Fahrenheit 451 Fire Analysis

Ray Bradbury uses motifs all throughout his novel Fahrenheit 451. Some include fire, mirrors, and being both dead and alive. Although, the motif that’s being focused on here is fire. Fire is used as a motif extensively in Fahrenheit 451. It is used to represent many subjects such as destruction, life, and warmth. It’s amazing how it can be changed from something so violent to something filled with hope.

In the beginning of the book, fire was used to show destruction. It is shown by the first lines of the book, “It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed.” (p.1) Montag uses fire to describe various objects, people, and subjects, seeing as his life work revolves around it. Every time he is burning something Montag goes into a soliloquy about how destructive his tool is. He goes into a trance whenever he is burning books. Once, he said that his eyes were an “orange flame with the thought of what came next” (p.1) After he meets Clarisse, Montag sees that she has a fire inside of her. He then realizes that countless other people have a different fire. Comparable to their lives, their fires within are represented differently.

Montag soon, however, began to notice that life has a fire in it, too. It all changed when he met

Clarisse. At the actual first moment he met her, Montag realized that “[Clarisse] was not the hysterical light of electricity but - what? But the strangely comfortable and rare and gently flattering light of the candle.” (p.5) He likens Clarisse’s light to that of a candle flame: beautiful, warm, and filled with hope. Soon, after departing, Montag later likens most everyone else to “torches, blazing away until they whiffed out.” (p.8) They were just there to - be there. Then, when they “whiffed out”, they weren’t missed. After Montag has gone through his journey, he has learned much. He was on the run, a fugitive outside the city. Walking through a forest, he ran into something familiar to him, nevertheless completely different as well. It was a fire that “was not burning, it was warming.” (p.139)

When he began likening people to fire, Montag learned that people also have something else to them: warmth. He quickly applied that to fire as well. When he ran into the warming fire, “He saw many hands held to its warmth.” (p.139) Seeing this, he obtained an epiphany: fire doesn’t only drive people away, yet it also draws them in. “[Montag saw] himself as an animal come from the forest, drawn by the fire.” (p.139) Fire can be a beautiful element, Montag understood clearly. “He stood a long long time, listening to the warm crackle of the flames.” (p.139) Montag has expanded his understanding ever since his happening with Clarisse, he sees that fire isn’t only a destructive force.

CONCLUSION
Fire is used as a motif extensively in Fahrenheit 451.

It is used to represent many subjects such as destruction, life, and warmth. It’s amazing how it can be changed from something so violent to something filled with hope. However, in order to learn something like this, to gain a larger meaning from a tiny context, you must first learn - just as Montag did. He went through trial and error, happiness and pain, and so much more before he even began to receive a grasp on the larger picture. May we all be able to possess a larger meaning through learning. Montag accepted it the difficult way, and you have all the resources at your fingertips. Go out there and

learn.