American Dream In Fahrenheit 451

Their American Dream was influenced by fear or dominance, slaves desired the sense of power to bar their suffering from continuing and masters had needed power to rise in wealth and social status. Nonetheless, with their dream both sides had aligned themselves among the path of moral corruption. For the masters their conviction had furthered their success in the cause they were hoping to achieve. Slaveholders had used different means to belittle and maintain dominance over slaves one instance in which this was shown on chapter 4 page 19 Douglass states “He had given Demby but few stripes, when, to get rid of the scourging, he ran and plunged himself into a creek, and stood there at the depth of his shoulders, refusing to come out. Mr. Gore

Although it had been said 421 years ago this renowned proverb had cultivated itself as the apex of modern society. In addition to its modern influence, it was used to overthrow empires. In the novel “fahrenheit 451” by ray bradbury, Bradbury had seemed to affirm and reiterate this view. Bradbury's novel is based around a dystopian society and the protagonist who is pursuing a dream of becoming capable of understanding his own emotions and thoughts. Guy Montag, the protagonist is existing in a society already infested with corruption as its labeled a “dystopian society”. His dream is laced with the idea of knowledge, happiness and self preservation. Even as montag begins his journey in search of knowledge it conflicts with his job and deems to be very counteractive to the position he is set between. The opening passage describes the pleasure Montag experiences in burning books as he claims to be infatuated with fire as it is a symbol of change and rebirth to him. This resonates with the initial section one title “The Salamander And The Hearth” as it is in direct correlation with Montag, fireman are the ones igniting the flame, therefore they are able to comfort themselves within the idea of flames. The Hearth is the books being burned as a hearth is typically the place of something being ignited in fire, more so it is a traditional symbol of warmth of home, and the salamander is one of the official symbols of the firemen. Both of these symbols have to do with fire, a large portion of Montag’s life the hearth as it contains the fire that heats a home, and the salamander because of beliefs that it lives in fire and is unaffected by flames. Montag enjoys his job burning books and takes great pride in it; at the beginning of the novel, it largely defines his character. However, Montag soon understands his life is a flame progressively growing into a living hell. Soon after Montag slowly succumbs to the realization