Essay On Symbolism In Fahrenheit 451

“ ‘And you must be’ -she raised her eyes from his professional symbols ‘-the fireman.’ Her voice trailed off. ‘How oddly you say that.’ ” (Page 6). One of Ray Bradbury’s most well-known pieces, Fahrenheit 451, begins in a futuristic world where firemen aren’t fighting fires, they create them. Throughout the book, there are many symbols and events that give examples as to why firemen are how they are and how fire changes many of their lives. Fire is Montag’s job, but is also what sends him on a journey. To begin, firemen are very important in this future world because they are responsible for burning books. Beatty is the captain of the firemen and is also Montag’s employer. Montag never understood how firemen came to be until a young girl named Clarisse questioned him. According to Beatty, many years ago, society didn’t appreciate how books were fiction and that they didn’t
connect to real life. “ ‘Books aren’t people. You read and I look all around, but there isn’t anybody!’ ” (Page 69). With technology advancing, firefighters had hardly any purpose, until people in society banned books. Firemen became responsible to get rid of all of them (Page 60-68). In the novel, on page 34, it states “Montag gazed beyond them to the wall with the typed lists of a million forbidden books.” The number 451 is everywhere in the fire station, on the helmets, and trucks. This number is important to firemen because not only does it represent them, but 451 degrees Fahrenheit is the temperature in which book paper burns. Initially, Montag is a fireman and in the beginning he enjoyed his job and was very happy, which is everything the society desired for their members. On page 3, Montag stated” It was a pleasure to burn.” He was even questioned by Clarisse if he was happy and Montag responded with ‘yes’(Page 10). This eventually changes throughout the novel. His life becomes completely different for him when his crew was called to an old lady’s house for illegally owning many books. She was deeply rooted to her books, therefore she refused to leave her house, and she burned with them. This event made Montag realize that being a fireman is harsh and cruel. This event also led Montag into taking a book home discretely. However, if a fireman takes a book home, they have twenty-four to forty-eight hours to return it to the station. If the book is not returned, then fireman will come to burn it for him. Fortunately, he was not caught at first, but his wife, Mildred, ended up betraying him and reported him. Montag’s point of view about fire transforms throughout the novel along with his search for his purpose in society.
In the beginning, he knew it meant destruction because it destroyed so many books. However by the end, it meant renewal to him. ”To everything there is a season. Yes. A time to break down, and a time to build up.” (Page 165) Montag found this as fire leading them to a new beginning and a fresh start to change books from being banned. On page 163, Granger compares this fresh start to the “phoenix”, which is a legendary bird who destroyed himself in the fire only to be reborn from ashes. After everything that Montag goes through in the novel, because of fire, he gets a fresh start and his own renewal. All things considered, fire is of a big significance to this novel. Fire is Montag’s job, his enemy, but also what saves him. He surrounds himself with the disagreement of this element and changes as his wisdom grows. It seems that fire transforms into its own character due to its effect on others. This novel makes you realize that things in life can be beautiful or
dangerous.