Soit was the hand that started it all . . . His hands had been infected,and soon it would be his arms . . . His hands were ravenous.
This passage from “The Hearth and theSalamander” refers to Montag’s theft of books from the old woman’shouse. Montag guiltily portrays his actions as an involuntary bodilyreflex. He describes his crime as automatic and claims it involvesno thought on his part. He blames his hands for several othercrimes in the course of the book, and they become a powerful symbolfor Montag’s instincts of rebellion, will, and moral imperative.Montag’s thoughtless actions here are akin to Mildred’s unconsciousoverdose, as they are the result of some hidden sense of dissatisfactionwithin him that he does not consciously acknowledge.
Montag regards his hands as infected from stealing thebook and describes how the “poison works its way into the rest ofhis body.” Montag uses the word “poison” to refer to his strongsense of guilt and wrongdoing. Later, the novel incorporates a referenceto Shakespeare, as Montag compulsively washes his hands at the fire stationin an attempt to cleanse his guilt. His feeling they are “gloved inblood” is a clear reference to Lady Macbeth. Montag’s hands functionas a symbol of defiance and thirst for truth.
