Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Journal: Symbolism

The symbolism found in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury ranges from fire and heat to "The Hearth and the Salamander".

As the reader can expect from a novel about burning books, Fahrenheit 451 has a lot to do with fire. In the novel, fire seems to mean different things at different moments. Beatty and the other firemen use fire as a form of destruction, but at the end of the novel, Montag discovers an alternate use to fire- for warmth. Like the cycle of life, fire is a symbol of repeated destruction and rebirth.

Bradbury uses "The Hearth and the Salamander" as a conjunctive symbol. The hearth, or fireplace, is a traditional symbol of 'home', while the salamander is a symbol for the firemen. Both of these images have a connection with fire- the hearth contains the fire that warms a home, and the salamander because of the ancient beliefs that the salamander can live in fire and be unaffected by it.

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