Fahrenheit 451 essays

Fahrenheit 451 essays Fahrenheit 451 is a futuristic novel, telling the story of a time where books and independent thinking are outlawed. Books and ideas are destroyed, books are incinerated, where as ideas thinking becomes a danger to society and is not tolerated. The Hearth and the Salamander is the title of part one. The salamander represents the main character of Guy Montag. Montag's occupation as a fireman is to burn books and text to erase their existence and impact on thinking. The symbol of a Phoenix is used throughout the novel. The Phoenix was a mythical bird of ancient Arabian legend. The Phoenix symbolizes the rebirth after destruction by fire. Firemen wear a crest of the Phoenix on their uniforms. Montag, after realizing the truth of his job, opens his eyes and sees that fire and destruction has indeed destroyed his newly gained ideals, he wishes to be reborn. With his new ideas of knowledge, he goes to Faber with ideas to save the books, and he hides books in his house. Montag ev en goes as far as stealing books from houses that he is supposed to be destroying. Phoenix is "reborn" only to get burnt and destroyed, again. Like the Phoenix, Guy's life is a cycle of getting burnt and rebirth, until one time the away Montag escapes and where Montag kills Capt. Beatty by igniting him with the liquid fire. For Montag, fire has been good to serve the purpose of being a fireman. Fire is one of the only things Montag knows, and the only thing he knows as a solution is to burn the problem. Capt. Beatty has taught Guy that fire is the solution to everything, when in reality, fire destroyed books, homes, people, Capt. Beatty, Montag's house, and in the end, it destroyed the city from which Montag barely escaped. However, fire also symbolizes something else, warmth and hope. It is not until the very end that Guy realizes that fire does not have to be destructive, it is a tool which can have many uses. After meeting the othe ...