Mariela Pea Language IVIRM 4TH YEARIs Ray Bradburys the playground a warning for society?Introduction The world we live today is dangerous and sometimes even an incivilized place and this has been described and illustratred thousands of times in multiple artistic pieces such as films, songs, novels, essays, plays , paintings and so on. It seems that the authors of these pieces have been foreseeing and anticipating the way of living of nowadays society. Talking about the world, Ive read a fantastic short- history called The Playground (Bradbury,1951),which has inspire me to reflect and make some research, trying to find possible answers about why society is turning into chaos, becoming more and more violent, Since this is a complex issue and is been investigated from several view points, the purpose of this paper is to share my thoughts about the short-story together with some pieces of information collected from several resources, which have helped to support my opinion and expand the analysis of the short story.

Getting closer to the issue Its simply amazing how Ray Bradbury foresees and warns the readers about the possible consequences of the matter. The citation has described him as one of those rare individuals whose writing has changed the way people think.(Jonas,2012). The short story is about a widower who lives with his son and sister. The man called Charlie Underhill has to raise his child and he is being extremely overprotective to his son since he observes how children run, punch and scratch other and fight with each other in the Playground; as if they were animals. The childrens behavior causes distress in Charlie, he is grieved by the fact that his son will have to suffer the awful childhood the same as he did.On the contrary, there is Charlies sister, Carol. She collides with his brother all the time. She is the voice of reason, telling him that his son must grow up until hes learned to stand on his own feet and until hes familiar with the world. Charlie refuses to accept things the way they are and he makes a deal with the Playground and he trade places with his son in order to protect him from the unhappy childhood. In short, the story ends with Charlie being a child again and his son Jim being an adult. Despite the summary is short, is enough to provide a context for the situation and the topics.In the first place, this literary piece draws on a vivid imagery of savage animals-as if it were a jungle- to represent children and childhood in general. The lecture between lines tell us that Ray represented a process of demaduration in civilization; meaning that society is going backwards instead of making progress. The world is turning into a big jungle in which will have to survive at all coast. In second place, a common subtopic which is familiar to many of us, the loss of a significant person for us. Charlie has lost his wife and his son Jim represents everything that remains, so he his concerned about Jim and he will do whatever is necessary to keep that bit of porcelain with him. Lastly, another subtopic that may vary according to different interpretations is the presence of evil forces. The presence of the manager in the story and the trading act is a paranormal phenomenon which may be analysed as an evil force,as if the main character have made a deal with the devil. Implicitly, this could mean the distance of people from religion and the spiritual life. In particular, the point that will be exposed and expanded has to do with the regression of society into a highly animalised state and the increase in violence in society, and specially at a young age (i.e children and adolescents).

Facts and possible causes of increased violence There is no surprise when people hear that violence has spread like a virus. In fact, is not normal this wave of violence, but is happening so often that people is incorporating violence as if it was something natural. Many people state that people-specially children and teenagers- are becoming more violent because of the video games and movies, but I think that is just the tip of the iceberg, indeed. Next, an important excerpt from the article Possible cause of increased violence will help to clarify my point: () There MUST be a cause for this increased, senseless violence. And all the factors point to an insidious mass mind control. I do not believe that video games and movies are the reason for increased hatred. These have been with us long before the violence escalated. There must also be a motive for this insidious form of mind control. It can only serve to tearAmericaapart from the inside. What better strategy to destroy a country than to turn the people against one another? It is also highly efficient it forces a populace to pay for their demise (in more ways than one.) In war a small army of bulldozers follow the front line to bury the dead. This form of mind control inherently forces the victims to bury their own dead.() (Twietmeyer,Ted. 2007, July 29) According to Twietmeyer, there is a kind of mind control over population which make us more violent and is carried out by the mass media. A lot has been said about mass control, but the media is not the only responsible of mass control. Even short-term exposure to political violence may have long-lasting effects in society-specially children's adjustment and behavior- says a new study by a team of researchers from Kenya, Italy and the United States. In addition to this, Ann T. Skinner, a study author of the Duke University Center for Child and Family Policy, exposed a case about political violence in Kenya:

Intense violence followed the contested Kenyan presidential election of December 2007. More than a year later, children who were exposed to the violence showed increased delinquent and aggressive behaviors, including such problem behaviors as bullying, vandalism, stealing and skipping school "The violence split neighborhoods and classrooms along ethnic lines," Skinner said. "In school, children who had sat side by side one week were suddenly being told they were enemies."(Skinner,Ann T.2013)

