Fahrenheit 451 : Symbolism and Allusions (2024)

“It was a pleasure to burn” [1]. Ray Bradbury’s dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451, offers readers a vivid account of how life could become if a technologically advancing society chose to value instant-gratification and ignorance over passion and knowledge.

The story centers around the life of the protagonist, Guy Montag, and his intellectual rebellion against a mindless and deceitful society focused primarily on efficiency and the creation of like-minded, brainwashed individuals. Bradbury develops the story’s message, promoting freethinking and individual freedom, through the repeated usage of symbols, allegories, metaphors, and allusions, drawing inspiration from the increasing presence of technologies in the household, such as television, as well as from the fears surrounding McCarthyism and the censoring of the mind in post second world war America [5].

This continuous usage of symbols in Fahrenheit 451 enables Ray Bradbury to attribute greater and deeper meaning to supposedly normal objects and actions.

Out of all the symbols that can be dissected from Bradbury’s magnum opus, fire is perhaps the most conflicted.

Fire as a destructive force

Fire embodies both good and the evil, which are abundant throughout Bradbury’s work. At the beginning of the novel, fire reigns as a significant destructive force — it is used to destroy the knowledge and ideas found in books, enabling this mechanical eradication of cultural thought [1]. Firemen are the epitome of fire as a destructive force, having to “start the fire swiftly” and “burn everything” to the ground, pulverizing works of literature, such as the “old woman’s … fountain of books” near the beginning of Bradbury’s novel [1]. David Seed acknowledges that the “symbolism has become even more rigidly codified in the uniforms and equipment of the firemen” [7]. Indeed, fire is quite influential to the society described in Fahrenheit 451. After all, the number “451”, the temperature at which books supposedly spontaneously combust, is written on firemen’s helmets, symbolizing the fire’s power to destroy [1]. Stating that “it was a pleasure to burn”, Bradbury also brings into question the true object of the verb “to burn”, thus leaving ambiguity about “how active the verb is” [7]. According to Seed, the true object of ‘burn’ is deferred until the third part of the novel, where Montag destroys first his house, followed by Beatty [7]. In that moment, the true manifestation of fire is experienced firsthand by Montag, dissipating any prior ambiguity surrounding the verb and establishing fire as a reigning force of destruction.

Fire as a symbol of courage

Despite fire’s portrayal as a symbol of chaos and destruction at various key moments of the novel, it takes on a more luminous meaning when an old lady decides to burn herself amongst her books [1]. The woman, in her final moments, exclaims, “Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out” [1]. Instead of being a destructive force, fire takes on the role of symbolizing strength, courage, and resistance in the face of imminent death. Fire becomes the gentle “candle” that somehow gives the despaired woman the ability to sacrifice herself for her beloved books [1]. Even though it is fire that leads to the woman’s drastic end, it is at the same time fire that keeps her alive [1].

Fire as a source of healing

Fire, near the end of the novel, plays a more constructive and positive role than before, marking a strong departure from its prior uses. Although fire had previously been used to destroy and bring about pain and suffering, the burning flame that Montag witnesses after his escape from society symbolizes something much more: healing [1]. In fact, Bradbury remarks that the fire “[means] a different thing to [Montag]”; to the fugitive fireman, unlike earlier in the novel, the fire “[is] not burning, it [is] warming” [1]. To Montag, fire does not represent courage or strength (unlike the old woman with her books); instead it symbolizes warmth and hope [1]. John Huntington remarks that “by rescuing fire for the good, natural side, [Montag] has enabled the novel to convert dystopia into utopia” [3]. Indeed, the role of fire as a symbol of the current societal state of Bradbury’s futuristic world reveals much about the nature of his allegories [3]. The dystopian society, which employed fire to pulverize sources of new, undesired knowledge, was itself eventually destroyed by that same force, thus giving the world an opportunity to be reborn into a utopia.

