The Flames of Insight
As responsibility hides behind a red veil, a futuristic society lives under the false notion that everyone is equal, and therefore, everyone is happy. In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag, a fireman in charge of destroying books in a society where they are forbidden, questions whether what he does is right. Through witnessing a woman burn to death for her books and Faber’s, an elderly former professor’s, teachings, Montag is trapped between the worlds of Fire and Knowledge. In a desperate and rash action, he turns his incinerator from the books towards his fellow firemen, including his former boss, Beatty. Following the hysteria, Montag escapes to the country where he meets a promising group of intellectuals set on slowly shaping history by embodying books themselves. Ray Bradbury uses fire to show Montag’s development and …show more content…
When Montag sees a woman burn herself along with her books, a curiosity awakens within him as to what is really in a book. With an increasing thirst and nowhere to quench it, he seeks an old retired professor named Faber to “teach” him. Faber describes the two’s cooperation, saying, “He would be Montag-plus-Faber, fire plus water, and then, one day… there would be… wine” (99). The fire is Montag, the water is Faber, and the wine is a third substance that symbolizes richness and satisfaction. By themselves fire and water cannot do anything, but together they can create something significant and special. The plan the two decide upon directly reflects Faber’s comparison. Montag is the fire and is accepted by the other fires (firemen) as such. Meanwhile Faber is the water which subtly puts out the other fires through the help of the fire which is Montag. He matures through this incident by realizing there is a role to fire that, in the end, can help produce the richest of
As responsibility hides behind a red veil, a futuristic society lives under the false notion that everyone is equal, and therefore, everyone is happy. In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag, a fireman in charge of destroying books in a society where they are forbidden, questions whether what he does is right. Through witnessing a woman burn to death for her books and Faber’s, an elderly former professor’s, teachings, Montag is trapped between the worlds of Fire and Knowledge. In a desperate and rash action, he turns his incinerator from the books towards his fellow firemen, including his former boss, Beatty. Following the hysteria, Montag escapes to the country where he meets a promising group of intellectuals set on slowly shaping history by embodying books themselves. Ray Bradbury uses fire to show Montag’s development and …show more content…
When Montag sees a woman burn herself along with her books, a curiosity awakens within him as to what is really in a book. With an increasing thirst and nowhere to quench it, he seeks an old retired professor named Faber to “teach” him. Faber describes the two’s cooperation, saying, “He would be Montag-plus-Faber, fire plus water, and then, one day… there would be… wine” (99). The fire is Montag, the water is Faber, and the wine is a third substance that symbolizes richness and satisfaction. By themselves fire and water cannot do anything, but together they can create something significant and special. The plan the two decide upon directly reflects Faber’s comparison. Montag is the fire and is accepted by the other fires (firemen) as such. Meanwhile Faber is the water which subtly puts out the other fires through the help of the fire which is Montag. He matures through this incident by realizing there is a role to fire that, in the end, can help produce the richest of