FREE ESSAY ON FAHRENHEIT 451: SYMBOLISM

FAHRENHEIT 451: SYMBOLISM

Fahrenheit 451: Symbolism
Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury is a futuristic novel, taking the reader to a time where
books and thinking are outlawed. In a time so dreadful where those who want to better
themselves by thinking and by reading are outlaws as well. Books are burned physically,
and ideas are burned from the mind. Bradbury uses literary devices, such as symbolism,
but it is the idea he wants to convey that makes this novel so devastating. Bradbury
warns us of what may happen if we stop expressing our ideas, and we let people take away
our books, and thoughts. That is what he is speaking out against. Bradbury incorporates
symbolism into his book. He expresses it through the symbols the hearth and the
salamander, the phoenix, and the great fire. Bradbury's use of symbolism throughout the
novel makes the book moving and powerful. 
The Hearth and the Salamander, the title of part one, is the first example of symbolism.
The title suggests two things having to do with fire. The hearth is a source of warmth
and goodness, showing the positive, non-destructive side of fire. Whereas a salamander, a
small lizard-like amphibian, and also in mythology, is known to withstand fire without
getting burnt by it. Perhaps the salamander is symbolic of Guy Montag, who is being
described as a salamander because he works with fire, and endures it, but believes that
he can escape the fire and survive. On the other hand, ironically, the other firemen
believed that they were salamanders too because they thought they were immune to the all
might flames, when in the end it were the flames that destroyed them.
The symbol of a Phoenix is used throughout the novel. This quote accurately describes the
Phoenix, It is known to be a mythical multi-colored bird of Arabia, with a long history
of artistic and literary symbolism, the Phoenix is one of a kind. At the end of its
five-hundred-year existence, it perches on its nest of spices and sings until sunlight
ignites the masses. After the body is consumed in flames, a worm emerges and develops
into the next Phoenix. The Phoenix symbolizes the rebirth after destruction by fire, only
to get burnt, and be destroyed again. Firemen wear the Phoenix on their uniforms, and
Capt. Beatty symbolically drives a Phoenix car. Montag, after reaching the realization
that fire and destruction has indeed destroyed him, wishes to be reborn. As part of his
rebirth, he goes to Faber with ideas to save the books, and he hides books in his house.
Montag even goes as far as stealing books from houses that he is supposed to be
destroying. Guy's life is a cycle of getting burnt, then coming alive once again, and
then being burnt. Until one time the Phoenix survives and flies away (Montage flees to
woods), or the Phoenix dies in the flames, never to be reborn again (where Montag kills
Capt. Beatty by burning with the liquid fire). At the end of the book, Granger makes
reference to the Phoenix once more by talking about the city going up in flames in the
bomb blast. There was a silly damn bird called a Phoenix back before Christ, every few
hundred years he built a pyre and burnt himself up. He must have been first cousin to
Man. 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, but we've
got one damn thing the Phoenix never had. We know the damn silly thing we just did. We
know all the damn silly things we've done for a thousand years and as long as we know
that and always have it around where we can see it, some day we'll stop making goddamn
funeral pyres and jumping in the middle of them. We pick up a few more people that
remember every generation. 
Fire is another great example of symbolism. Each of us has our own image of fire burning
within us, and depending on who you are, it could be positive or negative. Fire has a
dual image in the book, a symbol of destruction, and a symbol of warmth. For Montag, fire
has been good to serve the purpose of being a fireman. Fire has become a symbol of good
in Montag's mind, and a solution to all problems. Capt. Beatty has taught Guy that fire
is the solution to everything. When in reality, fire destroyed books, it destroyed homes,
it destroyed people, it destroyed Capt. Beatty, it destroyed Montag's house, and in the
end, it destroyed the city from which Montag barely escaped. But fire has become an image
of destruction in the eyes of Montag. If you can't solve it... burn it! Is the single
statement that can be made about Guy's thoughts of fire, before his rebirth." However,
fire also symbolizes something else, warmth, goodness. It is not until the very end that
Guy realizes that fire does not have to be destructive. I t can be good, and provide you
with warmth, and security. He associates fire with good when he meets the rest of the
escapees, in the secret camp, because they are all sitting around a campfire sharing
ideas, and reading. The campfire is no longer threating, it is providing warmth for them.
They are memorizing the books, and passing them along by word of mouth. Then they are
place the books in the campfire, and let their powers be released. By burning the books,
they are remembering them, and protecting them from the fire of the firemen.
Symbolism added to the power and overall affect behind this book. The novel uses symbols
such as the heath and the salamander, the phoenix, and the fire to describe someone or
something. Perhaps this novel, written in the early 1950's, spoke out against the future,
and spoke out against censorship, but one thing is for sure, we must always attempt to
better ourselves with knowledge, and always form our own ideas. If we do, then we will
have gotten the message of Ray Bradbury. There is no knowledge that is not power... And
all our lives we must search for power, and in that search, we gain knowledge.