The varying roles of fire as a symbol of both warmth and destruction further add to the novel’s literary complexity. According to Donald Watt, “burning as a constructive energy, and burning as apocalyptic catastrophe, are the symbolic poles of Bradbury’s novel” [7]. Indeed, the “antithesis of extremes” between “fire as destructive and fire as transforming or life-giving” is prevalent throughout Fahrenheit 451, inducing a particular literary effect which enables Bradbury to contrast various ideas [7]. Fire is employed as a tool by Bradbury to symbolize the instability of the world — through fire, he is able to demonstrate how how some things can both be destructive as well as “life-giving” [7]. Indeed, the depth of the symbolic meaning of fire greatly enhances the literary merit of Fahrenheit 451.

Granger as the Phoenix

Aside from utilizing conflicted symbols like fire, Ray Bradbury also employs metaphors, the most symbolic and continuously used being that of the Phoenix, “the mythical bird of ancient Egypt that periodically burned itself to death and resurrected from its own ashes to a restored youth” [8]. The flamboyant bird is embodied by the “persona of Granger”, the leader of the group of book memorizers whom Montag meets after his daring escape from civilization [1, 8]. Commenting on the state of Bradbury’s society, Granger states that “it looks like we’re doing the same thing over and over”, bringing up the fact that the race is being “born all over again”, very much like a Phoenix [1]. Indeed, the human race in Bradbury’s novel is constantly faced with having to start “all over again”, Granger and his men standing by in the event that the reborn world decides to accept books [1]. According to Peter Sisario, “Bradbury expresses the hope that mankind might use his intellect and his knowledge of his own intellectual and physical destruction to keep from going through endless cycles of disintegration and rebirth” [8].

Officer Beatty as the Phoenix

The Pheonix, as a symbol, is also personified by Officer Beatty, Montag’s boss[1]. Due to his privilege of being an officer, Beatty possesses the “knowledge of what civilization was like before the contemporary society of the novel” [8]. Beatty, in hopes of curing Montag of a common “fireman problem”, tries to educate his subordinate on the history of the decline of literature and intellect in their society, coming to the conclusion that having everyone on the same intellectual “playing ground” is the most viable and successful solution [1]. Riding in his “Phoenix car” and “[wearing] the sign of the Phoenix on his hat”, Officer Beatty evidently “has great knowledge of the past, yet ironically and tragically does not know how to use his knowledge, treating it only as historical curiosity” [8]. Perhaps the greatest tragedy of Fahrenheit 451, which Bradbury conveys through Beatty, is the inability for some to achieve their full potential; Bradbury wanted to demonstrate that all — like Montag — have the ability to be reborn, but not everyone — Beatty being one of them — will choose to embody this aspect of the Phoenix [8]. Possessing such a hedonist and conformist mindset, Beatty tries to convince Montag that all fiction “depicts imaginary worlds” and that “all great ideas are controversial and debatable”; in the end, Beatty tries to convey his belief to Guy Montag that “books then are too indefinite” to be trusted in the enclosure of society [1, 8]. As ironic of a character that Beatty is, possessing knowledge that he finds inapplicable, his tragic end — being “burned to death” — “symbolically illustrates the rebirth that is associated with his Phoenix sign” [1, 8]. According to Sisario, after Montag chooses to kill Beatty, he is then “forced to run off and join Granger”, this action marking “a rebirth to a new intellectual life”, thus fulfilling the symbolic metaphor of the Phoenix [8].

McCarthyism

Besides placing clever metaphors in his book, Ray Bradbury also prevalently employs allusions throughout Fahrenheit 451, the most common and profound of being those that he draws from his own society. Bradbury’s principal influences for Fahrenheit 451 are derived from the the Red Scare, a period of time when fears of communism were at an all time high and television was becoming a central part of the American household [7].

