Change for You, Not For Others

Change for You, Not For Others Well-known Sci-fi writer, Ray Bradbury, in his novel, Fahrenheit 451, illustrates that relationships reflect who individuals are and who they want to be. Bradbury’s purpose is to promote the idea that a person should have the courage to listen to their own beliefs and thoughts of happiness rather than to blend in with society. He adopts a disoriented and poetic tone in order to appeal to similar feelings and experiences on a non-realistic scale in his young adult readers.

Bradbury uses symbolism to indicate that relationships reflect who individuals are and who they want to be. Fire seems to mean a lot of different things at different moments in Fahrenheit 451. Beatty and his fireman minions use it to destroy. But the woman whose house they burn interprets it another way: “Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out. ” For her, it represents strength. Montag himself discovers an alternative use for fire at the end of the novel; when he realizes that it can warm instead of destroy.

Like that whole cycle of life thing, fire has a constructive and destructive half. And like the books that are burned, each character in the novel is forced to interpret for them and confront contradictory perspectives – just like Beatty said about the books. Symbolism helps view the story from multiple points of view, and also gives a more vivid understanding of the thoughts and feelings of the characters. Bradbury also uses Imagery to illustrate that relationships reflect who people are and who they want to be.

There are several references throughout Fahrenheit 451 to essentially yucky animals and insects (that’s the technical term). When Mildred gets her stomach pumped, the machine is like a snake. The earpiece she wears at night is like a praying mantis. The helicopters in the chase scene are described as insects. Even the Mechanical Hound has eight legs, like a spider. Notice a pattern here? These references all have to do with technology – destructive technology that the government uses to control its citizens.

It’s basically a perversion of nature and of the natural order, which fits into the larger themes of Fahrenheit 451 (because in this world of destruction without construction, the natural order is off). Imagery gives a clearer description and understanding of most important objects and people in the novel. Ray Bradbury lastly uses allegory to convey that relationships reflect who people are and who they want to be. When the chase draws to a close, Montag ditches his clothes, bathes in the river, and dons Faber’s attire instead. For a man who’s been through three or more identity crises, this is significant.

He’s leaving the old Montag behind, cleansing himself of his old identity, and assimilating a new one for the time being (Faber’s). The fact that another man is captured and killed in Montag’s place is a great ancillary to this moment. Almost accounted for as a rebirth, Montag is revived as a new person along with a new life. Allegory is used in this novel to portray a spiritual representation of becoming a new individual as who they want to be. This widely presents that relationships reflect who people are and who they want to be.

Bradbury’s novel reveals symbolism, imagery, and allegory while he supports his idea and connects emotionally, physically, and mentally with the reader. He successfully promotes his purpose that a person should have the courage to listen to their own beliefs and thoughts of happiness rather than to blend in with society by using the three devices described earlier. In the end, Bradbury’s style puts the reader through an emotional break through as they realize that relationships reflect who people are and who they want to be.