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Theme Of Fire In Fahrenheit 451

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In literature, fire can be viewed as desire, greed, and arrogance. It can also be viewed as passion, warmth, and strength. In Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451, the civilians in the society desire more technology and forms of pleasure to erase the pain like tv shows such as The Family, and as the firemen burn the books to erase history they’re filled with greed to destroy and burn. Later in the novel, Bradbury also uses fire to symbolize acceptance and embracefulness as he meets a group of men like him and he also associates fire with Montag’s rebirth. In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury uses two versions of the motif of fire to associate fire with nature and positivity versus technology, and negativity with destruction.

In this novel, the fire motif is associated with different meanings surrounding Guy Montag such as fire bringing warmth to nature. In this scene, …show more content…

As the head of the firemen Captain Beatty makes Montag burn his house down, he explains the concept of fire and why he loves it. “What is fire? It's a mystery. Scientists give us gobbledegook about friction and molecules. But they don't really know. Its real beauty is that it destroys responsibility and consequences.” The use of the words “it destroys responsibility and consequences” are significant because they illustrate the opposition from the “warmth” of fire to the technology and recklessness connected to the motif of fire. Beatty often refers to fire as if it is the technology in this dystopian society. Whereas the technology gives instant happiness and pleasure when Beatty describes fire he uses adjectives such as “Antibiotic, aesthetic and practical”. Captain Beatty’s perception of fire and his use of fire eliminate the natural elements associated with fire such as light and warmth to destruction and evil. Thus, fire is used to represent technology and the instantaneous resultant of

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