Preview

Symbolism Of Fire In Fahrenheit 451

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
254 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Symbolism Of Fire In Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451 emphasizes many symbols throughout the book, one of them being fire, and how it can be more than just destruction. The theme of fire is shown by representing the destruction of books, however to other characters it is seen as more than just fire. "Burning book pages are compared compared to birds flying away (Bradbury, 2)." Burning books means more than its destruction. It also means that the book's history is no longer coming back. Fire has a powerful role in Fahrenheit 451 and its destruction causing things to change for its citizens. "The fireman feels powerful when he causes things to change (Lenhoff, 1)." Not only is the destruction of books important, but it also causes a person to feel the amount of power fire can have

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Fahrenheit 451 Symbols

    • 348 Words
    • 2 Pages

    On the cover of the book there's a quote that says “The temperature at which books burn”. This is talking about the number 451, which is plastered on the firemen's helmets. This is symbolic because the whole book of Fahrenheit 451 is all about the burning of books. In the book, it was stated that the government banned books. The…

    • 348 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, is a book set in a dystopian future. It revolves around Guy Montag, a fireman whose job is to burn books, which are forbidden. After talking with Clarisse, a weird girl who lives nearby, he begins to question his life’s work. Why are books so bad? One thing leads to another, and Guy is suddenly takes dangerous steps to save what he once burned.…

    • 493 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fahrenheit 451

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The title of the book is an important symbol in and of itself. Ray Bradbury titled the book Fahrenheit 451 because 451 degrees Fahrenheit is the temperature at which paper burns. Fire is a symbol of destruction. It’s significant because the main character, Guy Montag, and the rest of the firemen burn books because they are illegal. When seventeen-year-old Clarisse McClellan asks if Montag ever reads any of the books he burns, he laughs and replies “That’s against the law!” When Clarisse and Montag begin to talk more, Montag is taken aback by the different knowledge that Clarisse expresses to him. She tells him that firemen used to be sent out to stop fires, not start them. Montag couldn’t fight the sudden burning curiosity that over took all of his past beliefs. He began to collect books from each book burning and read them.…

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the presence of fire has obvious significance. What is important to look at, however, is how it’s meaning evolves throughout the book. As Guy Montag’s views change on society and the world around him, so does the connotation of fire. First, the fire represents power, and the satisfaction that comes with it. Then, as Montag is exposed to more radical thinking, the meaning evolves into violence and destruction. By the end of the novel, the image of fire symbolizes hope, as he works with Faber, and the book people to restore society.…

    • 625 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fire is used to suggest that destroying history makes people happy because it hides and uncomfortable past. “It was a pleasure to burn,” (3) this was the first sentence in the book Fahrenheit 451. In the story, Montag was a fireman. He started books on fire to burn away all the history. The history was hidden because it provoked new ideas and thoughts that made people unique. These people did not fit into the Government's perfect mold. When Montag the main character, met a young girl named Clarisse, she asked him, “Are you happy? He was not happy. Montag was stuck inside this fake world where everyone was brainwashed and told what to think. He wanted to…

    • 463 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In chapter 3 of Night, Wiesel’s use of fire symbolizes death and destruction, and helps convey the main idea that the lives of the Jews have been altered by the war. When the train finally arrives at the concentration camp, all of the Jews on the train begin to worry for the safety of their families. The German men start to shout and beat people with sticks as they depart the train. Wiesel writes, “In front of us, those flames. In the air, the smell of burning flesh. It must have been around midnight. We had arrived. In Birkenau” (28). In this quote the flames symbolize imminent death and a change in his life because the author directly relates the flames that he sees to the smell of burning flesh. This correlation provides the reader with…

    • 374 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Brontë uses fire to represent uncontrollable passion. This passion first manifests itself in Jane’s upbringing with the Reeds. Mrs. Reed looks on Jane “as a compound of virulent passions, mean spirit, and dangerous duplicity.” (22) Passion is reintroduced in the dreary setting of Lowood with Jane’s highly religious friend, Helen Burns. In the scene of her death, although Helen is described as “cold and thin,” she is burning with passionate faith in God. (96) Helen is the one to spark Jane’s interest in religion. Fire is again introduced—in the literal sense— after Jane’s arrival to Thornfield.…

