nd-year students in the English lesson

School: Gymnázium Šumperk Date: 18th April 2014 Subject: English lesson Class: Mixed class of 2.A, 2.B, 2.C Teacher trainee: Karel Chladil Supervising teacher: George Haag Topic: Ray Bradbury and Fahrenheit 451 Length: 45 minutes RVP: 5.1.2. Foreign languages: Realia of the countries of the language studied Aims: - The students know the basic information about Ray Bradbury and Fahrenheit 451 - The students are willing to provide reasonable arguments concerning Bradbury‘s ideas - The students are able to think about Bradbury‘s issues and opinions in order to use them in real life Curriculum: Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 Input knowledge: British literature, sci-fi literature, English language B1 Subsequent curriculum: Textbook Tools: extract from the book, handout, blackboard Methods: presentation, dialogue, group work, pair work, group discussion Lesson organization: 1) Organizational matters (2 min) 2) Warm-up activity (5 min) 3) Author introduction (10 min) 4) Reading exercise (10 min) 5) Discussion (15 min) 6) Feedback (3 min)

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Contents of the lesson: 1) Organizational matters (2 min) - Greeting the class, absence, apologies - Presentation of the teacher trainee and his goals

2) Warm-up activity (5 min) - The teacher is going to ask the students several questions: Do you consider sci-fi a good/valuable literature?; Do you think that sci-fi has something to tell us?; Why do you think some authors write sci-fi?; What do you think made them write sci-fi?; Do you like sci-fi or not and why? (use of small blue ball)

3) Author introduction (10 min) - Brief introduction of Ray Bradbury: “He is an American sci-fi writer. He is publicly known and highly acclaimed for his ideas all over the world. His ideas and fears were summarized in Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles). Bradbury belongs to the compulsory reading list in the UK and US high schools.“ - Short summarization of Fahrenheit 451: “Provoked by the McCarthyism, Bradbury was afraid of potential book burning during 50‘s. The novel is about firemen who burn books instead of putting out fires. The setting is in future in some American town. Bradbury depicts how society changed during the scientific achievement and technological development. Thanks to that the people tend to be more docile and due having “everything“ lack critical thinking. Basically, people are used to some standard, have anything they want in order to kill time and regular values we consider important like nature, education, socializing, family, nation, morale, etc. are frown upon and mocked. In some extracts you will be able to see the shifts of how something regular become abnormal.“ - Tell students why they are reading it (the students must have basic idea of what is Fahrenheit 451 about)

4) Reading exercise (10 min) See “Appendix 8: Handout #1 for the 2nd-year students“ and “Appendix 9: Handout #2 for the 2nd-year students“ (p. 74-75)

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7) Discussion (20 min) See “Appendix 9: Handout #2 for the 2nd-year students“ (p. 75)

8) Feedback (3 min) - Students will be given a questionnaire r in order to provide the feedback of the lesson, see “Appendix 10: Feedback-related questionnaire for the 2nd-year students“ (p. 76) - They are asked to answer the questionnaire related to their recently obtained knowledge and information.

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5.4. Summary of the teaching practice

Both lessons taught on the grammar school, Gymnázium Šumperk, received positive reactions which are supported by the feedback-like questionnaire (p. 72, 76) and its derived diagrams (p. 73, 77) for each class (the questionnaire was given to all students from both classes at the end of the lesson or seminar) and which are also based on the feedback of supervising teacher. Additionally, the feedback from both lessons was extended by numerous interviews with a few students. That all leads to conclusion that such literature can be taught in the English lessons or seminars in grammar schools, however, few following principles must be upheld.

Students from the 4th year did not consider the text comprehensible enough and therefore other tasks and questions related to the extract were based on their lack of comprehension. Some of the students from the 4th year also claimed the sci-fi genre was boring and, therefore, the participation on the tasks took their toll. According to the supervising teacher, the text was comprehensible enough, even though the English level of the students of the 4th year was not B2, but the presentation of the lesson‘s topic had few disruptive elements which eventually lead to problems with comprehension. Secondly, the tasks related to the extract were not presented in a simple and clear manner and the students received an unreasonable amount of handouts. Overall, the students managed the reading and other tasks sufficiently with proper enthusiasm effectively summarized in the questionnaire and the diagram.

Students from the 2nd year presented different situation from the previous one. Supervising teacher claimed, the English of the students from the 2nd year was better than the English of the students from the 4th year. Although the students from the 2nd year were given the less challenging extract, non of them displayed any particular problem with comprehension. The students were more active and asked more questions than the students from the 4th year. Nonetheless, trhe supervising teacher considered this lesson lucky because through the mistakes the teaching trainee had done, the students showed themselves to be more intuitive in a manner of what they were supposed to do because the extract was comprehensible enough.

