Fahrenheit 451 Fire Symbol Analysis

“It was a pleasure to burn (1)”. In the opening line of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, something is already burning. The portrait of a morally conflicted fireman in a bleak, book-burning society’s cover bears a box of matches; the main character douses things with kerosene for a living. Fire has to be be a prevalent symbol throughout the book. Yet, is it a completely negative symbol? How does it relate to other symbols, such as the river, and the phoenix? How do all of these symbols connect to both the underlying themes of the novel, and the protagonist himself, the hapless Guy Montag? The answer is simple: all of it has to do with rebirth.
On the first page of this novel, we get a very concise introduction to exactly what Guy Montag thinks …show more content…
Or, water. Water, which can put fire out. I think , then, that the river is freedom from society, leisure, or, as Faber put it, “the leisure to digest (ideas) (81)”. It seems to be this way because when Montag is in the river, he quickly associates it with “an apple, a pear, a glass of milk (136)”, simple images that bring to mind peace and leisure. The coolness of “milk” seems to free you from the hotness and passion of society. The fruit makes you think of sweetness. It just seems to really easily conjure up ideas of comfortable isolation, and peace, so this is what the river symbolizes, at least to our protagonist. He then goes on to say he “just wants some time to think…(136)”, further pointing to the fact that the river symbolizes isolation, and leisure to digest ideas, therefore making it a necessary part of a peaceful revolution. The river is when the most ideas come to Montag, because isolated thought, free from people, is when the most ideas come to us. For instance, the river is where he realizes he must stop burning, and where an idea of peace comes to him (see paragraph 5). The river is also a necessary part of Montag’s rebirth, because it allows him to slow down, take his time with his thoughts and ideas, and therefore be better at functioning in the world. Since the river is the first time that Montag truly has quiet time for independent thought, it is the part of his rebirth that helps him change into a different, slower person; the kind who gives instead of takes. I think this relates to the theme of this book that life should not be a “centrifuge (84)”, that it will only lead to violence and emptiness. Bradbury, by using the river, is pointing to “leisure” as a necessary part of life, that will lead to more ideas in the people, and therefore to betterness in the people. If the warmth of fire is the sharing of ideas, the river is where we