    • 281 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The first symbol in the book that develops the theme of hope and civilization is the fire. When the fire was first introduced to the group Ralph said. This quote shows that the fire is there only way of getting off the island and the fire is the key to the boys’ survival on the island. As the book progresses Ralph states .This quote demonstrates Ralph’s view on how important the fire is in order to save there lives and get off the island. The fire is their only signal to society and without it the boys would have no way of getting of the island or contacting help. The fire in lord of the flies symbolizes hope and civilization. The fire develops the theme of hope and civilization because ralph is determined to keep a signal fire going to…

    • 170 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the novel Fahrenheit 451 written by Ray Bradbury we see a world where books and knowledge is no more and where the destruction of all books is handled by Firefighters. Reading through the novel you are taken through the life of Guy Montag a Firefighter who has lost his hope on his profession and wants to find a meaningful way to live his life. Through a quest to find knowledge, going against his profession Montag starts preserving and reading books instead of burning them. This causes an immense amount of trouble for him causing him to have to flee the city to find refuge with a group of exiled professors who will in time give Montag a new outlook on books and knowledge. Fire is a major symbol and plays a major role in the way Montag…

    • 473 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury deals with a dystopian world where firemen start fires instead of putting them out. In the novel a fireman named Guy Montag discovers the true value of books after he burns a woman with her books. The narrative contains a repeating metaphor of fire that serves as a catalyst for Guy Montag's changes throughout the novel. This is manifested in metaphors meaning many different things; the three most important of which are fire enlightening Montag, fire destroying people or society and Montag being reborn.…

    • 948 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Since the beginning, fire has been only known as destruction and despair. This seems to be true until Ray Bradbury published Fahrenheit 45, which has a perspective on fire being not just destruction but also warmth in a of world censorship that has gone out of touch with its human counterparts through its use of technology. Bradbury originally wrote this novel, Fahrenheit 451, as a short story called" The Firemen" in 1950 in galaxy science fiction; he later published it as a novel in 1953. A well renowned author, Ray Bradbury wrote one of his premier pieces Fahrenheit 451, a novel that puts a focus on a society where the government has put a censorship on book reading, and has a problem with overuse of technology, which many people today worry…

    • 1946 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fahrenheit 451 is a novel based on the role of burning books in order to eliminate their dissenting ideas. Guy Montag is a fireman who burns houses containing books, rather than putting fires out. In his community, laws are enforced to prevent folks from thinking. These rules try to hide the reality that the government is controlling people, as well as the faults in the world. The novel begins with the quote, "If they give you ruled paper, write the other way," from Juan Ramon Jimenez. I believe the quote reflects how you shouldn’t follow principles just because a society tell you to do so, instead, you must march to the beat of your own drum.…

    • 632 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Symbols are one of the principle literary devices used by Golding in Lord of the Flies. Golding uses many of the devices discovered by the boys to represent vital elements of structured society. Ralph makes the statement, “The fire’s the most important thing” (Golding 162). The fire symbolizes the structured society the boys want to exist on the island. The fire represents structure and organization. Without the fire, the boys will never be rescued, and without an organized, structured society, they will not survive. Just as organization and structure are essential to the perpetuation of a society, the fire is vital to the survival of the boys on the island. When describing the setting of the novel, the narrator states, “It [the island]…

    • 347 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rhetorical Analysis

    • 656 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Bradbury uses symbolism to indicate that relationships reflect who individuals are and who they want to be. Fire seems to mean a lot of different things at different moments in Fahrenheit 451. Beatty and his fireman minions use it to destroy. But the woman whose house they burn interprets it another way: "Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out." For her, it represents strength. Montag himself discovers an alternative use for fire at the end of the novel; when he realizes that it can warm instead of destroy. Like that whole cycle of life thing, fire has a constructive and destructive half. And like the books that are burned, each character in the novel is forced to interpret for them and confront contradictory perspectives – just like Beatty said about the books. Symbolism helps view the story from multiple points of view, and also gives a more vivid understanding of the thoughts and feelings of the characters.…

    • 656 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    symbolism of fire

    • 521 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Scout was upset one night after school because she had a bad day and Atticus was there for her: “ Something wrong, Scout? ” (Lee 39) Atticus displayed the most common father-figure trait of all, love for his daughter. He could tell she was upset from her body language and decided to talk it out with her. He learned it was because Scout’s teacher at school told her to stop reading with Atticus. He knew that it meant a lot to Scout to read with him at night so he made a compromise with her: “If you’ll concede the necessity of going to school, we’ll go on reading every night just as we always have.” (Lee 41) He always reasoned with his kids to solve their problems and also make them happy.…

    • 521 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays