Biblical Themes The novel Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury is a dystopian science fiction. The main character, Guy Montag begins as a firefighter who ignites fires rather than extinguishing them. A corrupt government and society uses its citizens to destroy the past. By burning books and promoting technology and propaganda, citizens become numb to reality. Bradbury gives Montag pieces of Bible verses to help him understand the meaning of life and hope to move forward. As Montag is on a job, he secretly takes a Bible before it is burned. He does not understand what it is, but as he reads it, he realizes the importance of the book for himself and for the society he hopes to rebuild. The first time Montag reads the Bible and tries to understand it is on the train. He takes it out in public and randomly turns to Matthew 6:25-33. As he tries to memorize and retain the Bible, it simply falls out of his memory like sand in a sieve. The …show more content…
He regretfully says he only has Ecclesiastes in his head. To his surprise the professors are excited about it and say that is where they keep their books also. Granger says, "Better to keep it in the old heads, where no one can see it or suspect it" (Bradbury 145). The men all around the world have formed a library. The passage Montag recalls later is Ecclesiastes 3. It says "For everything there is a season... a time to break down, and a time to build up... a time to keep silence, and a time to speak" (Ecclesiastes 3). This describes Montag's life in a way. He used to burn books at Beatty's command without objection, but as his urge to gain knowledge grew stronger, he betrayed the firemen to build his collection. At the beginning of his life in the novel, he is breaking down the collection of books, but later he is building the collection and will hopefully use books to help rebuild the societies that are ruined physically and