Ray Bradbury

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorHigh School, 11th grade October 2001

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Ray Bradbury was born in Waukegan, Illinois on August 22, 1920 (Johnston). As a child, he had seen many different horror movies by age six. His aunt was also very influential by introducing him to the world of fantasy through the Oz books and L. Frank Baum. By the time he was ten years old, the great depression was being felt through out the US. In 1945 he took a 2 month long trip to Mexico to help "an artist friend to collect masks for the Los Angeles County Museum"(Wolfe). Bradbury was greatly influenced by the obsession with death within the Mexican culture. It was a combination of both the great depression and this trip to Mexico that helped to influence his rather morbid and cynical view of human nature.

Ray Bradbury's writings were influenced by his trip to Mexico, the great depression, and other events in his childhood.

The great depression helped to give his writings some of there darker qualities. His trip to Mexico also influenced this theme as well as his themes of alienation. This is best illustrated with the story "Homecoming", where a boy feels exiled from his family. Also during his twenties, World War two was going on and the idea of death and disintegration is very clear in "The Scythe".

The theme of alienation is exemplified in the story "Homecoming". The story begins with a boy named Timothy who is born into a family of vampires. He is normal though, and so when guests start to arrive for the family reunion, he feels left out because he cannot fly or change shape like the others. He reveals this to his sister by saying "I want to do something at the party to make then look at me, something to make me...