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Fahrenheit 451 Symbolism & Themes
Fahrenheit 451 analysis commentary
Fahrenheit 451 analysis commentary
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happy and free Clarisse, and during one of their conversation, he, in an almost threatening way, says, “"Well, doesn't this mean anything to you?" while tapping the numerals 451 stitched on his char-coloured sleeve (Bradbury, page 4). As soon as he mentions the numbers and shows them to Clarisse, she becomes extremely uncomfortable and changes the subject of the conversation like those numbers are alive and deadly. In fact, they are.
The book Fahrenheit 451 is about a man named Guy Montag. Montag works for the Firehouse as a Fireman, but Fahrenheit 451 is set in the future. A future where Firemen do not put out fires, instead they start them. These firemen set ablaze to only books. They set fire to books because they are wrong, evil, and corruptive.
Montag is afraid of the hound, and he believes it will attack him. A major theme is technology, and the hound is a machine. The mechanical hound is programmed to function as if it were a living being, but has no original thoughts or motives nor does it like or dislike. The hound seems to represent the government, and just like the government it eliminates any person that opposes rules that have been created. Montag believes it was programmed to be aggressive toward him.
The novel Fahrenheit 451 written by Ray Bradbury expresses several different ideas throughout the course of the story, all relating to one another. In the beginning, the main idea is that the firemen are saying that their job is rightly justified. In the middle of the book, curiosity fills the mind of the main character Guy Montag; which leads to the conclusion of the book where Montag reaches enlightenment. In the novel, Montag experiences many changes in his perspective on the fate of books. Characters such as Clarisse, Beatty, Faber and Granger contribute to Montag’s journey of transitioning from ignorance to enlightenment.
In a future totalitarian society, all books have been outlawed by the government, fearing an independent-thinking public. Fahrenheit 451 is a futuristic novel, telling the story of a time where books and independent thinking are outlawed. In a time so unenlightened, where those who want to better themselves by thinking, are outlawed and killed. Guy Montag is a senior firefighter who is much respected by his superiors and is in line for a promotion. He does not question what he does or why he does it until he meets Clarisse.
Webster’s Dictionary defines character as, “the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual”, these qualities can range from a simple opinion, to an action, to a character’s lifestyle. While Guy Montag from Fahrenheit 451 and Wade from Ready Player One are both uniquely distinct, they share many qualities that unites them as one. The first similarity of the two characters is that they both come from a world where modern technology consumes everyone’s daily lives, and both Wade and Montag must realize that a virtual reality, whilst perfect in sense, is not the truth. Montag realizes this after Clarisse asks him if he is truly happy, his immediate answer is a defensive yes, but after his wife tries to commit suicide, and Montag starts to think about his situation, he realizes that his response to Clarisse was a lie.
In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, Montag, the protagonist and book burner, battles between the light and dark sides of society, first with Beatty, his boss, and the government and then with Clarisse, a neighbor girl and Faber, an English professor. Montag is stuck in the dark burning books and is ignorant to the world around him. He moves towards greater awareness when he meets Clarisse and is awakened to the wonders of deep thought and books. Finally, he risks his life by trying to save the books.
Part Two of Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451, “The Sieve and the Sand” tells the story of Guy Montag’s efforts to delve into the world of books. The chapter opens with Montag reading to his wife, Mildred. He subsequently talks to her about the importance of families and about Clarisse. Mildred is irritated at Montag for continually speaking about someone whom she believes is “dead." The conversation suddenly causes Montag to recollect the time he met an English professor named Faber.
Chase Nicks Period: 6 4. Montag thinks that turning to books “can get (him) half out of the cave,” instead they only cause him to lose his wife, job, and home (70). At first, Montag has an assignment he is called to that involves a woman and books. When Montag arrives at the scene, the woman will not leave the house and instead dies in the fire. Montag thinks, “There must be something in books, things we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in the burning house; there must be something there.
Society becomes more advanced everyday, but no one knows what an advanced society is like. Fahrenheit 451 is a book taking place in 2026. Books are banned at this time and a fireman 's job is to destroy them. Guy Montag, a fireman, burns books every day for the government . One day, Montag meets Clarisse, who is a wise girl who loves books.
In Fahrenheit 451; “The Sieve and the Sand”, Bradbury has a frank perspective choice and it plays an enormous role in the storyline of the characters. Bradbury makes it clear that Montag has to make the right choice. Montag cannot allow others to make his decision for him like Faber did. “I know. You’re afraid of making mistakes.
Convinced that books he burns contain powers, Montag secretly analyzes books with Faber’s, a doubtful professor, help. Soon, Montag gets caught by his strict boss, Beatty, and runs away finding a group of intellectuals. Fahrenheit 451 is organized thematically. The first chapter, Hearth and the Salamander, reveals the false relationships between Montag and his wife Mildred. In the second chapter, Sieve and the Sand, Montag tries to memorize the Bible but remembers a childhood memory of himself playing with a sieve and looking at the sand drift through.
This relates to the topic of censorship by tying to the book as a whole to burning which represents censorship. By burning books we are censoring our information and this leads to us becoming desensitized and possibly violent. Second he uses allegories. In this moment montag is attempting to memorize a book he has kept because he is going to turn it in to captain Beatty. “Once as a child he had sat upon a yellow dune by the sea in the middle of the blue and hot summer day, trying to fill a sieve with sand,because some cruel cousin had said, “Fill this sieve and you’ll get a dime!”
Every single person on this Earth is currently facing a problem, whether it is life changing or minute. The novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury touches upon each type of conflict a character can face: man versus self, man versus man, and man versus society. The story follows around a fireman named Montag who realized that the he and the world around him is incredibly ignorant and censored. Three parts make up the book entitled The Hearth and the Salamander, The Sieve and the Sand, and Burning Bright. Bradbury chose to organize the book into sections because each section introduces a new form of conflict, which relates to the titles because The Hearth and the Salamander relates to two different types of people and how they view fire, The Sieve
To begin, the rising action of Fahrenheit 451 includes Montag’s internal conflict. This internal conflict initiates doubt in Montag. When Clarisse asks Montag “‘Are you happy?’”, he initially responds “Of course I’m happy” (Bradbury 7-8). However, it is evident that doubt has been planted in his mind, “What does she think? I’m not?”