Theme Of Hands In Fahrenheit 451

Humans have remarkable hands that no other species acquire. Hands provide humans with the potential to play sports, write, and complete every day activities. The significant difference in human hands is the fact that humans have thumbs. Although hands are essential to humans, hands are also important in Fahrenheit 451 by author Ray Bradbury; he uses hands as a motif. On multiple occasions throughout the novel, Bradbury uses hands as a motif to emphasis his themes and main purpose.

The beginning of the story displays the destructive nature of hands. Bradbury starts the novel with Montag burning a house with books and he describes his hands as “the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down

the tatters and charcoal ruins of history” (3). This description shows that Montag does not think negatively of his occupation and has yet to comprehend the severity of the destruction he is causing. Later in the novel, Bradbury demonstrates how hands can even cause destruction to humans when Montag hears “Mildred shake the sleeping tablets into her hand” (101). Mildred continuously uses her pills even after she overdoses and needs to receive replacement blood. She uses these pills because she is unhappy even though her society is supposed to provide euphoria; Mildred denies her sadness due to her fear of rebelling against her government. Bradbury uses hands to highlight that the government isn’t capable of constructing bliss for their citizens through forcing equality. The author uses hands to indicate devastation and demonstrate how hands can ruin precious things or individuals.
Although hands are destructive, Montag doesn’t always have complete control over his actions because his hands have a mind of their own. When Montag unravels his collection of books to his wife, he drops a book and “puts his hand back up and takes out two books and moves his hand down and drops the two books on the floor. He kept moving his hand and dropping books…” (65). Bradbury only shows the reader a single book Montag stole from the woman who burned in her house. But Montag’s hands unknowingly have been accumulating several novels; Ray Bradbury expresses that Montag knows the consequences of this crime but his hands act without his consent. Another instance when Bradbury shows that hands have their own mind is when Montag tries to persuade Faber to teach him. Faber refuses and Montag doesn’t know what to do so “his hands, by themselves, like two men working together, began to rip the pages from the book. The hands tore the fly-leaf…” (88). Montag does not seem fazed as he shreds numerous pages from the Bible – even though he knows how uncommon the book is. Since Montag fails in convincing Faber, his hands have an understanding that this may be the only way to receive Faber’s assistance. So by the middle of the story, Bradbury wants readers to recognize the supremacy of human hands.
Unlike hands having their own mind or being destructive, hands also have the ability to cleanse and reconstruct.

Much later in the book, Ray Bradbury makes it apparent that Montag knows about the wrongdoings and manipulation to his society done by the government. The initial step before renovation is him being cleansed, so Montag burns his house down and “stood with the flame thrower in his limp hands” (117). After this occurrence, Montag may finally be in the correct mentality to join others resembling him; the burning of his house may signify the burning of society, which may lead to the beginning of the restoration process. Bradbury uses this major event to determine the turning point of Montag within his society and him departing. When Montag discovers others like him, the first thing he notices is his new perspective of fire; it was no longer hazardous but it was warming. This realization occurs to him when he notices how “many hands held to its warmth, hands without arms, hidden in darkness. Above the hands, motionless faces…” (145-146). Montag’s new outlook is Bradbury’s way to express to the reader that Montag is transformed; his purpose is to stress how Montag’s modification is crucial to the success in restoring a righteous government. When Montag meets the others, Granger states that his grandfather believed that as “long as you change something from the way it was before, you touched it into something that’s like you after you take your hands away” (156-157). This philosophy implies that change cannot simply be done with human hands – change requires time and something must be done in order for change to happen. Ray Bradbury strains the fact that hands are eventually going to advance their society into a government that promotes something more than equality among

people.
In the majority of activities, hands are essential even though they may be uncontrollable or destructive at times. But hands provide humans with the ability to impact the world and rebuild what may have been demolished. It is no wonder why Ray Bradbury chooses hands to express his ideas and concepts; he uses hands to describe powerful actions and indicate major events. His use of this motif gives the novel complexity and is a clever technique to express his purpose. Many things may become impossible without hands, which may put humans in a variety of difficult circumstances.