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To sum it up, the teaching practice was not conducted for the sake of mere teaching nor it was not conducted for the reason of forcing sci-fi literature on someone during teaching. The teaching practice served as a demonstration of practical use of some valuable and strong ideas and concepts found in Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451. Based on the diagrams of the questionnaire it is quite obvious that both novels had some impact on students. Few of them displayed enthusiasm to read these books or to become more active reader in general. Based on the diagrams, it is fair to say that students from grammar school manifested that they were capable of elaborated answers and that they were thinking avidly over some questions presented either in the task assignments or the questionnaire.

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CONCLUSION

Through chapters I-IV we were introduced with the information related to the development of the sci-fi genre as such. Furthermore, the gap between the main topic of this thesis and the development of sci-fi was linked by the information about establishment of different genres with “ low“ literary quality and historical context. Chapters II and III then introduced the analyses of two dystopian novels (Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451), one collection of essays (Brave New World Revisited) and four short stories (two episodes from The Martian Chronicles; The Fog Horn; A Sound of Thunder) which all have one essential – description of the society. The analyses provide further details in Huxley‘s and Bradbury‘s ideas and conceptions in the selected works. Without the analyses, it would not be possible to demonstrate contemporary validity (recency) in the comparison of the selected works in Chapter IV and, therefore, elaborate the lesson plans of teaching practice.

All the information presented in the comparison are crucial for understanding the motives and aims of the teaching practice. For example, the different approach for teaching of each author (Huxley or Bradbury) was based on the analyses of the selected works and comparison of Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451. The comparison lead to be more concrete and present well-thought ideas during the teaching practice. Without these information, a lot of teachers might use inappropriate approach and technique while teaching about Huxley‘s and Bradbury‘s works.

However, mere theory is not enough to demonstrate the power of the Huxley‘s and Bradbury‘s ideas and concepts. Only practical use proved their validity during the teaching practice. Based on the expectations, lesson plans and their appendices, summary and, most of all, the questionnaire and its diagrams, we can clearly argue that Huxley‘s and Bradbury‘s ideas demonstrated that they can reach the young student‘s mind and make him think or re-shape his or her values even today and not only in the time of publication of these ideas in the books or recent history.

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For future reference, it is important for teachers to become aware of their surroundings. Simply put, they must know that the times are changing, the students are turning into adults and so on, each year the technological advancement gets, to some extent, closer to the written sci-fi. Based on the facts described in chapters I-V (including appendices), it can be stated that both authors, Huxley and Bradbury, still provide us with valuable and strong ideas and concepts. Ergo, the teachers must never forget the power of the written word while teaching, and especially, to never understimate the content and value of the sci-fi genre. This thesis confirmed, through chapters I-V (including appendices) that it is possible to pass old ideas and concepts on young students in the 21st century.

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APPENDICES

Appendix 1: Handout #1 for the 4th-year students

Task 1: Read the short extract from Aldous Huxley‘s novel Brave New World. If you find a word that does not enable a clear understanding and it‘s not in the list of vocabulary on Handout #2, please, ask the teacher or your neighbors. For finishing the reading exercise, you have 15 minutes.

“… But it has also been proved (1) in actual practice. The result of the Cyprus experiment (0) was convincing.“ “What was that?“ asked the Savage. Mustapha Mond smiled. “Well, you can call it an experiment in rebottling if you like. (2) It began in A.F. 473. The Controllers had the island of Cyprus cleared (3) of all its existing inhabitants and re-colonized with a specially prepared batch of twenty- two thousand Alphas (4). All agricultural and industrial equipment was handed over to them and they were left to manage their own affairs. The result exactly fulfilled all the theoretical predictions. wasn‘t properly worked; there were strikes in all the factories; the laws were set at naught, orders disobeyed; all the people detailed for a spell of low-grade work were perpetually intriguing for high-grade jobs, and all the people with highgrade jobs were counter-intriguing at all costs to stay where they were. Within six years they were having a first-class civil war. When nineteen out of the twenty-two thousand had been killed (5), the survivors unanimously petitioned the World Controllers to resume the government of the island. Which they did. And that was the end of the only society of Alphas that the world has ever seen (6).“ The Savage sighed, profoundly. “The optimum population,“ said Mustapha Mond, “is modelled on the iceberg–eight-ninths below the water line, one-ninth above.“ “And they‘re happy below the water line?“ “Happier than above it. Happier than your friend here (7), for example.“ He pointed. “In spite of that awful work?“

