How we cite our quotes: ("Story Name," Paragraph)
Quote #1
"I never suspected myself of such an imagination. Black hair, blue eyes, and white skin! What a strange man, and yet—quite handsome." ("Ylla," 35)
Notice how Ylla is able to consider this man from another planet handsome, while Yll just sees him as the enemy. Art and culture—you know, imagination—can help us accept new things. Art, and the ability to imagine, lets us appreciate something that's different from us, or outside our experience.
Quote #2
"That song. That fine and beautiful song." She closed her eyes and hummed, but it was not the song. "I've forgotten it. And, somehow, I don't want to forget it. It's something I want always to remember." She moved her hands as if the rhythm might help her to remember all of it. Then she lay back in her chair. "I can't remember." She began to cry. ("Ylla," 215)
For Ylla, Art is associated with the possibility of something new—with the possibility of her life changing. After Yll kills the guy who was bringing a whole new world of art to Mars, Ylla's life goes back to its ordinary (and unmusical) sadness.
Quote #3
Spender filled the streets with his eyes and his mind. People moved like blue vapor lights on the cobbled avenues, and there were faint murmurs of sound, and odd animals scurrying across the gray-red sands. ("—And the Moon Be Still as Bright," 97)
Invader Spender imagines all of the things that used to be on Mars. Even though he's not an artist (he's an archeologist… we think), he has an artistic appreciation for the past and for difference. Unfortunately, this makes him go a little crazy. Murderously crazy.
Quote #4
"I've been living in a little valley town for about a week, learning how to read the ancient books and looking at their old art forms. And one day I saw this Martian." ("—And the Moon Be Still as Bright," 148)
The more Spender learns, the closer the "Martian" approaches. We're not sure: did he actually meet a Martian, or is he being metaphorical (or crazy)? Putting that question aside, here's another one: would learning to read our books give a good picture of what we're like? And what would we learn? (Also, whoa there, fast learner!)
Quote #5
"They knew how to blend art into their living. It's always been a thing apart for Americans. Art was something you kept in the crazy son's room upstairs. Art was something you took in Sunday doses, mixed with religion, perhaps. Well, these Martians have art and religion and everything." ("—And the Moon Be Still as Bright," 214)
Okay, but Spender's position as Defender of Art and Culture is a little damaged by the fact that he goes out and kills people. We have to admit, though, that his description of Americans seems accurate. Look at Parkhill—for him, all art is good for is increasing his business.
Quote #6
"That's an old Wyoming song," said Leonora. "Change the words and it's fine for 2003." ("The Wilderness," 6)
Here's an argument for art that Bradbury would probably agree with: the best art is universal. Just change a few words around, or add 31 years to the dates, and the main themes (love, death, time, change, puppies) remain the same.
Quote #7
They began by controlling books of cartoons and then detective books and, of course, films, one way or another, one group or another, political bias, religious prejudice, union pressures… ("Usher II," 30)
Stendahl argues here that censorship is always bad. Even the tiniest ban, with the best of intentions, can lead to a slippery slope when all of a sudden you're not just banning violent video games, you're requiring ID to buy Lego Indiana Jones.
Quote #8
"No books, no houses, nothing to be produced which in any way suggests ghosts, vampires, fairies, or any creature of the imagination." ("Usher II," 55)
Basically, the censors would just like you to stop using your imagination. Quick brain snack: this sounds a lot like Socialist Realism, the dominant form of art in the USSR which, check it out, was Enemy Numero Uno of the U.S. when Bradbury was writing.
Quote #9
Nine-five. A voice spoke from the study ceiling: "Mrs. McClellan, which poem would you like this evening?" ("There Will Come Soft Rains," 40-1)
Oh, those silly Americans: they like their art in small doses at specific times. Notice that the automated house has no room for spontaneity: everything is a routine—and it's kind of sucking the life out of the poetry.
Quote #10
"Life on Earth never settled down to doing anything very good. Science ran too far ahead of us too quickly, and the people got lost in a mechanical wilderness, like children making over pretty things, gadgets, helicopters, rockets; emphasizing the wrong items, emphasizing machines instead of how to run the machines. Wars got bigger and bigger and finally killed Earth." ("The Million-Year Picnic," 123)
The father in the final story echoes Spender: we need art and culture to help keep our scientific advances in check. Without art, he argues, the destruction of the world is inevitable. Well, okay—but we think the nuclear bombs might have had something to do with that, too.