Fire In Fahrenheit 451

Fire can be used for many purposes, good or bad. It can heat and light up a room or it can completely destroy a room. In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, fire is used to destroy things; especially books. In their society reading books is against the law and anyone caught reading a book will get their house burned down with the books and all of their possessions inside. Fire is a recurring theme throughout the book. Bradbury uses fire as a symbol of destruction to demonstrate its power and how it can change things.
At the beginning of the book fire is used to destroy things. Firemen go around and set houses that contain books on fire. The firemen don’t see that there’s a problem with burning books. Many of the firemen, including Montag, thought
that they were “just hurting things… [it’s] simply cleaning up. Janitorial work, essentially” (34). They don’t see what’s wrong with burning books because it’s not hurting anyone and because in their society people don’t question things. The firemen also don’t have a good explanation for when or, why book burning actually started. They know the made-up history of firemen and that they burn books to make their society a better place. When Captain Beatty explained what he thought fire’s purpose is, he said, “‘It’s a mystery. Scientists… don’t really know. It’s real beauty is that it destroys responsibility and consequences’” (109). The firemen don’t question how fire is made or why they burn books because they were taught to not have questions.
Although people in their society are encouraged to not question or think about things, Montag started to realize that their society’s system is flawed. Montag began to question the logic behind burning books. He slowly realized that the role of the firemen in their society was very wrong. He also saw fire differently. He knew that fire was still used to destroy things, but those things that were destroyed would eventually bring about change. Sometimes destruction is required to change things. After the city went up in flames from the bombs, the Harvard Degrees realized that there will be more hope in the future. Their hope for a world with books again, was more realistic. The city’s fiery flames represented hope for the Harvard Degrees, Montag, and anyone who wanted change.
After the bombs destroyed the city, Granger remembered the story of the Phoenix.
He recalled it when when he glanced at the fire that cooked their breakfast. He recalled that the Phoenix would, ‘“build a pyre and burn himself up’” every couple hundred years and would be reborn (156). The Phoenix would do this over and over again. The Phoenix and the Harvard Degrees were very similar, except the Harvard Degrees knew, “‘the damn silly thing [they] just did”’ (156) They were able to remember all of the bad things that had happened in the past and wanted to keep on remembering them for the future. The Harvard degrees knew that eventually they will stop “‘build[ing] a pyre and burn[ing themselves] up”’ (156). He explained that as long as they realized that they were doing this, eventually they would stop doing the same, “‘damn silly things [they’ve] done for the past thousand years”’ (156). After Granger explained this to Montag, Montag saw that fire no longer only symbolized destruction. It now gave the Harvard Degrees new hope in their world.
Montag’s understanding of fire drastically changes throughout the novel. At first he didn’t understand the meaning of fire and how powerful it can be. Towards the end of the novel, he finally understood the true symbol of fire. He understood that fire is sometimes required to have anything change. Although fire can be destructive, when it’s used correctly it can change
things.