Theme Of Fire In Fahrenheit 451

Montag's desire to acquire knowledge through books is dealt with by the rulers is that Montag’s boss, Beatty, says it was normal for a fireman to go through these phases of fascination of what books have to offer. Beatty tells Montag,” What traitors books can be! You think they’re backing you up, and then they turn on you. Others can use them, too, and there you are, lost in the middle of the moor, in a great welter of nouns and verbs and adjectives.” But, Beatty is missing the point on how valuable books can be. So Beatty tells Montag to read through all of the books Montag has stashed to see if the books contain anything worthwhile, then the next day turn them in to be burned.

Montag burns his house, and with it, his entire life. He wants to start over completely, forgetting about his past, where he had hated and destroyed books. He doesn’t “face [his] problem[s], [he just] burn[s] [them]” (115). He burns his house, which is filled with memories of his loveless marriage. He burns Captain Beatty, who had taunted him and told him that books were horrible. He burns the mechanical hound and the salamander, which had aided him in the horrible deeds he had commited.

Throughout the novel, Montag tries to bring realization to the people around him and waits for the day that the civilization experiences a rebirth. This corresponds to the symbol of fire. It mirrors the transformation of Montag's choices from killing his boss to burning his house down. The fire was the solution to set Montag free from the bondage of his culture, and without it, a change would not have ensued (1). Once Montag escapes from the city, he discovers a group of men sitting around a fire. It is in this scene that the fire portrays comfort. The metamorphosis that occurs in Montag is symbolized by the fire due to the fact that he is surrounded by a group of men who share his same beliefs. The comfort Montag feels in the fire is similar to the way God is a constant comfort in a Christian's life. In John 14:16, it says "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever" (NIV). God sets the rules for his people, but He will never leave their side and will always love them unconditionally. A critical altercation becomes obvious when Montag views the fire for the first time in his life as

In the start of Fahrenheit 451, Montag’s thoughts are that fire is good for society. He burns books for a living, and never thought twice about doing his job. That is until he meets characters such as Clarisse, Beatty, and the academics. Montag’s understanding of the nature of fire changes as he becomes enlightened through his relationships.

It is only once in a while a book comes along so great in its message, so frightening in its inferred meaning’s of fire as in Fahrenheit 451. Fire which is used as a symbol of chaos, destruction, and death can also lead to knowledge. Fire has 3 different meanings. Fire represents change which is shown through Montag’s symbolic change from using fire to burn knowledge into using fire to help him find knowledge; fire can represent knowledge as demonstrated through Faber, and fire can represent rebirth of knowledge as shown through the phoenix.

As the plot presented itself, fire did also. Fire was used as a solution to get rid of society’s ills. Ills in this society include nonconformity, overflow in wisdom and knowledge, and government doubt or mistrust. They all derived from one common factor: books. Beatty claimed that without books “…all are happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves against. So! A book is a loaded gun in the house next door” (28). Books were the greatest evil, because it places ideas of controversy and critical thinking into the minds of readers. Explaining to Montag the quick fix to the trouble of books, Beatty said, “And so when houses were finally fireproofed completely, all over the world there was no longer need of firemen for the old purposes. They were given the new job, as custodians of our peace of mind…” (28). As these issues became more and more prominent with time, something to subdue or suppress them was needed. Fire was the answer. So, in their noble position as firemen, Montag and his coworkers destroyed any detected books with fire immediately. This way, residents cannot read them and implant radical ideas. The

In Fahrenheit 451 ,written by Ray Bradbury, the motif of fire, sparks an interest in the reader which pulls them into the life of Guy Montag. In the daily life of Montag, Bradbury portrays the importance of fire in the censored society. From Montag's standpoint the reader gains a clear perspective of the symbolism and importance of fire. Throughout the story fire is used to represent a different emotion or characteristic. At the start of the book fire symbolizes destruction; towards the middle of the book fire is used to represent change and discovering ones identity; and finally at the conclusion of the story fire symbolizes renewal and rebirth.

In the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, fire symbolizes destruction and censorship. It symbolizes this by showing how the firemen are starting fires, and not putting them out. It states, “he flicked the igniter and the house jumped up in a gorging fire that burned the evening sky red, yellow, and black.” (Bradbury 3). In the quote it explained how he ignited a fire that burned down a house, when firefighters are supposed to be putting out fires, and not starting them. Another symbolism for fire is the censorship, on how the firemen prohibit books and no one is allowed to have or read them. In the book the firemen go out and burn the books to get rid of them, because of their false information. In the book it Montag states “like the old

Montag thought that it was a “pleasure to burn,” because he felt that he was doing the city a favor. The firemen believed that they were cleansing the people when they rid them of their books, so the act of burning became blissful to them. When Beatty made Montag burn his own house, he did say it was different. This time, it was a “pleasure to burn,” because he was able to cleanse his own mind, instead of someone else’s, allowing himself to think clearer.

In a conversation with his wife, he said, " ‘There must be something in books, things we can't imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don't stay for nothing’ “(Bradbury 51). By saying this, he is showing that the old woman really got to him. The woman challenged his viewpoint of books by staying in her house because she believed the books were more valuable than her own life. After witnessing this, Montag begins to steal and read the books that he is supposed to burn, and starts to understand their purpose. The old woman’s actions challenged his viewpoint which started his character change. Ultimately, through the first part of this novel, Guy Montag is depicted as a law-abiding citizen but later starts to change when an old woman challenges his viewpoint of books.

In the story Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Guy Montag is the main character in a world where books are burned by Firemen. While Montag begins questioning the society he lives in, the element of fire is progressively present within the novel. Despite the common association between fire and destruction, the symbolism of fire changes as the story goes along as it provides a parallel to society's behaviour.

This quote is expresses the passion Montag had for burning and completing his duties as a fireman. He enjoyed burning things because it was satisfying to him.

At the beginning of the novel, Montag used fire as a destructive force. He was a fireman who took pleasure in burning books. His mindset was clearly shown as he described in one of his account with fire, “It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed. (Bradbury 3) While he felt amused by the flames and ashes that arose as books were being burned, he did not realize that knowledge has been completely eliminated. In this society, fire is used out of fear instead of to fear. It is something that they use to defend themselves.

And I thought about the books. And for the first time, I realized that man was behind each one of those books. A man had to think them up. A man had to take a long time to put them down on paper. And I’d never even thought that before”(49). It took Montag a while to understand the thought and process an author had to go through. Books provide such detail that they change his perspective on the world. When Montag meets Granger, the leader of the Book People who united a group to keep the books that were collected safe, Granger compares humans to a phoenix, saying, “There was a silly damn bird called a phoenix back before Christ, every few hundred years he built a pyre and burnt himself up. But every time he burnt himself up he sprang out of the ashes, he got himself born all over again. And it looks like we’re doing the same thing, over and over ”(156). Montag is similar to a phoenix, like Montag the phoenix has a cycle of being burned, then coming back to life until the phoenix survives and flies away. Montag is a perfect example of a phoenix because he was able to “fly away” to the escapee camp, where he left the brutality behind burning

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