Literary devices found in Part three "Burning Bright"

Literary devices found in Part three "Burning Bright"

• Imagery

"Now the dry smell of hay, the motion of the waters, made him think of sleeping in fresh hay in a lonely barn away from the loud highways, behind a quiet farmhouse, and under a windmill that whirred..."(p.135)

Meaning

The meaning of the previous fragment is that the author is describing through different senses, a utopian reality.

Effect it has on the reader

This depiction creates a graphical representation of peaceful and calm portrait. Through the olfactory sense (the dry smell of hay) and the auditory sense (loud highways, behind a quiet farmhouse), the author is trying to portray the character feelings and action by stimulating the senses of the reader.

• Flashback

“Millie was not here and the Hound was not here, but the dry smell of hay blowing from some distant field put Montag on the land. he remembered a farm he had visited when he was very young, one of the rare few times he discovered that somewhere behind the seven veils of unreality, beyond the walls of parlors and beyond the tin moat of the city, cows chewed grass and pigs sat in warm ponds at noon and dogs barked after white sheep on a hill.”(p.135)

Meaning

A flashback is an interruption that is followed by an insertion of a previous event to put in context the events of a narrative. The previous quotation explains how when Montag was "very young", he met the world when it wasn´t plagued of censorship and ignorance. This trigger a chain of actions and thoughts that change Montag deeply.

Effect it has on the reader

The effect it has on the reader is one of intrigue and knowledge because it gives information about the background and the knowledge the character has, which may explain the "Why´s" of different actions made by the Montag (main character).

• Allusion

“I am Plato's Republic. Mr. Simmons is Marcus. I want you to meet Jonathan Swift, the author of that evil political book, Gulliver's Travels! And this other fellow is Charles Darwin, and-this one is Schopenhauer, and this one is Einstein, and this one here at my elbow is Mr. Albert Schweitzer, a very kind philosopher indeed. Here we all are, Montag. Aristophanes and Mahatma Gandhi and Gautama Buddha and Confucius and Thomas Love Peacock and Thomas Jefferson and Mr. Lincoln, if you please. We are also Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.” (p.144)

Meaning

The meaning the previous quotation has is that the author by mentioning the pillar of the democracy "The Republic", he is inherently bringing in to account a deeply important aspect of the Greek society, how the society develops with its natural surroundings. This relates with Montag because by saying he is "Plato's Republic" he is making an allusion towards the ideas of democracy that Plato portrayed in his book, therefore adopting in a way the ideals of Plato, which is a huge improvement from his ignorant self.

Effect it has on the reader

The effect it has on the reader is a one of knowledge and contextualization because through the mention of Plato´s book, the author introduces a deep contextualization about what is going on in Montag´s mind and how much his views are changing. This also helps the reader to understand how Montag is phasing from ignorance to knowledge.

• Simile

"...by littered glass, and there on the floor, their covers torn off and spilled out like swan-feathers...” (p.109)

Meaning

By using this literary device, the author is comparing damaged book covers with the feathers released by a swan

Effect it has on the reader

It produces interest on the reader, by comparing two objects, it encourages the reader to use their imagination and logic in order to understand what the text means.

• Metaphor

"Now, Montag, you're a burden."(p.109)

Meaning

Through this metaphor, the author is comparing Montag (that is not actually a weight that must be carried) to a burden (an issue or task unavoidable to be taken care of).

Effect it has on the reader

It has understanding effect on the reader, because it helps the reader to comprehend what is the situation going around Montag.

Symbols found in "Fahrenheit 451"

Symbols found in "Fahrenheit 451"

• Mirrors

The mirror represents the discoverment of true feelings within a character, for example in he following fragment, "..Millie's face, heard her screaming, because in the millionth part of time left, she saw her own face reflected there, in a mirror instead of a crystal ball, and it was such a wildly empty face, all

https://www.theadvocates.org/looking-mirror/

by itself in the room, touching nothing...."(p.74), shows how the mirror acts as a tools for self discoverment. Also in some characters, the mirror are a subject of repulsion and a mocking object, as the following quote shows "Come on now, we're going to go build a mirror-factory first and put out nothing but mirrors for the next year and take a long look in them."(p. 76).

