Fahrenheit 451 Essay

503 Words3 Pages

Bradbury characterizes the firefighters in Fahrenheit 451 as unoriginal duplicates in this passage by utilising sight and smell imagery as well as rhetorical questions to make apparent the uniformity of the society and its connection to the loss of individual identity. The characterization of Bradbury’s firefighters is accomplished through imagery to prove the uniformity of society. Having all firefighters look the same creates a certain distance between them and the rest of society, this alienation allows for easier/greater control over both the firefighters and the general population, which in turn . The firefighters were described extensively in this passage with major similarities to the fires they are responsible for, “their charcoal …show more content…

Firefighters are not individual in any aspect of their appearance, personality, likes and dislikes or even their smell. Montag came to the realization of this while thinking about his job and how his peers looked gazing into their lighters. He asked himself “Had he ever seen a fireman that didn’t have black hair, black brows, a fiery face, and a blue-steel shaved but unshaved look?” And then quickly confirmed to himself that he had never seen anyone who did not look like his “mirror-image”(Bradbury 33). This repetitive and unnecessary question was used to confirm the nonuniqueness of the firemen while portraying a societal expectation placed upon them of looking this way. Another rhetorical question was, “Were all firemen picked then for their looks as well as their proclivities?”, this was also resolved in the next sentence by the reference of the appearances of the firemen as well as the way they all enjoyed smoking(Bradbury 33). While this may have originated as an individual taste for smoking society clearly made it commonplace and almost expected of the firemen to be smokers. The authors use of rhetorical questions projected the firemen as conformists to society which removed their sense of individuality. Bradbury characterizes the firefighters in Fahrenheit 451 as duplicates in this