Fire
Fire is a dangerous and deadly substance, but it is also a way of cleansing, and a way for some mythological creatures (namely the phoenix) to be reborn; Ray Bradbury uses it in a way not mentioned… to signal a turning point in the book. An easy example of this is within the first chapter of the book, the very first page even. “It was a pleasure to burn.” (1) Immediately afterwards, our protagonist, Guy Montag, burns down the house of a …show more content…
Society seems to model technology from there, in the case of the Mechanical hounds, and while they are very clearly not related to any sane animal, the Firemen have a salamander very prominently located on everything they have. But for what purpose? Why does Bradbury use animal and nature imagery when this dystopian society is very clearly the opposite of any conceivable animal. Well, to put things in a clear and concise manner, Bradbury uses animal imagery in a ironic way. Society has become this twisted gnarled beast, and this beast has nothing it can share with other beast, so it does what any beast does, and pretends that that is always what animals have been like, and the beast is much the