The Old Woman In Fahrenheit 451

485 Words2 Pages

Within the excerpt The Old Woman Burns from the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, one is portrayed the central idea of the situation regarding the old woman in possession of books. The reader is able to identify the essential theme, through the actions of the old woman, which demonstrates that one should be insurgent against a corrupt cause in order to support their individual perspectives and values. Bradbury conveys this central theme through the literary device known as conflict. Initially, the old woman encounters numerous tribulations with Captain Beatty, as she does not desire in abandoning the books in which she possesses. For example, “Come on, woman!…You can't ever have my books, she said. You know the law, said Beatty. Where's your common sense? None of those books agree with each other. You've been locked up here for years with a regular damned Tower of Babel. Snap out of it! The people in those books never lived. Come on now! She shook her head.” (Bradbury 35). Here, one is demonstrated that the old woman is emotionally, mentally, and even physically attached …show more content…

Montag internally conflicts with himself as he gradually begins to consider what books truly have to offer. For instance, “A book alighted, almost obediently, like a white pigeon, in his hands, wings fluttering. In the dim, wavering light, a page hung open… Montag had only an instant to read a line, but it blazed in his mind for the next minute as if stamped there with fiery steel… Montag's hand closed like a mouth, crushed the book with wild devotion, with an insanity of mindlessness to his chest.” (34). Therefore, although, Montag desires in discovering the knowledge within books, the individuals who surround him in his occupation impede him from being exposed to the knowledge, which books have to offer and comprehending the true purpose and value of books within