Man and Society

Paper Summary:

This paper explores the relationship of human beings to the environment in which they live by reviewing three writers who approach the issue in different ways: Ray Bradbury in his novel "Fahrenheit 451," David Abram in his book "The Spell of the Sensuous," and Marshall McLuhan in his book "Understanding Media." Abram suggests that one of the reasons people were once in closer touch with nature was because they lived by an oral tradition rather than a written one. Ray Bradbury creates a society in which reading is outlawed and books are banned. McLuhan tends to agree mostly with Abrams ideas in his book.

From the Paper:

"Abram looks to the state of mankind at some distant point in the past and suggests that one of the reasons people were once in closer touch with nature was because they lived by an oral tradition rather than a written one. He is not speaking only of writing but of many technological and social developments since that time, and he finds that these developments have taken us further and further from a close connection to the natural world such as once existed."

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