Fire Think of the word "fire". What 's the first thing that comes to mind? To some it 's s 'mores, to others it 's destruction. For Montag Fire was a tool for his profession; "It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed." This line was found in the beginning of a Fahrenheit 451. Montag was in charge of burning the books that were found, but throughout the movie his understanding of fire changed. He started out as a firefighter that became curious about books and what they said. Which led him into getting in trouble. He started reading books and hiding them in his house, until Mildred caught him reading one night. Mildred had a different opinion on books; books frightened
The books are planted into the fireman’s fire house and then they are later found and caught. In fahrenheit 451 they make so the so called “Firefighters” the people who start the fires instead of stopping them which can make the story twist and turn very easily. Consider the symbolism of fire in the novel explore the passages where fire significantly factors into the story. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is a book that was like a thrill ride because it would be going slow then be really intense and start to speed up. “It was a pleasure to burn” (Page 1).
The role of fire in books such as Lord of the Flies and Fahrenheit 451 usually symbolizes hope and rebirth. In the book Night by Elie Wiesel, fire takes a different turn by specially representing the destruction of hope. On page 34, Wiesel is faced with his first night at a concentration camp and says, “Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever” (Wiesel 34). This quote conveys that before Wiesel was taken away from his home, fire represented comfort and warmth. Now, while he is sleeping at the concentration camp, fire constitutes the destruction of his faith.
(MIP) This meme relates to an important part of the book, it is the fact that Montag’s feelings on society change, and he is against the society. (SIP-A) The society is against books and will burn them and the possibly the person containing them if they are found. (STEWE-1) This is when Montag says that he took burning books to a whole new level, “‘We burned a thousand books.
In his community, reading was prohibited and books were burned intentionally. One time, he was forced to burn a woman alive because she refused to leave her apartment where her books were. Montag was so overwhelmed by the situation that he refused to go back to work. He was determined to comprehend why things had to work in so unpleasant way. Finally, he decided to steel books hoping he would find answers there.
The novel, Fahrenheit 451, is surrounded by the main character, “Montag”, who is trying to see the world for what it really is, as it relates to the cave dwellers in the allegory. In the beginning of the novel, it shows how Montag is blinded by the world, considering the fact that he is a “firemen”. Firemen are portrayed as being destroyers of the world by some in the novel. This also relates to the allegory, in which the cave dwellers are also blinded because of the limited access to the outside world.
Potter Stewart once said, “Censorship reflects a societies lack of confidence in itself.” Stewart is saying that is a governing body feels he need to dictate and regulate the knowledge obtained by their citizens, they lack the basic leadership skill of confidence. Censorship may even extend to a point in which the government burns knowledge, books, and cleanse their citizens from independent thoughts. In Fahrenheit 451, the fireman use fire to burn books and remove knowledge from their society. Although the citizens of Fahrenheit 451 believe fire is a tool used by fireman to burn books ad houses, nevertheless, Ray Bradbury uses fire to symbolize evil and destructive forces because he wants to show that destroying knowledge results in anarchy
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.
In this part of the book, all of the firemen including Montag received a call to burn a house with the books in there. Here became the turning point for Montag as he saw the woman, who already had made her decision to die rather than live in a world of oppression and restricted freedom of thought which books symbolize in this part, burns with the illegal books in the burning house, refusing to go out without the assurance of the safety of the books. We can suppose that his perception is gradually changing through the phrase showing that Montag felt a huge guilt over this, unlike the other firemen or Beatty. Furthermore, during the conversation with his wife, Mildred, Montag says, “We burn a thousand books. We burnt a woman.
He thought that even though we have everything we need to be happy, but without being able to think for ourselves, we’re not truly happy. Right then, a new door reveals itself to Montag. In part three of Fahrenheit 451, Montag realizes that he is putting himself and Mildred in danger by returning a book to Beatty in order to trick him. After all, Beatty knows that Montag have books and he already hints that Montag have 24 hours to burn them or the firemen will come to Montag’s house and burn them for him.
“A strange fire because it meant something to him… [fire] could give as much as it could take” (145-146). Away from the corrupt civilization of censorship and conflagration, Montag sees even more in fire than he had seen before. Before, fire had been a way to shut down life and shadow the natural mind and rational world. But now, Montag sees fire in the light of starting a new life. Fire becomes a way to get rid of the past and look toward the future.
A house was on fire and there was a woman inside it with her books. She refused to let go of them and leave the house. The woman’s actions led to Montag thinking differently about everything and was telling his wife that there may be something important in books. c. The quotation
In Fahrenheit 451, Captain Beatty tells Montag “A problem gets too burdensome, then into the furnace with it.” (Bradbury 53). Once Beatty told Montag about how he would have to not just burn his on house down, but to also be arrested, Montag knew that was now a “problem” he’d have to solve and get rid of. Montag was a firefighter that end up killing his friend and captain.
(STEWE-2) Besides asking questions about society’s relationships, Montag questions further and starts asking about society’s rules on burning books after he experiences a woman burn with her books. He says to Mildred, “'There must be something in books, things we can't imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there.'" (Bradbury 48). Montag, before, had blindly followed and enforced society’s rules about burning books.
Moreover the fire also resembles the purging of Montag. Montag’ burning of his house and the TV signifies his rebellion and rejection of the vales of his society. Through burning his own house Montag like a phoenix destroys his old self by fire to be reborn from the ashes as a new person once again. Killing captain Beatty symbolizes the destruction of the system, because by doing so he frees himself from the influence of his society which give him the chance to think and choose freely for first time in his life. Also, another side of fire is also revealed to Montag ay the end of the novel when he meets the rebel group.
The growth of civilization has taken thousands of years. The fear that civilization will be wipe-out by war or other means exist in all people. In Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury employs symbols that represent the destruction of knowledge, that prompted the fear among civilization that society will be hunted and killed for wanting to know about unknown knowledge, and finally hope that society will survive. Civilization is destroying knowledge by burning books. The Phoenix represents hope at the end of the book.