Even so this isolated case may have nothing to do with the playground, is related to one of the many explanations of the increase of violence, because is a social matter and logically that will be related to the context of the country. Actually, Ray Bradbury has made some comparations of children with politics in the following quotations:1. Well, they shove and push like little Gestapos2. There are your sweet, happy innocents, your well-to-do piddling Fascists. Let me catch this boy here again and therell be hell to pay. Ray Bradbury describes current childhood-and society too- as oppressive, cruel, violent, disrespectful and unfair. These characteristics correspond with Nazi and Fascist models and indeed, the comparation is accurate since children are behaving as animals hunting a prey, as fast and brutally as they can. Another point of view as regards an increase of violence, has to do with the subjectivity of human beings. Most of human beings pursue different interests and because of this, people collide and disagree with each other all the time, always influenced by the historic and political context.The following extract from an essay will sum up what I try to express.Because of existence of the different interests, the potentials and the likelihood of conflict is always present. According to this theory, some groups come to dominate others and to win for themselves a disproportionate share of the societys political power, which includes wealth and privileges in the society at the expense of the less powerful ones. They also incriminate the activities of the less powerful while they protect that of the powerful persons such situations according to this theory creates violence. The theory is of the view that, the masses are not bound to society by their shared values, but by coercion at the hands of those in power. This perspective emphasizes social control, not consensus and conformity. Groups and individuals advance their own interests, struggling over control of societal resources. Those with the most resources exercise power over others with inequality and power struggles resulting. There is great attention paid to class, race, and gender in this perspective because they are seen as the grounds of the most pertinent and enduring struggles in society which often lead to political violence (Anderson and Taylor, 2009). This opinion fits to the story and to the beginning of the world. Originally, since the beginnings of the world, it always has been a matter of following a certain hierarchy. Dominance has always been present in a battle between the most powerful vs. the less powerful. This is seen in the story in several passages: They peered in together past the wire to where a dozen boys charged about, girls slapped each other, and a squabbling heap of children took turns at getting off, making a quick run, and crashing one against another.() Just then, across the field, sobbing and wailing. Jim ran, six boys after him. He fell, got up, ran, fell again, shrieking, and the boys behind shot beans through metal blowers (...)Jim made it to the gate. Underhill caught him. It was like catching a rumpled, drenched wad of material. Jims nose was bleeding, his pants were ripped, he was covered with grime. The imagery of the passage represents the idea of dominance and prosecution, as if it was a battle or an animal trying to catch another animal. Clearly, it is represent the Law of the strongest so as to make a division between the strongest and the weakest. Lastly, another theory which may explain violence in society is the distance of man from religion and the spiritual and his closed link with technology and consumism. It has been said in multiple occasions that consumism in man wakes up a sense of selfishness since is a connection with the other from the material point of view, and is really difficult to establish a spiritual connection with that person. Many people convey that the excesive use technology and consumism have led us to a deep separation in society instead of improving our lives. Philosophers, thinkers, theologyist and sociologists state that society has separated from God and the spiritual life which is so necessary since this world need values and moral to follow According to a tibetan religious group, this world definitely needs to live following certain spiritual model. Otherwise, if people continues believing that there is no such thing as karma, a highest power, the after-life o a reward for being respectful towards life, violence will keep on increasing. Society has to stop thinking that the world is eternal or that there is no future. The are conviced that the afterlife exists, and indeed todays consequences are going to be the reflect of the world will have our next lives. On average,it can be said that, society in general is exposed to violence all the time.This exposure is turning violence into something natural and in a way of living from some other people, always influenced by the socio-economic and socio-politic context. We see violence in schools, neighborhoods, and even at home. The daily news, games, books and films are full of the ideas of domination,mind control, violence and consumism, and some of these ideas are incorporated- both in conscious and unconscious way- especially at early ages. Ray Bradburys works are an excellent example of all these facts and he is recalling on our memories, asking us to reflect about the world and society we live nowadays and if it is possible to create a better world.

Conclusion On balance, it can be said that there are many theories everywhere about the increase of violenc in society. I can conclude that each theory is right in some points and wrong in some others, but in a way each theory is contributing to the re-construction of a better world. All of the information collected shows that society is effectively going backwards, since there is little progress as regards quality of people. Even though society has developed throughout the years, it seems that there is a process of dematuration, retrogression, a going back of the coming of age. Now the important matter here is: What we are going to do about it? What strategies and techniques will be carried out to reduce violence? How to make people conscious to respect life and nature?

Reference list Aver, Nnorom & Targba,.Political Violence and its Effects on Social Development in Nigeria in International Journal of Humanities and Social Science. Vol. 3 No. 17; September 2013.p.263 Bradbury, Ray.Stories, Vol.1.(2012, June 28) Published by Harper Voyage Dwyer,Phillip.(2013, July 3) Is the world really becoming less violent?.Retrieved May 16,2015, from http://theconversation.com/is-the-world-really-becoming-less-violent-15379 Jonas, Gerald. (2012, June 6). Ray Bradbury, who brought mars to Earth with a lyrical mastery, dies at 91. Retrieved May 16, 2015, from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/07/books/ray-bradbury-popularizer-of-science-fiction-dies-at-91.html Jones,Alison (2012, June 1). The effects of political violence in children.Retrieved May 16, 2015, from http://today.duke.edu/2013/07/polviolence.html Twietmeyer, Ted. (2007, September 9). Possible Cause of increased violence everywhere.Message posted to http://rense.com/general78/poscause.htm

1