Fahrenheit 451 Rhetorical Analysis

Rhetorical strategies help to foreshadow plot events that occur later on throughout stories and cause readers to see past what is occurring and get an image of what will happen. In the scene where Guy Montag meets Clarisse McClellan for the first time, there is an abundance of personification and symbolism that appears as a resource for the reader to foreshadow forthcoming events. Some important events that the rhetorical strategies foreshadow is Clarisse’s death and the adventure Guy Montag goes on to discover what true happiness is. Rhetorical strategies, such as symbolism and personification, assist in the foretelling of vital pieces in Fahrenheit 451.

For example, personification is used to show how objects are given human characteristics,

so using certain words can show futuristic events like Clarisse McClellan’s death. The passage uses the repetition of the word “white” when it describes her as well as describing her movement as a ghost. For instance, “Her face was slender and milk-white,” shows how she will become deceased by referring to the cliche that dead people have white or pale faces along with saying “the white stir of her face turning”. Not only does it mention her skin being white, but it says how her dress was white and whispers. More personification includes how the leaves carry her, which is a ghost quality because they are known to float or glide. The description of Clarisse McClellan represents how personification can easily provide readers with indications to foreshadow events in a book.
Symbolism is another technique used to predict events like the fires arising throughout the story because of the firemen.

One important event that changes Guy Montag’s view on society and the government was when a lady wanted to die with her books, so the firemen lit her house on fire and the lady stayed with her books. After that, Guy began to think of books in a contrasting aspect. In the scene with Clarisse, he talks about how he can never wash off kerosene completely and refers to it as being a perfume, but it isn’t literally perfume. The way it is stuck to his clothes and how he can never wash it off provides the image of future fires taking place like the one with the woman dying. It then leads to how Montag altars his view on books and the way the government controls the citizens. In addition, the salamander and phoenix disc on his chest represents him being a fireman. Readers may misunderstand at first how he helps society by terminating fires, but in all reality, he starts them instead. It foreshadows how, like a phoenix, he arises from the ashes in a new light and attempts to change society that everyone is residing in. By using symbolism, Bradbury presents his readers with having the ability to foreshadow future events that will occur later on in the

story.
The use of rhetorical strategies to show foreshadowing enables readers to see past the actual image they are presented with and look at clues as to what will happen in the future. In Guy Montag and Clarisse McClellan’s brief meeting, there are rhetorical devices used to describe what will occur in the book by them having a conversation about their community. For instance, Clarisse’s death is a key event that occurs and is predicted in their meeting along with the lady who burns with her books is being predicted as well. Rhetorical devices aid in implying future events of stories instead of simply presenting readers with a broad image.