“It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed.” In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury the symbol of fire is used continuously throughout the book to represent the destruction that can be caused by being deprived of knowledge and the right to know. The theme in the course of this novel is the prospect of what could happen to intellectual discourse in a society where entertainment is far more valuable than wisdom and where people are offended by others successes. The symbol of fire is used in three main ways to illuminate this theme. First, the burning of the books in the society in order to eliminate intellectualism and any and all remnants of the past. Second, in the end of the novel where the main character Montag first meets the group of intellectuals. Third, the fireman in the novel whose job is not to stop fires but to start them. …show more content…
In order to eliminate intellectualism the society has decided to ban all books and to burn them if found. This is a direct example of the symbol of fire relating to the main theme of the novel because they are burning every book they can find in order to keep society ignorant. “We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the constitution says, but everyone made equal . . . A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it. Take the shot from the weapon. Breach man’s mind.” This quote is spoken by Captain Beatty in The Hearth and the Salamander and shows how the society views books, as a threat to the stability of their society a “loaded