Blog 9 Symbolism and Imagery

FAHRENHEIT 451
Sept. 19, 2012

Define SYMBOLISM
SYMBOLISM -the practice of representing things by symbols, or of investing things with a symbolic meaning or character.






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symbolism




Define IMAGERY

IMAGERY-the formation of mental images, figures, or likenesses of things, or of such images collectively: the dim imagery of a dream.




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Imagery



Discuss three different uses of symbolism and imagery in the book, "Fahrenheit 451." Post a picture of this image with each description.

1. As you might expect from a novel about burning books, there’s a whole lot of fire in Fahrenheit 451. We’re not just talking about the burning houses, either. When people are angry, they’re burning with rage inside. When Montag senses Clarisse’s presence, it’s because he feels body heat. When Granger and Co. pick themselves up after the bombing, we get the image of a phoenix rising up from the ashes. This imagery is all over the place.

 

 

2. 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).

 

 

 

3. The title of the second part of Fahrenheit 451, “The Sieve and the Sand,” is taken from Montag’s childhood memory of trying to fill a sieve with sand on the beach to get a dime from a mischievous cousin and crying at the futility of the task. He compares this memory to his attempt to read the whole Bible as quickly as possible on the subway in the hope that, if he reads fast enough, some of the material will stay in his memory

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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