Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is a book established on a dystopian culture in which the government gets along with the people via traditionalism. Conformity is the method of matching beliefs and attitudes. Numerous of the typescripts such as Beatty, Mildred, and others obey the government since that is how their culture exists. The reason why individuality is rejected in this civilization is that it roots skirmishes with each other. The government destroys any type of individuality an individual has and does not condone any type of education since they will come up with a way to reprimand an individual. Like it is shown at the beginning of the story, Individuality outlines the dissimilarities of an individual by creating an exceptional personality of a person such as the one Clarisse McClellan disclosed to Montag.
Clarisse McClellan can be seen as a personality that outlines her individuality towards the society, particularly to Montag, who after overcoming conformity decided to doubt the universe and becameadistinct himself.Individuality practices a major societal role where individuals are dissimilar in the mode of different fashions, and fresh ideas. When humanityhas individuality they acquire a voice in whatever they think about variousphases of life, regardless if it is bad or good. Clarisse McClellan offers a goodillustration of individuality as the novel shows it. Clarisse “loved to stare at things and smell them, and occasionally not sleep the whole night, watching as the sun rises and walking” (Atasoy"Emrah 70). Clarisse questioning and curiosity made her dissimilar than the other people, others thought it as her specialty while Montag thought she was strange.
When Clarisse speaks to Montag she says to him “You are different from other people. I have met a few; I am aware. Every time I speak, you alwaysstare at me. Last night when I spoke of the moon, you gazed at it. Other people would not do that. They would stray away and leave me talking with myself. Or even intimidate me”, Clarisse identified a character in Montag that showed how he was willing to be like her, different. Clarissepersonality is peaceful; hates TV and violence like other people, she manages to ask queries to Montag regarding his job, “For how long have you been a fireman?”(McGiveron " Rafeeq 340). He eventually develops an intellect of curiosity and individuality about what Clarisse has to say.
Clarisse decides not to convince him to see things as she does, however, she shows Montag that discerning out of the box could be an option for him, without being aware that she inspired him into making a new decision. She becomes a great inspiration to Montag’s freshview of the universe. Clarisse influences Montag to be different through the manner in which she acted towards him. When he asked her why she is out of school, she says “Oh, the people do not miss me, they say I am antisocial. It is very strange because I am very social” (Abootalebi " Hassan 99), Clarisse’s social life and knowledge are seen as antisocial by the government, for the things she talks about regarding the culture of this novel that does not seem to fit in.
Clarisse opened the door for Montag with all the lessons she taught him to discover the secrets behind the modern world.Montag discovers himself thinking differently after Clarisse’s questioning and finds out that everybody lives in conformity in this society (Thakur, et al 240). He does not understand what other people get after reading books since he is sedated to life. Conformity prevents the societal rights, the whole thing is done alike and several behaviors can be similar to the government of this novel. Similarly, conformity limits the thoughts of the people to be listened to since everybody has to obey the same ideology. Beatty quoted “You shouldappreciate that our sophistication is very wide to have our elementsdisappointed and agitated”, suggesting that society is better off following the beliefs so that they can be happy.
In Fahrenheit 451 conformism is the culture’s motto, people are agitated by small things like a racing car or television. Clarisse tells Montag “Individuals do not just speak of anything…everyone speaks of the same thing and no one says similar things to one another”, this societies culture could not question some things while many of their dialogues result to similar basic ideologies. At the start of the novel Montag is asked by Clarisse whether he has ever read any of the novels he had burned, he is aware he cannot manage since he will be defying the law” and result to a conflict to that did. Clarisse is presented just at the start of the book since her individuality acts as a hindrance to the government and disappears suddenly from the scenery.
Clarisse had been a great influence in the life of Montag’s and his decision to become an individual alone improved him to a completely different individual. Was it his personal choice to change or was it the influence of Clarisse? As the novel gets almost to the finish Montag encounters professor Faber who became an outsider due to his education. When Montag becomes interested in books, he asks the professor for assistance. He tells professor Faber “No one pays attention anymore. I cannot speak to the walls since they are shouting at me. I cannot speak with my wife because she pays attention to the walls”, He thought he was different because the communityappeared to have isolated him due to his actions.
