In the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, there are many themes, symbols, and motifs that are found throughout the novel. For my journal response, I have chosen to discuss nature as a prevalent symbol in the book. The main character, Montag, lives in a society where technology is overwhelmingly popular, and nature is regarded as an unpredictable variable that should be avoided. Technology is used to repress the citizens, but the oppression is disguised as entertainment, like the TV parlour. On the opposite end of the spectrum, nature is viewed as boring and dull, but it is a way to escape the brainwashing that technology brings. People who enjoy nature are deemed insane and are forced to go into therapy. Clarisse says “My psychiatrist wants to know why I go out and hike around in the forests and watch the birds and collect butterflies,” (Bradbury 23) which shows she is a threat to the control that the government has put upon the people by enjoying nature. …show more content…
Her childlike excitement in nature inspires Montag to reflect upon his own life. When Clarisse tells Montag that the rain tastes like wine, he tilted his head back and tasted it too. This is a turning point for Montag, because after this moment he starts to doubt the social concepts put in place in the society. Montag met Faber, the retired English professor, in a park, which is a symbol closely associated with nature. Faber also shows Montag that people can find happiness and meaning in nature. He says “Take it where you can find it, in old phonograph records, old motion pictures, and in old friends; look for it in nature and look for it in yourself,” (Bradbury
His choice of becoming into an individual himself changes him into a completely different person. As the book gets closer to ending, Montag ends up meeting up with professor Faber. Professor Faber is one of the outcasts because of everything he knows. Montag asked him for help because he started to become interested in reading books. Montag explains to Faber “Nobody listens any more. I can’t talk to the walls because they’re yelling at me. I can’t talk to my wife; she listens to the walls”, Montag started to feel different from the others because society started to move him away from his old actions (Bradbury 78). Also in the beginning, Clarisse asks Montag about the smell of kerosine. This part started to foreshadow Montag as an individual and thinking for himself. Montag would be characterized as the protagonist of this novel. Clarisse’s way of thinking was the reason that mostly influenced Montag to change into an individualist. Her personality made him want to be like Clarisse.
At first Montag is unaware of the true nature of his surroundings and feelings. “‘Bet i know something else you don't. There's dew on the grass in the morning.’ Montag suddenly couldn't remember if he’d known that or not, and it made him quite irritable.” (Bradbury, 7). The conversation serves to highlight his willful ignorance, the amount of things he simply never thought to realize, that existed just under his radar.
An allusion is a reference to a famous person, place, or historical event. Ray Bradbury wrote the book, Fahrenheit 451, which is filled with all sorts of allusions . The book is about people living in a dystopia where it is a crime to read books. If you are caught reading a book your house will be burnt down by the firemen. Which is ironic because firemen usually put out fires rather than start them. Since the government has so much power over the citizens, they have no knowledge other than the facts they are told in school. Their society has become brainwashed ,and act like robots. The people have no feelings , but that will soon change with help from the book people. To provide deeper meaning Bradbury includes
Duality is an instance of opposition or contrast between two concepts or two aspects of something. Throughout the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Montag experiences duality throughout his daily routine. There are two extremes expressed in this novel that lie on opposite ends of the spectrum regarding society. This novel was written in the past to imagine what the future might be like. Bradbury describes a society that has forgotten or misinterpreted normal social interactions. Montag, the protagonist faces an internal conflict on deciding whether to rebel against the laws and rules of the society or obey them. Not only does Montag have this internal conflict but his surrounding are a major impact on his potential outcome. Mildred and Clarisse are both important factors towards his decision.
The part of Dover Beach that Montag read displayed ignorance of love and happiness, which affected Mrs. Phelps because of not truly knowing what happiness and being in love feels like. This goes to show that when a book, or person questions somebody’s happiness or ignorance, they realize their temporary happiness, which leads to unhappiness. When Montag goes to his house after meeting Clarisse, Bradbury states, “He (Montag) felt his smile slid away, melt, fold over and down on itself like a tallow skin, like the stuff of a fantastic candle burning too long and now collapsing and now blown out. Darkness.
In a dystopian society, every slight action, every move of the hand counts. As show In Fahrenheit 451 through symbolism act of the hand has a lot of meaning. In Fahrenheit 451 hands symbolize man's actions, activities; and control.