Bradbury himself once stated, “When I wrote my novel Fahrenheit 451 during the years from 1949 to 1953, we were living at the heart of what is known now as the McCarthy era. We were very close to panic and whole sale book burning. I never believed we would go all out and destroy ourselves in this fashion. I have always believed in the power of our American society to rectify error without having to resort to destruction” [6]. The common and symbolic “book burning” in Fahrenheit 451 is less of a fictional statement for literary amusem*nt than it is a warning for future generations to heed [1, 5]. When writing his novel, Ray Bradbury had a feeling that the television and mass media of the 1950’s would continuously grow without boundaries; for this reason, he made Fahrenheit 451 about the constant clash between ignorance and knowledge, between television and books, warning against any efforts to censor controversial or thought provoking pieces of literature [4]. Indeed, the McCarthyist period was a time when censoring was at its highest and people were afraid of speaking their minds out of fear of being labelled as communists. Bradbury’s message heavily alludes to the Red Scare, concluding that any censoring, even that of communist thought, is detrimental to humanity as a whole [9]. According to Rodney A. Smolla, “the complex lesson embedded in Fahrenheit 451 is that humankind would be better off considering the counterintuitive possibility that a resolve to not censor hate speech may actually leave us more safe and secure, more racially tolerant, more bound together as a cohesive moral community” [9]. Indeed, the principal, anti-censorship message of Bradbury’s novel was derived from his own beliefs against the political policies of the time, especially the heavy and excessive censoring of the McCarthyist period.

Nazi Book Burnings

Although it may appear otherwise, the burning of books in Fahrenheit 451, a result of the increased desire to avoid controversy and increase “pleasure and titillation”, is not an idea unique to Bradbury’s novel but is instead caused by Bradbury taking inspiration from — and alluding to — prior events which involved mass book burnings [9].

Perhaps the most well known of all book burnings, which Bradbury draws parallels to in his own novel, is that of the Nazis during the Second World War [2]. Indeed, the continuous indirect allusion to the Nazi regime within Fahrenheit 451 plays a major role in how Bradbury’s dystopian society develops and functions [2]. Rationalizing the book burning in Bradbury’s novel, Smolla states, “Beatty, justifying the burning of books, says that ‘we can’t have our minorities upset and stirred’ … What the people want, Beatty argues, is safe speech, not hate speech … Books should be burned because they make us think about unpleasant things like racial stereotypes, prejudice, and repression” [9]. The reasons for the Nazi regime to burn books was quite similar to those perpetrated in Fahrenheit 451; some things must be censored in order to preserve a state of ignorance and happiness in society, thus helping to maintain relative societal order [2]. The book burnings performed by “Hitler’s men in uniform” are described by Dennis Hollier as “lacking in grandeur”; he goes on to state that the “fire [makes] us tremble at its symbolic significance and laugh at its ridiculous mis en scene” [2]. The Nazi book burning events, which destroyed “the works of Freud” and various others, are very similar to the “blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history” described in Fahrenheit 451 [1, 2].

The Bible

Aside from alluding to the political states of the ‘real world’, Bradbury also makes use of Biblical allusions to “point subtly toward a solution to help us out of our intellectual ‘Dark Age’”, calling for people to have faith in difficult situations [8]. According to Peter Sisario, “two of the biblical allusions … that support the idea of a philosophical faith in the renewal of cycles are the references to the Lilies of the Field”, in the book of Matthew, “and to the Book of Job” [8]. Sisario reflects that the parable of the lilies is, in a way, meant to provide comfort to Montag, illustrating that “God takes care of all things”, and that he therefore does not need to worry [8]. Bradbury, through the allusion to the Biblical story of the lilies, conveys the idea that some things, including Montag’s own fate, are simply uncontrollable and must be left to the unknown. The parable also comes at a point of uncertainty for Montag who was on his way to see Faber in hope of convincing him of his desperate plan’s potential [1]. By briefly alluding to the lilies, Bradbury creates a sense that “faith and submission” to God are necessary at some points of life [8]. The submission to God, exemplified in the parable of the lilies, is also a part of Bradbury’s allusion to the Book of Job, “one of the strongest statements of faith in the face of adversity in Western culture” [8]. The interpretation of the two Bible passages serving as symbols of strength, faith, and courage in the face of an unknown fate is reinforced when Faber communicates with Guy through an earpiece, simply giving the message, “The Book of Job”, serving to remind Montag “that he must have faith, for the going will be rough on his new venture” [1, 8].