Likewise, as the novel starts, Montag and Clarisse aretalking about Montag’s life as a fireman and the kerosene’s smell. After a long silence while walking, Montag responds with, “kerosene…is simply a perfume for me”, hoping to sustain the dialogue with Clarisse. At this point, Montag seems to already have a plan of becoming an individual, as well as, thinking individually. As the Protagonist in this book, Montag influences the novel because he developed a transformation in life but later discovers that one cannot run away from the first. His decision to transform his life was largely influenced by Clarisse due to her thinking ways. Clarisse talks and curiosity were dissimilar than other people. Montag loves that character about her and for the fact that she did not worry about the community’s opinion about her; it influenced him to wish to be like her and to have curiosity like hers.
As the reader gets near to discover Montag’s individuality he bursts out while talking to Beatty. He shields Clarisse from Beatty as he shouts, “Clarisse witnessed it all. She did not hurt anybody. She only left them alone”. These Montag’s words accentuate that Clarisse apart from being just a person who wished to offer help and view the universe differently with no harm. Otherpeople like Beatty viewed Clarisse just a person who will rot the community. The government seeks to arrest Montag since he has defied the faith of orthodoxy. Individuality separates a person from others, after Montag made a decision to change from conformism he heads to a section of outsiders who were like him and resolves with them.
At the end of the novel, Granger says that the conflict is going to end and will be stopped by the books. The community will eventually discover that conformism does not initiatehappiness and instead it causes war among people. This leaves readers thinking of existingconfidence in humanity since individuality could never be demolished or die.Individuality developedbattle in the values of the book Fahrenheit 451, while the government is working hard to destroy any person who attempts to disobey the law. Throughout the book, individuality is rejected because it provided people with the capacity to doubt specific acts that were wrong.
Everybody depended onconformism; individuals were prohibited to doubt whatever they thought about things, as Clarisse tells Montag, individuals did not seem to speak about interesting things. With individuality, community can be different, to create new ideas, think outside the box, and be diverse, however in the book it was not seen in a correct way because it could spoil people’s minds. Fahrenheit 451 reveals an ideology about how individuality could alterthe way society sees things and various differences in people, discovering that community could be a disaster without individuality.
Symbolism
The book Fahrenheit 451 is established in a revolutionary world where reading and possessinga book is against the law, and when a person is found with one, it gets burned. All through Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury employs the literary method of symbolism; where the symbols range from features of the fireman’scostumes, to the real fire, as well as, the Phoenix while the story is concluded. In section one, “The Salamander and the Hearth” Bradley defines all the firefighters’ uniforms. The writer introduces the reader to the story’s protagonist, Guy Montage; Guy is a firefighter who hails from a family lineage of firefighters, including his grandfather and dad. The uniform montage wears daily has the no. 451 at the helmet, and a salamander spot on his limb.
The no. 451 is present both at the helmet and, as the novel’s title, thus the writer uses it to tell the reader that it is a symbol, saying that Guy wears “his no. 451 symbolic helmet on his head. In the novel’s Introduction Bradbury states the reason he decided on number 451 was that, “a paper of a book burns at 451 degrees Fahrenheit”.Firefighters’ only task in this novel is to burn books which explain why the no. 451 placed on the helmets is a symbol (Wainwright " Michael 230). The second symbol used in Fahrenheit 451 is the salamander, it is placed on the firefighters’ costumes and etched at the sides of the igniters used to ignite a fire, and it is what is referred to as fire trucks.
Conferring to R. Sydlowski’s Salamandra in ancient mythology Salamanders were believed to survive fire since they are found coming out of the logs thrown into the fires. Because of the mythology leading people to believe salamanders cannot burn in fire and the idea that the only one to survive in the fire in Fahrenheit 451 should be the firefighters, also portraying them as fireproofs, it is probable that Bradbury links salamanders with the firefighters for this reason using salamanders as a symbol in the book(Abootalebi " Hassan 80).The frequent and most changing symbol presented in Fahrenheit 451 is the fire. As the novel begins, as Alan Lenhoff states in his article, creating fire symbolizes more than just fire. The way writers employ Symbols, fire represents anything that causes damage.
