preview

Symbolism In Fahrenheit 451

Decent Essays

In the the novel Fahrenheit 451, multiple different abstract and concrete ideas are represented. Those ideas include the use of the outsiders to represent the old society, the use of the mechanical hound to represent the resistance to change, and the usage of the atomic bomb to symbolize a new reality. However, this specific examples of representation within the novel are highlighted due to the fact that they together compose an allegory.
Within the novel three main societies are expressed through the representation of various groups or characters. An society, a middle society, and a new society are all expressed in the book. The old society is allowed to read and possess literature. The middle society has banned the usage of literature in order to prevent anyone from being unhappy and disagreeing with it. As one essay written by Timothy E. Kelley express it the middle society are a people,”who willingly give up their right to be happy in favor of protection from ever being unhappy.”(Kelley, “Where Ignorant Armies Clash by Night.”) The new society does not appear in the book, but is instead being created.
The old society is represented by the group of outcasts that the main character Montag meets in the third part of the novel after escaping the city. The outcasts have refused to accept the change that the middle society as instituted instead choosing to leave their homes as they were unable to safely remain there. The group is welcoming to Montag and even appear to be

Get Access