The Fiery Journey
Knowledge and fire are two distinct substances that share a similarity; they give people freedom. Fire is a boon to mankind. Fire assists a man to survive, guiding him through the cold, allowing him to obtain edible food, and so on. However, fire contains a dual personality; it can be giving, caring and beneficial, or it can be destructive, taking away and cataclysmic. In this way, knowledge and fire are similar. Knowledge can be used to carry out great actions, it can help people, save lives and be useful in such a way as to light our way to the future. But it can also be extremely pernicious. It can be used to destroy things, people, and man-kind. It is left to humans to decide how knowledge affects them, and their path to their future. Joseph’s Campbell’s idea of the ‘Hero’s Journey’ is the literary version of the path a man takes to reach his own goal, through his/her use of knowledge for either good, or bad. This pattern of the ‘Hero’s Journey” is ever-present in Ray Bradbury’s utopian and dystopian fiction novel, “Fahrenheit 451”, in which the protagonist, Guy Montag, is guided through life in the steps outlined by the “Hero’s …show more content…
He thinks that “It was a pleasure to burn” (Page 3) He is part of the fireman group of the future that burns books, instead of putting them out. Books are banned in the future, providing a job of burning them when they are found. At this point in the book, he is in the known world. He really enjoys his job, he likes burning books, and he feels he is truly happy. He follows out his actions based on instructions from superiors, without questioning anything. But when he is questioned, his call for adventure arises. He is asked, “Are you happy?” (Page 8) by Clarisse McClellan, his new next-door neighbor. This spurs him to thought, and he realizes the truth, he is not happy. This is exemplified when he returns to his house and he finds his wife unconscious after a pill
Knowledge and fire are two distinct substances that share a similarity; they give people freedom. Fire is a boon to mankind. Fire assists a man to survive, guiding him through the cold, allowing him to obtain edible food, and so on. However, fire contains a dual personality; it can be giving, caring and beneficial, or it can be destructive, taking away and cataclysmic. In this way, knowledge and fire are similar. Knowledge can be used to carry out great actions, it can help people, save lives and be useful in such a way as to light our way to the future. But it can also be extremely pernicious. It can be used to destroy things, people, and man-kind. It is left to humans to decide how knowledge affects them, and their path to their future. Joseph’s Campbell’s idea of the ‘Hero’s Journey’ is the literary version of the path a man takes to reach his own goal, through his/her use of knowledge for either good, or bad. This pattern of the ‘Hero’s Journey” is ever-present in Ray Bradbury’s utopian and dystopian fiction novel, “Fahrenheit 451”, in which the protagonist, Guy Montag, is guided through life in the steps outlined by the “Hero’s …show more content…
He thinks that “It was a pleasure to burn” (Page 3) He is part of the fireman group of the future that burns books, instead of putting them out. Books are banned in the future, providing a job of burning them when they are found. At this point in the book, he is in the known world. He really enjoys his job, he likes burning books, and he feels he is truly happy. He follows out his actions based on instructions from superiors, without questioning anything. But when he is questioned, his call for adventure arises. He is asked, “Are you happy?” (Page 8) by Clarisse McClellan, his new next-door neighbor. This spurs him to thought, and he realizes the truth, he is not happy. This is exemplified when he returns to his house and he finds his wife unconscious after a pill