The author uses words like venomous, ruin, burning, and blazing, every word that Bradbury employs using a negative meaning. The person who reads discovers that Guy loves seeing things scorch, “It was an extraordinary joy to watch things decompose, to watch them changed and blackened. Nevertheless, the use of fire as a symbol changes as the story continues. When Guy meets Clarisse, his neighboring girl, he remembers his mother since he was a kid after staring at her eyes. His mother had lit a candle after the electricity went out; both Guy and Chrissie spent a lot of time remembering life with no seashell headphones and television walls (Frenning " Henric 30).
Whenever fire is deliberated in this part, words like comfortably, illumination, transformed and rediscovery are employed in a manner that signifies peace, not destruction.The symbolism of fire differs again when Guy sees a burning fire when he is walking on a pair of rail tracks. “That small movement, the red and white color, anodd fire meant it symbolized something different to him. It was warming and not burning”. At this stage of the story, Guy is running seeking to find a group of males said to be living around the rail tracks, some men own University degrees and are sought after for the similarpurpose Guy was at the start the possessing, reading novels and all the madness.
At this point in the story the symbolism of fire is for survival, warmth and not damage. Guy discovers that once again he is viewing fire in a different way, “He had no idea fire could ever seem like this. He had never considered that in life it could give, as well as, take. The author also uses Phoenix as a symbol at the end of the story; the conflict that has been talked about from the beginning of the story eventually comes to a realization. After calm is restored post-bombing, Granger, one of the people Guy meets at the rail tracks, says, “There was a damn stupid bird known as Phoenix ahead of Christ” (Atasoy"Emrah 121).
In accordance Britannica’s article in the Encyclopaedia, Phoenix was a mythological bird and, “it was largely viewed as an allegory of life post death and resurrection.”Phoenix was as to have a long life cycle and at the completion of the cycle, it created a pyre and was burned by the fire. Phoenix was born again from the ashes and cycle progressed with only a single Phoenix existing at a particular time. The Phoenix symbolism is appropriate in this passage since the city has been destroyed by bombs thrown to it; similar to Phoenix throwing itself in the fire (McCorry " Seán 30). The Phoenix does not just do not only symbolize the character’s capacity to restart but also the symbolism of fire caused by the bombs signifies purging and purity and not damage.
In writing, symbolism can be an idea that is employed and discussed in the top listed literally works and not only in Fahrenheit 451. Symbols are not always automatic and vary throughout a story, as indicated by Bradbury. Eventually, it is not important the person reading to comprehend the symbolism used in the novel; a story can be entertaining even when looked at the face value. However, by considering the symbolism an author uses in his/her book and its meaning one can open up a completely fresh interpretation of the story.
Work Cited
Abootalebi, Hassan. "The Omnipresence of Television and the Ascendancy of Surveillance/Sousveillance in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451." k@ ta 19.1 (2017). 98-100
Abootalebi, Hassan. "Fahrenheit 451: The Higher Philistinism." Humanities in the Twenty-First Century.Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2013.77-90.
Atasoy " Emrah. "IMPEDIMENT TO KNOWLEDGE AND IMAGINATION IN RAY BRADBURY’S DYSTOPIAN NOVEL, FAHRENHEIT 451." Conference on Utopian Studies.Vol. 20. 2015. 67-87
McCorry, Seán. "Literacy, Bêtise, and the Production of Species Difference in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451." Extrapolation 59.1 (2018): 25-46.
Frenning, Henric."Burning the Good Book: Religion and ideology in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451." (2018). 70
Wainwright, Michael. "On Countercultural Chicken in Fahrenheit 451 and A Raisin in the Sun." Game Theory and Postwar American Literature.” Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2016. 117-150.
Thakur, Rajita, and Dr KV Divya. "Symbolism And The Dystopian Tradition In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451." English Studies International Research Journal 3.2 (2015): 237-241.
McGiveron, Rafeeq O. "Ray Bradbury." Extrapolation. 58.2/3 (2017): 338-341.
