“It was a pleasure to burn” (page 1). In Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, Guy Montag loves his job as a fireman. Montag uses fire as a source of money and a way of life at the beginning of the book. Yet he gradually changes his use of fire to dispose of his problems and opposition. Fire is able to create opportunities and destroy the evidence of him breaking the rules. Fire symbolizes a kind of eraser that temporarily allows Montag and various characters from being discovered. Furthemore, it keeps other people from being conflicted by people which the government considers harmful. Fire is symbolically used to create and destroy by ravaging evidence, eliminating problems, and starting a new life. Montag uses fire as a way of hiding his past.