Fahrenheit 451 Allusion Analysis

In the book “Fahrenheit 451” Ray Bradbury uses many allusions. An allusion is a reference to a well know person or event. A writer uses them to help simplify complex emotions or ideas. Allusions make it easier for readers to understand the complex ideas by comparing it to the reference the writer used. This essay shows the use of the allusion “Cheshire cat” from “Alice in Wonderland” and how it helps to show the themes in “Fahrenheit 451”. I think the Cheshire cat helps to show, the theme that everyone is not really happy. They all have fake happiness for the parlor walls inside their homes.
The Cheshire cat appears in the middle of the book on page eighty-nine. The narrator used the Cheshire cat to describe the smiles of the women Mildred had invited over to watch a tv program. “Mrs. …show more content…
Bradbury uses the Cheshire cat to show how the characters in “Fahrenheit 451” are not normal in our society and can be seen as villainous. This allusion helps readers understand that the regular citizens in the book are supposed to be seen in a negative way and that there needs to be a change in the way the society works. Their ways of life are pathetic because they basically live off of their parlor walls. The people do not communicate to anyone but the people on the tv shows and the people from the tv shows start to replace family and any need for human interaction. How any of this relates to the Cheshire cat is because he is sometimes seen as a bad/villainous person, but even considering that, the Cheshire cat still wears a grin on his face. It is showing a false happiness of the people, like the parlor walls and the burning of the books is bringing a false happiness to the people in “Fahrenheit 451”. In our society, those actions could be seen as odd, weird or villainous because there is more to happiness than tv and burning