Usher II Presentation

Usher II
WRITTEN BY RAY BRADBURY
Ray Bradbury |
Biography
Early life and Influences
Ray Bradbury was born in Waukegan, Illinois, on August 22, 1920,
and died in June 5, 2012, at the age of 91.
His family introduced him to a love of books, especially those that
portray imaginary worlds or alternate realities.
By the age of 12, he knew he wanted to be a writer.
He was unable to afford college during the Great Depression, so
he read in libraries to educate himself.
Some of his literary influences were Jules Verne, Edgar Rice

Borroughs, Edgar Allan Poe, L. Frank Baum, among others.
Writing Career
Bradbury enjoyed a long and highly productive career, publishing
about 30 books and 600 short stories along with poems, essays,
and plays. He achieved many recognitions and awards including
a Pulitzer Prize in 2007.
Bradbury was often considered a science fiction author, but he

said that his only science fiction book was Fahrenheit 451. Strictly
speaking, much of his work was fantasy, horror, or mysteries
Some of his best known works are Fahrenheit 451, The Martian
Chronicles, and The Illustrated Man.
Ray Bradbury's works evoke the themes of racism, censorship,
technology, nuclear war, humanistic values, and the importance
of imagination.
Historical Background
The Great Depression impacted many citizens of the United
The Great Depression States as the economy was seriously affected. Ray
1929-1939 Bradbury began writing during this period.
.
Germany invading Poland starts world war II. Bradbury's

World War II stories begin to flourish during this time.
1939-1945
.
The cold war goes on, influencing Bradbury's writing in his

Cold War novel Fahrenheit 451. The burning of books is seen in both
1947-1991 the cold war, by the leaders wanting more control, and a
. way of life in Ray Bradbury's book.
About Usher II
Usher II was originally published in 1950 and is part of "The
Martian Chronicles", a collection of short stories.
It details humankind first landing, colonization and late
exploitation of Mars. Usher II falls into the late colonization
period, in 2005. People with enough money are leaving Earth
to start a new life on Mars.
"Usher II" references a lot of Edgar Allan Poe stories: "The
Masque of the Red Death", "The Tell-Tale Heart", "The Murders
in the Rue Morgue", "The Pit and the Pendulum", "Premature
Burial", "The Cask of Amontillado", and "The Fall of the House
of Usher"
Characters
William Stendahl: a wealthy human settler who plans
and creates Usher II, a house designed to take creative
revenge on those who have censored the imaginative
literature.
Garrett: Investigator of Moral Climates. A supporter of
censorship.
Pikes: a former actor whose movies were burnt in the
Great Fire. He is Stendhal's partner in crime as he creates
lifelike robots for him.
Summary
With his architect Bigelow, Stendahl goes over the details of
the completed Usher II, a mansion based on the Edgar Allan
Poe story "The Fall of the House of Usher". Bigelow is unaware
of either the author or the story, so Stendahl recounts the
progress of censorship in the second half of the twentieth
century, culminating in the Great Fire of 1975 when all
imaginative works were deemed too dangerous and
obliterated.
With his personal library of forbidden works, Stendahl had
moved to Mars to escape the Clean-Minded people but those
people have arrived to Mars as well. Garrett of Moral Climates
lands near Usher II and informs Stendahl that the building must
be destroyed. Stendahl gives Garrett a tour of the mansion
before it's destroyed. Garrett admires the creation of lifelike
robotic creatures, even if he disapproves of their purpose.
Stendahl's robot ape strangle Garrett and, with the help of
Pikes, replaces him with a Garrett look-alike robot to return to
the local office of Moral Climates.
At seven o'clock that evening, the party Stendahl planned
began. Guests arrived, all of whom were involved in the
censorship of the books Stendahl loved so much. He has them
change into costumes and they agree. Pikes informs Stendahl
that the Garrett they killed was a robot; Stendahl takes it
calmly knowing that the real Garrett will be arriving soon. He
does so, bringing Dismantlers with him to destroy Usher II.
Stendahl takes the real Garrett on a tour of Usher II, where
guests claim to see other guests being killed - but told it was
merely staged executions of robot look-alikes. Garrett accepts
drinks offered to him not recognizing the executions from the
work of Poe.
Stendahl then leads Garrett down to the catacombs and
chains him up, informing him that the robot look-alikes were the
survivors and the real people the victims. He then proceeds to
seal up Garrett as in "The Cask of Amontillado" and asks
Garrett to recite the line "For the love of God, Montressor!" to
spare his life. Garrett finally relents but Stendahl seals him up
anyway, as in the story.
Stendahl then runs to a helicopter being manned by Pikes and
the two escape as Usher self-destructs according to his plan.
He quotes the Poe story as he makes good his escape.
Themes
The Dangers of Censorship: Usher II demonstrates that
limiting knowledge of a group of people by burning their main
source of knowledge precludes the advancement of society
and can be fatal. It is the ignorance of Garret and their
supporters that led to their own deaths.
Conformity vs Individualism: The protagonists tend to be
nonconformists, while his antagonists do what others do. The
supporters of the Moral Climates are conformists of the highest
degree, so eager to unquestioningly carry out the orders of
others, but they do not even know the content of the books they
burnt.
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Usher II

WRITTEN BY RAY BRADBURY

Some of his literary influences were Jules Verne, Edgar Rice

Bradbury was often considered a science fiction author, but he

Germany invading Poland starts world war II. Bradbury's

The cold war goes on, influencing Bradbury's writing in his

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