Symbols:
- Fahrenheit 451:
Things to think about: 451 degrees Fahrenheit is the temperature at which paper burns. Bradbury originally titled the novel The Firemen. Why do you think he changed it?
Pages to start your search: 3, 8
- The Salamander:
Things to think about: Legends associate salamanders with being so cold blooded that they can live in fire and not get burned. They are also said to be able to spit poison and are indestructible. If their tail falls off, they can regrow it. Why are the firemen's lighters and fire engines in the shape of salamanders? How is the salamander and apt symbol for the firemen?
Pages to start your search: 6, 13, 19, 86, 104
- The Sieve and the Sand
Things to think about: Look at the story on page 78. Why did Bradbury choose this symbol as the title for Part II? How are Montag's past and present connected?
Page to start your search: 78
- The Phoenix
Things to think about: We see a phoenix at the beginning and end of the novel. How does this symbol evolve as Montag changes? (If you don't know the legend of the phoenix, google it.)
Pages to start your search: 6, 163-4
- Mirrors
Things to think about: Why are mirrors important? Who serves as a mirror in the novel? Pages to start your search: 4, 11, 154-5, 164
- "The Family"
Things to think about: What is the family? How does this symbol contribute to Bradbury's warning to his readers? Think about the historical context of the novel.
Pages to start your search: 20-21, 44, 48-52, 77, 159
- The Mechanical Hound
Things to think about: What do we typically associate with dogs? What do they usually symbolize? How is this hound different? What does that tell us about society?
Pages to start your search: 24 -27, 72, 120, 133-7, 144
The tittle of this book is symbollic because the author could have picked any other temperature that can be produced by a fire. The author could have picked 451 because books may be the most important thing that could be burned in a fire. I think the author changed the tittle from THE FIREMEN to FHARENHEIT 451 becuase the novel focuese more on the affect fire has on books when it reaches 451 degrees , more than it focuses on the affect the firemen themselves have on the books.
ReplyDeleteOne of the most important symbols in Fahrenheit 451 is the title itself. This title is very symbolic due to the fact that through out the book the reader is continuously reminded of Montag’s job as a fireman, which deals with temperature all the time. It is correct that Bradbury could have picked something else for the title, and he did, The Fireman. The story-line focused on ways in which books have changed society as the years go by, not how people have, like Andres mentioned previously. I believe Bradbury changed the title of his book in order to show the readers the irony of how the government in the book condemns literature and yet we readers are receiving Bradbury’s thoughts through a book itself, titled Fahrenheit 451.
ReplyDeleteThe word Fahrenheit is extremely massive in the novel. It allows readers to think deeply into the symbol as it may srepresent heat a t a constant change. When one thinks of the word Fahrenheit it allows a deeper meaning into the novel. Guy Montag goes through a journey where he changes. He realizes his faults and comes face to face with them. A temperature’s Fahrenhei can change instantly. Readers see how just two people may influence such a change in an individual. Also the book being changed from Firemen to Fahrenheit 451 was significant in that ironically in Montag’s life was helped being put out by the young girl and professor. Bradbury is trying to show how the novel and world may change like the temperature. It can be so versatile and effect many people. The book challenges readers and helps them relate to life and how they too can think deeper into similar gruesome situations like the one of Guy Montag. The first line of the novel reads,” It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, too see things blackened and changed”(Bradbury 3). The word Fahrenheit allows Montag to have control and through his journey he wants a life that will not harm.
ReplyDeleteIn life there is a reason for everything. In the novel Fahrenheit 451, the author Ray Bradbury decided to name his book Fahrenheit 451 and not The Fireman for certain reasons. An example is because majority of the novel revolves around the books the firemen burn. "with his symbolic helmet numbered 451 on his stolid head, and hid eyes all orange flame with the thought of what came next" (pg. 3). The "Fahrenheit 451" part of the title portrays the degree in temperature in which all the damages caused by the fireman occur to the books. Therefore Fahrenheit 451 as a title covers both the firemen and the books they destroy
ReplyDelete