The Firemen of the book wore an imagery of salamander on their uniform and they called their firetrucks salamander. Many medieval people thought that salamanders were born in fire so salamanders could survive in fire. The Firemen in the book burned books and house of the owners of books. The salamander symbolizes Montag’s job as a fireman.
The first instance of allusion that we will examine is in the beginning of the book. The allusion comes about in Clarisse and Montag’s first interaction with each other. Clarisse, a seventeen-year-old high school student, is asking questions about what Montag, thirty-year-old fireman does for a living. He goes onto reply with their unofficial slogan, “‘It’s fine work. Monday burn Millay, Wednesday Whitman, Friday Faulkner, burn ‘em to ashes. That’s our official slogan.’” (Bradbury 6). Why Ray Bradbury might have wanted to include all these authors in the quotation is because he was trying to show us, from the beginning that the firemen burn almost every book, even the writers that are considered one of the greats, an example being William
Imagine a society where the firemen start fires instead of putting them out, where your television surrounds you on all four sides, or where schools have screens instead of teachers. This is the fantasy that Guy Montag has spent his whole life living in. In Guy Montag’s world, things are moving non-stop, the cars, the technology, and the people. “It’s perpetual motion; the thing man wanted to invent but never did” (page 115). In Ray Bradbury’s book, Fahrenheit 451, perpetual motion is an important theme.
Ray Bradbury’s science fiction novel, Fahrenheit 451, suggests a world in which society is stripped from literature and logical thinking. Instead, the society he describes in the book revolves around the advancement in technology that causes destruction and conflict. The inspiration of this novel was during the beginning of the television age, in 1953, sparking a dystopian world where society revolved around television and books are unseen. Though it was written over fifty years ago, there are various similarities between the novel and our society today.
times”(105). As shown, Bradbury uses this metaphor to symbolize and reveal the oppressive relationship between the government and its people. This relation is being compared to the dictator relationship of sheep and their shepherds. In this case, Montag is the sheep and the controlling government is the shepherd. Beatty explains it as straying because similar to how sheep get out from under the strict conditions of their shepherds, occasionally people in this society try to think against and rebel the rules. Montag has gone astray and in this part of the book he is not willing to go back to work after the incident with the old woman. He realises how she provided insight towards his inner self and that she had to have died for something important. Further, this example of oppression from the book shows that the government thinks they have been successful in controlling what knowledge the people can gain, so that if no one has more sensibility than them, who will be able to oppose their decisions? Additionally, another reference to the novel that illustrates the metaphor device as a way to show oppression is when Montag talks to Faber about the rebellion. However, Faber thinks it is too late and is not willing to take the risk at first. Faber quotes: “Why waste your final hours racing about your cage denying you’re a squirrel” (68). This example of a metaphor compares the people of 451 to squirrels locked in a cage. The people have been censored from everything outside of this cage they have been pressed into, everyone the same. Faber explains it as being Montag’s final hours because no one including him acted when it could have changed the outcome but now he is trying to change his society after everyone has already been sucked int...
In the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the use of animal and nature imagery develops the theme that nature is always present and needed for the survival of humans, just as knowledge is a necessity to thrive as a society. Without knowledge, society cannot learn and develop.
There are many religious motifs in section 2 of Fahrenheit 451. You see this when Montag believes he has found the last copy of the Bible. When Montag first finds the Bible he struggles to read it while he is on the train. This can be alluded to a new believer struggling with grasping and understanding their faith. So, after Montag’s struggle he goes to visit Faber in this situation Faber can be seen as someone with higher knowledge such as a priest. You also see the struggle with Montag grasping the idea of religion with the quote “Montag said nothing but stood looking at the women’s faces as he once looked at the faces of the saints in a strange church he had entered when he was a child (Bradbury)”. You can see that once as a child Montag
Ray Bradbury’s satire, Fahrenheit 451, is a novel full of symbols criticizing the modern world. Among those symbols appears The Hound. The Hound’s actions and even its shape are reflections of the society Bradbury has predicted to come.
In American Literature many authors write about nature and how nature affects man's lives. In life, nature is an important part of people. Many people live, work, or partake in revelry in nature. Nature has received attention from authors spanning several centuries. Their attitudes vary over time and also reflect the different outlooks of the authors who chose to discuss this important historical movement. A further examination of this movement, reveals prevalence of nature's influence on man and how it affects their lives.