Gulliver’s Travels

Along with alluding to the bible, Bradbury also alludes to other literary works in order “to underscore the emptiness of the twenty-fourth century” [8]. The first significant allusion to literature comes after Beatty lectures Montag on the history of firemen and books. Montag, reading from an illegal work of literature, the first book of Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels — “A Voyage to Lilliput” — quoted, “It is computed, that eleven thousand persons have at several times suffered death rather than submit to break their eggs at the smaller end” [1]. This quotation alludes to the “long-standing feud in Lilliput, between those who have traditionally broken their eggs at the larger end, and the edict of the King, ordering all subjects to break their eggs at the smaller end because a member of the royal family had once cut his finger breaking the larger end” [8]. Bradbury includes this quote for a specific reason; he wants to convey the message that “being saddled to tradition”, especially nonsensical customs, can sometimes be detrimental to human beings in the long run [8]. Bradbury utilizes the members of Liliput to draw a parallel with the twenty-fourth century members of the “consumer” society terrified of disrupting the status quo, inciting them to rebel and “break their eggs at the small end” [7, 8].

A Letter to Temple

Another significant literary allusion involved Bradbury quoting from Boswell’s “a letter to Temple” [8]. The quote, which Mildred, Montag’s wife, surprisingly understood, stated, “That favorite subject, Myself” [1]. According to Sisario, “[Mildred’s] statement is juxtaposed against Guy’s saying that Clarisse’s favorite subject wasn’t herself, but others” [8]. Bradbury alludes to Boswell’s writing in order to demonstrate the way that Mildred — and thus the majority of the “dystopian world” — possess a one dimensional way of thinking, taking the writing literally and refusing to dig deeper for further meaning [3]. Through the specific allusion to Boswell, Bradbury reveals more about the world which he has created and the people that are a part of it.

Through his dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury carefully manages to craft a message against involuntary censorship and in favor of the freeing of the mind. Bradbury’s impeccable usage of language enables him to convey a specific idea through a variety of literary techniques. Employing symbols, allegories, metaphors, and allusions to connect his work of literature to a broader scale, Ray Bradbury is able to tell an engaging narrative filled with messages which, in the end, help contribute to the overarching moral of Fahrenheit 451, calling on all to combat ignorance with knowledge and to rebel against the status quo when necessary.

[1] Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. Print.

[2] Hollier, Denis, and Alyson Waters. “The Death of Paper: A Radio Play”. October 78 (1996):3–20. Web. 26 Mar. 2016.

[3] Huntington, John. “Utopian and Anti-utopian Logic: H.G. Wells and His Successors (Logique Utopique Et Anti-utopique; H.G. Wells Et Sa Descendance)”. Science Fiction Studies 9.2 (1982): 122–146. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.

[4] Lawson, Benjamin S.. “Ray Bradbury Companions”. Utopian Studies 12.1 (2001): 133–136. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.

[5] Lawson, Benjamin S.. Utopian Studies 15.1 (2004): 93–95. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.

[6] Moore, Everett T.. “Intellectual Freedom”. ALA Bulletin 55.5 (1961): 403–404. Web. 30 Mar. 2016.

[7] Seed, David. “The Flight from the Good Life: “fahrenheit 451” in the Context of Postwar American Dystopias”. Journal of American Studies 28.2 (1994): 225–240. Web. 19 Mar. 2016.

[8] Sisario, Peter. “A Study of the Allusions in Bradbury’s “fahrenheit 451””. The English Journal 59.2 (1970): 201–212. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.

[9] Smolla, Rodney A.. “The Life of the Mind and a Life of Meaning: Reflections on “fahrenheit 451"”. Michigan Law Review 107.6 (2009): 895–912. Web. 30 Mar. 2016.