Cameron Nolan
Fahrenheit 451 contains many examples of symbolism. It shows symbolism on almost every page in the book due to the fact that most of the scenarios in the book relate to our society today. For example the people had seashells, like we have earphones that we can never keep out of our ears. I think that symbolism helps the reading and the understanding of the novel to a novice reader.
“Fahrenheit 451- the temperature at which book paper catches fire, and burns…” This quote was found on the title page. The temperature of 451 was related to the book because that is Guy Montag’s fire station’s number, which is showing that Guy being a “fireman” he burns books and the house that has them, which must get to the temperature of 451 to catch fire. The symbol also relates to the title of the book which simply is the temperature itself showing that this book is about burning books and is confirmed with a definition on the title page.
Montag mentions to Mildred on page.68, when she says “maybe Captain Beatty is right” then Montag responds by saying that “Here now, we’ll start over again, at the beginning.”Now this page was found on the last page in the first section of the book called the hearth and the salamander, I’ll be focusing on the salamander part of that statement. The salamander has the ability to dismember its Tail when being attacked or grabbed by a predator and then regenerate again. This relates as a symbol because when Montag says “we’ll start over again from the beginning” it means that Beatty has grabbed his tail and now he is letting go and starting over with a new tail or life.
When the nuclear bomb hits the city in the end of the book, Granger was talking to Guy and mentioned “Phoenix”. The phoenix in ancient mythology was said to be able to burn itself and then be reborn again from its own ashes. Granger mentioned this because the war had burned the civilization away and it’s up to the survivors to be reborn from the ashes of the war and make society the right way and make the world a better place.
In conclusion, F451 uses symbolism to define and make an understanding of the books relation to the fictional society of Guy’s and attempts to predict ours in the future of when this book was written. It’s predictions are almost spot on, defining the way our society can turn its way into self-destruction.
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