Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury teaches that in this society it promotes balance and restricts knowledge .Even though the voice of people can’t be confined there are still those who put the determination through danger or grave. Fire is one of the main symbols in this novel. When a fire breaks out people call the firemen, but Ray Bradbury changes the purpose of them to start fires, to destroy every book the fire department can find. The story is about the protagonist Guy Montag who is trying to find his calling who starts to understand the real purposes of literature. Ray Bradbury uses fire to represent knowledge, awareness, rebirth, construction, as well as destruction. In the beginning Montag sees the world like everyone else in the population, and really enjoyed his fire department job. The purpose of fire was to strike fear into people’s souls and those who would cross the law .But, Montag enjoyed burning, which was odd because it changes his perspective when he meets Clarisse. She had exact opposite features she was soft, gentle, and harmless.“It was a pleasure to burn. It was special…” (Bradbury 7-8) It starts off with Montag watching intensely the beauty in the flames and destruction of the burning. This shows how Montag enjoys destruction at first. Montag encounters the antagonist Beatty who is always is on his backside on how books are terrible. This part shows the awareness and force fire had to Montags advantage. “He twitched the safety catch. On the flame thrower…” (Bradbury 120-121). Montag was in a position where he had nowhere to go, but had the flame thrower after burning down the house Beatty and him get in a quarrel and Montag ends up burning him. He used the fire forcefully and destruction on the cause of awareness.