A symbol is a thing that represents or stands for something else. Symbols can greatly impact a novel, story book, poem, etc. In this case, the author of Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury uses symbols throughout his book, to represent censorship, the society, and the main character, Guy Montag. Bradbury’s use of the symbols fire, the phoenix, and the river, to show how the society and Montag has changed. Fire represents the censorship though society. The text states, “Someone’s written a book on tobacco and cancer of the lungs? The cigarette people are weeping? Burn the book”(Bradbury 59). This is said to Montag, from his firefighter captain, Beatty, because at that time, Montag was thinking about how/why firefighters burn books. What Beatty meant