Farenheit 451 Essay

Through the novel Fahrenheit 451 the legendary bird of fire known as the Phoenix, not only symbolizes the main character Guy Montag but the entire book. The legend of the Phoenix is that when it is time for it to die it bursts into flames and from its ashes it is reborn. Guy through the novel begins to realize the problems with society and himself and is finally “reborn” as a new character. Bradbury later seems to describe world history as new civilizations and powers are born from the ashes of the old ones. Bradbury used this symbol to portray is understanding of the world and its problems. The phoenix is used to symbolize Guy Montag and how his old life is reborn after the destruction of his old life at his own hand. Montag before he meets Clarisse doesn’t show much interest in reading and didn’t even bother to think ever was he happy. As the story progresses thanks to Clarisse, Montag begins to realize the problems with society and begins to wonder about books. He also begins to try to handle thoughts as he could not earlier in the book. He begins thinking about taking walks and sitting in the rain. This leads Montag to call a man he met in the park who seemed interested in reading poems and had a book on his person. During his discussion with Faber he begins to really question society and the value of books. Through these thoughts he is eventually busted for reading books as his fire squad is called to his house. He discovers his wife and her friends were the ones that sounded the alarm. His fire captain Beatty makes him burn down his house. Later Montag is forced to burn Beatty out of fear that Faber would be caught. Thus Montags old life with his house, his wife and his job literally go up in flames and his life is reborn just as a phoenix. Bradbury even states this when he narrates “He was moving from an unreality that was frightening into a reality that was unreal because it was new”. However Bradbury also seems to feel that throughout history new civilizations are

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