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Appendix 2: Handout #2 for the 4th-year students

List of vocabulary: prove potvrdit convincing přesvědčivý rebottling přelahvování cleared of vyčištěna od (něčeho/někoho) inhabitant obyvatel hand over předat affair záležitost fulfill splnit, vykonat prediction předpověď properly náležitě strike stávka laws were set at naught zákony nebyly zohledňovány disobey neuposlechnout low-grade job práce nižší kvality perpetually trvale, neustále intriguing úchvatný, fascinující highgrade job práce vyšší kvality counter-intriguing v protikladu od fascinující unanimously jednomyslně sigh povzdechnout si profoundly hluboce awful hrozný

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Appendix 3: Handout #3 for the 4th-year students

Task 2: Define in pair every grammatical element you can think of in the underlined parts of the text (you can use a grammar game paper from the previous lesson). When you‘re , compare your answers with the second half of your group. You don‘t need to rewrite the sentences, just write down to each number a correct answer. For finishing the reading exercise, you have 10 minutes.

For example: 0) The result of the Cyprus experiment was convincing. = past continuous 1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

6)

7)

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Appendix 4: Handout #4 for the 4th-year students

Task 3: In pair write down a series of thoughts or ideas about your version of continuation of the extract. Imagine yourself in a situation like this and try to come up with the course in the conversation between John the Savage and Mustapha Mond you would like – What would happen then? When you’re finished, compare your notes with the rest of the group. For finishing the reading exercise, you have 15 minutes.

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Appendix 5: Handout #5 for the 4th-year students

Task 4: In group discuss the following questions. Try to come up with reasonable ideas based on your knowledge and recently received information. Please, do remember, that this author and his book can help you during your graduation exam. For the discussion you are provided with 20 minutes.

1) Do you agree with the speech Mustapha Mond said about the civilisation of Alphas and why?

2) Why do you think the people wanted to change the society at first place?

3) Do you believe that there might be a perfect society someday and why?

4) Do you believe that the world is becoming worse or it gets better and why?

5) Do you think there is some sort of recipe for perfection?

6) What do you think about Mustapha Mond‘s idea of optimum population? Don‘t you think that we are actually living in such situation?

7) Do you think that Aldous Huxley has something to tell us even now in the 21st century?

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Appendix 6: Feedback-related questionnaire for the 4th-year students

Can you, please, help me with my diploma thesis and answer few questions?

Questionnaire, answer either YES or NO, please:

1) Do you think the extract from Brave New World is comprehensible enough?

2) Do you consider Aldous Huxley an interesting writer?

3) Did the text provoke you in some way?

4) Would you like to read more about him or read Brave New World?

5) Do you think the extract contains something meaningful and worth thinking over?

6) Do you agree with Mustapha Mond‘s idea about optimum population?

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Appendix 7: Diagram #1 of the feedback-related questionnaire for the 4th-year students

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Appendix 8: Handout #1 for the 2nd-year students

Task 1: Read the short extract (#1) from Ray Bradbury‘s novel Fahrenheit 451. If you find a word that does not enable a clear understanding and it‘s not in the list of vocabulary on Handout #2, please, ask the teacher or your neighbors. For finishing the reading exercise, you have 10 minutes.

Extract #1: Dialogue between Clarisse and Montag “Why aren‘t you in school? I see you every day wandering around.“ “Oh, they don't miss me,“ she said. “I'‘m anti-social, they say. I don‘t mix. It‘s so strange. I'm very social indeed. It all depends on what you mean by social, doesn‘t it? Social to me means talking about things like this.“ She rattled some chestnuts that had fallen off the tree in the front yard. “Or talking about how strange the world is. Being with people is nice. But I don‘t think it‘s social to get a bunch of people together and then not let them talk, do you? An hour of TV class, an hour of basketball or baseball or running, another hour of transcription history or painting pictures, and more sports, but do you know, we never ask questions, or at least most don‘t; they just run the answers at you, bing, bing, bing, and us sitting there for four more hours of film-teacher. That‘s not social to me at all…“

Extract #2: Dialogue between Montag and Captain Beatty There you have it, Montag. It didn‘t come from the Government down. There was no dictum, no declaration, no censorship, to start with, no! Technology, mass exploitation, and minority pressure carried the trick, thank God. Today, thanks to them, you can stay happy all the time, you are allowed to read comics, the good old confessions, or trade-journals.“ “Yes, but what about the firemen, then?“ asked Montag.

