The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury (you will need a ½ sheet of paper)

Pretest – What? In what genre did Ray Bradbury usually write? What is a frame story? What is existentialism?

Ray Bradbury A. Born in 1920 Began writing when he was 12 B. First major works published after 1949 Wrote many short stories

Better-known works Fahrenheit 451 Martian Chronicles Illustrated Man Dandelion Wine Something Wicked This Way Comes

C. Main genre 1. Short stories 2. Science fiction 3. Science fantacist {some argue the “science” in his works is not accurate enough} 4. Psychological 5. Sociological

D. Common themes 1. Alienation and fear 2. Inevitability of human nature 3. Abuse of technology 4. Loss of faith 5. Satisfaction of revenge 6. Threat of war

7. Civil rights for African Americans 8. The Cold War 9. Censorship 10. Totalitarianism 11. Acceptance of death 12. Dangerous nature of the creative imagination

The book The Illustrated Man A. A collection of short stories B. A frame story

So, what is a frame story?

1. A “framing device” pulls the stories together into one unit.

The Canterbury Tales A group of pilgrims traveling to a religious site Tell stories – 2 stories each Competition for “best story”

So, according to the prologue of this story you read for today, what is the “frame” for The Illustrated Man?

The Illustrated Man 2. A tattooed carnival performer 3. Tattoos “come to life” 4. “Tell” the stories – sort of a video format 5. Occasional reaction from the observer

6. Each tattoo tells a separate story

III. Existentialism A very brief overview

A. What is existentialism? 1. A philosophy 2. Widely used by artists of all kinds 3. Started after WWII, mainly as a reaction to that war

4. Jean Paul Sartre 5. Search for freedom – personal freedom 6. Each person controls her own life a. Existence based on what you make of it

7. With these freedoms, you can do anything you wish, but with caveats a. Remove all alibis b. Remove all excuses c. No one to “blame” but yourself d. No familial ties e. No religious ties

B. Seemingly bleak outlook 1. Valueless universe C. Partially a reaction to what Europeans witnessed during war 1. Questioned how there could be a God (how could God let that happen?)

D. Existence of man 1. Emphasis of existence over essence 2. Inadequacy of human reason to explain enigma of the universe

3. Humans exist at the same level as every other living creature – we merely exist on Earth, then go away

E. In one extreme branch of this philosophy, nothing exists outside your very own, single-moment existence 1. People in the next classroom do not exist – you cannot prove they do

Historicize! F. Bradbury’s first major works came after WWII G. While Bradbury is not considered an existentialist, his works have many elements of this movement

Bradbury’s stories do not go to that extreme – We will be looking for and discussing the existential elements in Bradbury’s stories – Remember, he is not considered an existentialist