• The Phoenix

The phoenix represents not only the mankind´s cycle of ups and downs but it represents the development and resurrection of Montag´s intellectual capacity and his spiritual self.""Phoenix.""What?""There was a silly damn bird called a Phoenix back before Christ: every few hundred years he built a pyre and burned himself up. He must have been first cousin to Man. But every time he burnt himself up he sprang out of the ashes, he got himself born all over again. And it looks like we're doing the same thing, over and over, but we've got one damn thing the Phoenix never had. "(p. 76)

http://www.hottmz.com/rise-of-the-phoenix/

• Blood

In the book "Fahrenheit 451" the blood represents the most inner part of one`s true self. The blood is a materialization of all our feelings and thoughts. For example, the following citation "This machine pumped all of the blood from the body and replaced it with fresh blood and serum"(p. 6), shows how even when Mildred´s old blood was replaced, her feelings or emptiness never left.

http://www.giantbomb.com/blood/3055-1422/forums/object-blood-in-games-15242/

Motifs found in "Fahrenheit 451"

Motifs found in "Fahrenheit 451"

• Religion 

"Professor Faber, I have a rather odd question to ask. How many copies of the Bible are left in

this country?"(p.35). In the book Fahrenheit 451 there are many references of the bible such as "Lord, how they’ve changed it in our ‘parlors’ these days. Christ is one of the ‘family’ now. I often wonder if God recognizes His own son the way we’ve dressed him up, or is it dressed him down?” (p.81), "He would be Montag-plus-Faber, fire plus water, and then, one day, after everything had mixed and simmered and worked away in silence, there would be neither fire nor water, but wine."(p.49) and "He touched it, just to be sure it was real. He waded in and stripped in darkness to the skin,

splashed his body, arms, legs, and head with raw liquor; drank it and snuffed some up his nose.

Then he dressed in Faber's old clothes and shoes. He tossed his own clothing into the river and

watched it swept away. Then, holding the suitcase, he walked out in the river until there was no

bottom and he was swept away in the dark"(p.65). All of the are allusion towards different passages or actions made by Christians (direct allusion to the holy family, the miracle of Canaan and the baptisim respectively). Through religion, Bradbury shows how a fundamental part of the ancient society had been forgotten through ignorance and avoided through censorship. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Religion

• Fire

The idea of fire present in the book can be ambivalent, because it can represent destruction and damage but it also could be interpreted as an idea for light and guidance. As for light and guidance as the following fragment shows, Montag compares positively, the attitude of Clarisse with the light of a candle, which is fire "But the strangely comfortable and rare and gently flattering light of the candle."(p.3). As for being a destructive force, the following citation explains how Montag used to admire the destructive capacity the fire has, which was used to burn books and knowledge, "With his symbolic helmet numbered 451 on his stolid head, and his eyes all orange flame with the thought of what came next, he flicked the igniter and the house jumped up in a gorging fire that burned the evening sky red and yellow and black"(p.1). It produces in the reader a feeling of fear because of its capacity of destroying everything the mankind has achieved, or recorded.

http://kgncnewsnow.com/second-alarm-fire-red-river-steakhouse/

Themes found in "Fahrenheit 451"

Themes found in "Fahrenheit 451"

• Censorship

Through censorship, the government controls what information is available for the public. At first, Montag doesn’t even care about this fact, and even promotes and burns books as his job and as his hobby. However, after the incident with the old woman and the burning house, Montag wonders about what makes this objects so valuable that a person gives her own life for it. The censorship policy was allegedly applied in order to keep everybody equal and to avoid any conflict between people, as the following quotation explains “We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal. Each man the image of every other; then all are happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves against. So! A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it. Take the shot from the weapon."(p. 28).

https://derechosdigitales.org/8125/ecuador-copyright-weapon-censorship/

http://www.uniquehomeaccents.biz/scripts/maestros_old/images/censorship/

This themes had a negative effect on the reader, or at least in me, because it provokes frustration towards the fact that, to avoid any conflict or hurting minorities, the government affects intellectuals and people that can provide vital things or thoughts to the society, which produces the increase of ignorance and a appealing destruction of knowledge.

• Ignorance against Knowledge

Because of the high pressure of censorship towards the public, the society eventually stopped being interested about learning and reading, as the following fragment states "Remember, the firemen are rarely necessary. The public itself stopped reading of its own accord". (p. 83). Because of this, and the fact that uneducated and ignorant minds are malleable, the ruling class found in “Fahrenheit 451” promoted ignorance in order that the people don give a second thought about things

https://steveamiller.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/knowledge-and-ignorance/

https://www.icr.org/article/2477/

This motif produces in the reader, a feeling of irritation and dissatisfaction because, after all the improvement the mankind had made, in order to keep the people calm and ignorant, they avoid critical thinking and learning more of what is the TV or the advertisements.