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Appendix 9: Handout #2 for the 2nd-year students

List of vocabulary for Extract #1 List of vocabulary for Extract #2 wander toulat se dictum prohlášení; výrok rattle chřestit declaration usnesení; ustanovení chestnut kaštan mass exploitation masové vykořisťování bunch hrstka pressure tlak transcription přepis carried the trick provedly ten „trik“ confession zpověď; doznání trade-journal obchodní noviny; oběžník

Task 2: In groups, discuss the following questions and statements. Try to come up with reasonable ideas based on your knowledge and the recently received information. For the discussion, you have 15 minutes.

1) Based on the Extract #1, why do you think Clarisse was considered anti- social?

2) Do you agree with the statement that Clarisse is anti-social and why?

3) Based on the Extract #1, how would you describe in your words “being anti- social“ ? Is it similar to Clarisse‘s definition or not?

4) Now, read the Extract #2 and try to explain in your group the meaning of this short paragraph. What is happening between Montag and Cpt. Beatty.?

5) Do you agree with the statement that it‘s not the Government but us making the changes in the society, especially today in real life?

6) Do you think that submitting ourselves to the minorities‘ needs can lead to the worse or better system in our society?

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Appendix 10: Feedback-related questionnaire for the 2nd-year students

Can you, please, help me with my diploma thesis and answer few questions?

Questionnaire, answer either YES or NO, please:

1) Do you think the extract from Fahrenheit 451 is comprehensible enough?

2) Do you consider Ray Bradbury an interesting writer?

3) Did the text provoke you in some way?

4) Would you like to read more about him or read Fahrenheit 451?

5) Do you think the extract contains something meaningful and worth thinking over?

6) Do you agree with Cpt. Beatty‘s ideas about certain happenings and events which eventually lead to change in society?

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Appendix 11: Diagram #2 of the feedback-related questionnaire for the 2nd-year students

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ANNOTATION

Jméno a příjmení: Karel Chladil

Katedra: Katedra anglického jazyka, PdF UP Olomouc

Vedoucí práce: Mgr. Andrea Hoffmannová, Ph.D.

Rok obhajoby: 2014

Název práce: Aktuálnost myšlenek ve vybraných dílech A. Huxleyho a R. Bradburyho ve srovnání v historicko-současných souvislostech

The Recency of A. Huxley‘s and R. Bradbury‘s Ideas from the Selected Works in Comparison in Historical- Contemporary Context

Anotace práce: Práce je zaměřena na prokázání aktuální platnosti některých myšlenek a pojetí zabývající se společností ve vybraných dílech Aldouse Huxleyho a Ray Bradburyho ve srovnání v historických a současných souvislostech. Kapitola I. se zabývá původem a popisem sci-fi žánru k zasazení II.-IV. kapitoly do kontextu. Kapitola II.-III. se zabývá samotnými autory a analýzou jejich vybraných děl. Kapitola IV. pak srovnává pojetí konkrétních témat z vybraných děl a částečně i z jejich způsobu života. Závěrem kapitoly IV. je srovnání následně zasazeno do kontextu současného sci-fi a uvozuje tak praktickou část. Praktická část se zabývá aplikovatelností některých myšlenek a pojetí z vybraných děl A. Huxleyho a R. Bradburyho v hodinách anglického jazyka na vyšším gymnáziu. Praktická část je podpořena plány hodin, přílohou, dotazníkem a, s ním spojenými, grafy, které tento princip potvrzují ve shrnutí praktické části.

Klíčová slova: Sci-fi, Mary Shelley, Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, romantistické sci-fi, pulpové magazíny, Aldous Huxley, Ray Bradbury, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451

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Anotace v angličtině: The thesis is aimed on proving the contemporary validity of some ideas and concepts dealing with society in selected works of Aldous Huxley and Ray Bradbury in comparison in historical-contemporary context. Chapter I is focused on the origin and description of sci- fi genre in order to set chapter II-III into context. Chapter II-III deal with the authors and analysis of the selected works. Chapter IV then compare the conception of concrete themes from the selected works and, to some extent, from their lives. At the end of the chapter IV, the comparison is put in context of the contemporary sci-fi and introduces the practical part. The practical part deals with application of some ideas and concepts from the selected works of A. Huxley and R. Bradbury in the English lessons on grammar school. The practical part is supported by the lesson plans, appendix, questionnaire and its related diagrams, which confirms this principle in a summary of the practical part.

Klíčová slova Sci-fi, Mary Shelley, Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, romantic v angličtině: science, pulp magazines, Aldous Huxley, Ray Bradbury, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451

Přílohy vázané v práci: CD ROM

Rozsah práce: 77 s. (126 722 znaků)

Jazyk práce: Angličtina

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