Symbolism In Fahrenheit 451

Imagine a world full of people who are ignorant of what is going on around them. A world in which books and learning are outlawed and the government controls everything. A place where people do not even think for themselves. Young adults engage in violent games of murder and are not raised by their parents.. A future where wall-sized televisions and radio seashells hypnotize citizens (Lenoff, 14). Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 depicts such a lifestyle. In the futuristic novel, there are many symbols criticizing the modern world.

The best place to start is always at the beginning, so we will start with the title, Fahrenheit 451. The symbolism here is because 451 degrees is the temperature at which paper burns and therefore books burn. This

However, there will always be something else to come and replace the previous trend and will continue to repeat throughout history just as the Phoenix is destined to burn itself down and then return. Ray Bradbury’s symbolism does not stop there. He takes the symbolism even further into the characters. Each character brings out the different symbolisms and different things we can see in everything around us and hear in social media and the news. The largest symbolism used in almost every story is the “lovers triangle..” In Fahrenheit 451 this is made up of Guy Montag, his wife, Mildred, and their next-door neighbor, Clarisse

The hearth is the area in front of or the floor of a fireplace. Here it is used as a symbol of the home. The salamander symbolizes both the firemen and their fire trucks. Both of these are extremely important characteristics of Montag’s life. Montag may even be able to be perceived as the salamander because the ancients believed that salamanders were immune to fire (Evens). “It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed (Bradbury, 1). Before Guy started reading books, he didn’t think there was anything wrong with his job. It did not bother him that he was burning down people’s homes filled with their prized possessions. Before he began reading, all that mattered to Montag was being a fireman and carrying out his duties. In this dystopian future people believe that all these rules would make the society better. Captain Beatty explained this to Montag as justification for their profession of making everybody the same as a precondition for happiness: “We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal. Each man the image of every other; then all are happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves against” (Bradbury 58). Captain Beatty’s clever remarks which are meant to justify the work of firefighters, adds to the horror of the