The captivating glow, the trustworthy warmth, it is simple to fall victim to common belief in fire. So many people today are swept away with society’s general thoughts. These individuals want to fit in, so they do not attempt to break away from common belief. Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 shows this social conformity through technology, lack of thought, and characters. This novel depicts the transition of Guy Montag, a young, ordinary, fireman in a dystopian society, numbly living his life. Montag does not question his meaningless life of burning, until he meets a seventeen year old girl who changes his life. He goes from mindlessly burning books to questioning his whole society. Bradbury’s use of symbolism emphasizes these themes topics of nonconforming ideals towards the future of humanity. Throughout Fahrenheit 451 Bradbury symbolizes fear with the constant threat of fire to show the reader that one should never coward from fear. Bradbury describes Montag’s thoughts when he states,“Their names leapt in fire… But in his mind, a cool wind started up and blew out the ventilator grill at home, softly, chilling his face.” (Bradbury 31). Montag becomes frightened …show more content…
Montag’s dependence upon fire is depicted when he thinks to himself, “If there was solution, well then now there was no problem, either. Fire was best for everything.” (Bradbury 110) No matter the problem fire can always free you of it. There is no problem that burning cannot fix. Bradbury applies an allusion to help the reader relate fir to freedom, when he writes, “...every time he burnt himself up he sprang out of the ashes, he got himself born all over again.” (Bradbury 156) The fire freed the Phoenix from its past life. Montag is comparing this transformation to his own recent changes. He realizes that fire has represented his new found freedom. Fire can eliminate and change even the most binding