Fahrenheit 451 Pyromania Analysis

Despite being on opposite sides of the law, the characters Guy Montag, from Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, and DC comic character Mick Rory by John Broome and Carmine Infantio, are actually quite similar and share the symbol of fire.

Both characters show some level of pyromania. In a story where books and building and even people get burned saying that some pyromania would be easy enough. However, according to britannica.com pyromania is, “an impulse-control disorder characterized by the recurrent compulsion to set fires.” In the beginning of Fahrenheit 451 it says “It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blacken and changed.” (Bradbury 1) when talking about Montag. He is getting pleasure from burning things. Someone

In Fahrenheit 451 it mentions, “. . . salamander on his arm and the phoenix-disc on his chest,” (Bradbury 3) these symbols are both fire oriented. The salamander in various cultures is another name for a dragon and is traditionally associated with destruction through fire. The phoenix represents rebirth though fire since the mythology of

Since Beatty was an adamant believer of the laws in their society it only made since that his would represent Montag’s full rejection and rebellion against the law. Mick Rory begins his story in DC comics as having murdered his family as stated previously so he is against the law at a young age. For much of his life he stays on the path of crime and villainy leading him to join a group of rouges all of which followed some kind of code like captain cold whose code is “no drugs, no senseless violence, and above all, no killing women or children.” (“Captain Cold”). Mick was the only one who did not follow a code he merely enjoyed seeing things burn. Despite leaving his life of crime for a short time in the comics heat wave has primarily stayed a villain that was until the release of the show DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. He may not be what most would consider as a hero still but what the Legends are doing is protecting time itself which is a pretty good thing to do since it saves lives and the world they are from is protected from changing. Rory may have some impure intentions when joining but after a while we see him care for more members of the team other than just captain cold. He even plays a pivotal role in regrouping the members of the team after they get separated. That shows he actually does have at least some good inside.

So, both characters are very similar at least in regards to the fact they both have some level of pyromania, they both have a