Given the context, however, Montag says his line with the implication that Beatty was wrong to encourage burning when he, Beatty, knew the value of books.
As he turns the flamethrower on Beatty, who collapses to the pavement like a "charred wax doll," you can note the superb poetic justice in this action. Beatty always preached to Montag that fire was the solution to everyone's problems "Don't face a problem, burn it," Beatty told him and Beatty, himself, is burned as a solution to Montag's problem.
Note once again, that in describing Beatty's death, Bradbury uses the image of a wax doll. The imagery of the wax doll is thus used in Fahrenheit to describe both Beatty and Millie. By using this comparison, Bradbury shows that Beatty and Millie do not appear to be living things; they fit the mold made by a dystopian society. As a result, Beatty is charred and destroyed by the fire that gave purpose and direction to his own life. Although Montag, who is now a fugitive, feels justified in his actions, he curses himself for taking these violent actions to such an extreme.
His discontent shows that he is not a vicious killer, but a man with a conscience. While Montag stumbles down the alley, a sudden and awesome recognition stops him cold in his tracks: "In the middle of the crying Montag knew it for the truth.
Beatty had wanted to die. He had just stood there, not really trying to save himself, just stood there, joking, needling, thought Montag, and the thought was enough to stifle his sobbing and let him pause for air. Montag suddenly sees that, although he always assumed that all firemen were happy, he has no right to make this assumption any longer.
Although Beatty seemed the most severe critic of books, he, in fact, thought that outlawing individual thinking and putting a premium on conformity stifled a society. Beatty was a man who understood his own compromised morality and who privately admired the conviction of people like Montag.
In a strange way, Beatty wanted to commit suicide but was evidently too cowardly to carry it out. Bradbury illustrates the general unhappiness and despondency of certain members of society three times before Beatty's incident: Millie's near-suicide with the overdose of sleeping pills; the oblique reference to the fireman in Seattle, who "purposely set a Mechanical Hound to his own chemical complex and let it loose"; and the unidentified woman who chose immolation along with her books.
People in Montag's society are simply not happy. Their desire for death reflects a social malaise of meaningless and purposelessness. When war is finally declared, the hint of doom, which has been looming on the horizon during the entire novel, now reaches a climax. This new development serves as another parallel to the situation in which Montag finds himself. Montag sees his former life fall apart as the city around him faces a battle in which it will also be destroyed.
As Montag runs, his wounded leg feels like a "chunk of burnt pine log" that he is forced to carry "as a penance for some obscure sin. The penance Montag must pay is the result of all his years of destruction as a fireman.
Even though the pain in his leg is excruciating, he must overcome even more daunting obstacles before he achieves redemption. Unexpectedly, the seemingly simple task of crossing the boulevard proves to be his next obstacle.
The "beetles" travel at such high speeds that they are likened to bullets fired from invisible rifles. Bradbury enlists fire imagery to describe these beetles: Their headlights seem to burn Montag's cheeks, and as one of their lights bears down on him, it seems like "a torch hurtling upon him.
After Montag and Faber make their plans for escape, the reader witnesses Faber's devotion to the plans that he and Montag have made. In choosing to flee to St. Louis to find an old printer friend, Faber also places his life in jeopardy to ensure the immortality of books. Montag imagines his manhunt as a "game," then as a "circus" that "must go on," and finally as a "one-man carnival.
When Montag escapes to the river, the imagery of water, a traditional symbol of regeneration and renewal and, for Carl Jung, transformation , coupled with Montag's dressing in Faber's clothes, suggests that Montag's tale of transformation is complete.
He has shed his past life and is now a new person with a new meaning in life. His time spent in the water, accompanied by the escape from the city, serves as an epiphany for Montag's spirit: "For the first time in a dozen years [that is, since he became a fireman] the stars were coming out above him, in great processions of wheeling fire. He thinks about his dual roles as man and fireman. While floating in the river, Montag suddenly realizes the change that has taken place: "He felt as if he had left a stage behind him and many actors.
He was moving from an unreality that was frightening into a reality that was unreal because it was new. The stage imagery implies that Montag actually realized that he was merely acting for a long period of his life, and that he is now entering into an entirely new stage of life. Montag emerges from the river transformed. Now in the country, his first tangible sensation — "the dry smell of hay blowing from some distant field" — stirs strong melancholic emotions.
Though Montag may be a man who has trouble articulating his feelings, one learns that he is a man of deep emotions. The entire episode of him leaving the river and entering the countryside is evocative of a spiritual transformation. He has sad thoughts of Millie, who is somewhere back in the city, and has a sensuous fantasy of Clarisse; both of which are now associated with the city and a life that he no longer lives, to which he can never return.
Whereas the city was metaphorically associated with a stifling and oppressive technology, the countryside is a place of unbounded possibility, which at first terrifies Montag: "He was crushed by darkness and the look of the country and the million odors on a wind that iced the body.
The forest into which he stumbles is rampant with life; he imagines "a billion leaves on the land" and is overcome by the natural odors that confront him. To underscore the strangeness of this new environment, Bradbury makes Montag stumble across a railroad track that had, for Montag, "a familiarity. Because he is most familiar and comfortable with something associated with urban life the railroad tracks , Montag remembers that Faber told him to follow them — "the single familiar thing, the magic charm he might need a little while, to touch, to feel beneath his feet" — as he moves on.
When he sees the fire in the distance, the reader sees the profound change that Montag has undergone. Montag sees the fire as "strange," because "It was burning, it was warming. Curiously, Granger was expecting Montag, and when he offers him "a small bottle of colorless fluid," Montag takes his final step toward transformation.
Not only is Montag garbed in clothes that are not his, but the chemical that Granger offers him changes his perspiration. Postman presents a factually supported, but biased argument in which he views media to be a rival of American advancement. In the beginning of the book, Postman establishes the idea of media as a metaphor. This means that media can be viewed as what is important to a society. Open Document. Essay Sample Check Writing Quality. His examples of technology and violence can be connected to the theme of social commentary.
Going through this book, you, as a reader, will see different examples of censorship and technology. One example is using Seashells or what we call Earbuds. Ray Bradbury compares Mildred to us on how we look in the society. She was awake. There was a tiny melody in the air, …show more content… The parlor walls are the society 's tvs. These tvs are the government 's ways of stopping people from reading books. An example from the book is when, after Captain Beatty goes to Montag 's home to exhort him to stop being curious about books, Montag sees Mildred in the middle of their living room watching and talking to the parlor wall.
A special spot-wavex-scrambler also caused his televised image, in the area immediately about his lips, to mouth the vowels and consonants beautifully. This quote from the book tells us that Mildred would watch tv when she has the chance and even pay for things that will make it better. Ray Bradbury tells us that, in his opinion, that people are now becoming more interested in tv than on other people. He is kinda right, but instead of tvs, we now use …show more content… One of the technology that Montag has to face in his journey is the Hound.
Whenever Montag sees the Hound; he become very trepidatious. The Hound is very lethal and this makes it very celebrated by many people but also makes people crave when going against it. This explains how Montag hears the Hound move from place to place. In 'Fahrenheit ' why did Bradbury compare books to birds? What is the birth name of Jack Bradbury? What is the birth name of Lane Bradbury? What is the birth name of Malcolm Bradbury? What is the birth name of Randy Bradbury? What is the birth name of Ray Bradbury?
What kind of hound is the hound in the fox and the hound? Who were Ray Bradbury's real parents in life? Does Ray Bradbury have children? Are Julia Bradbury and Jason Bradbury related? What is Jason bradbury's ps3 ID? Does Ray Bradbury have kids? How many kids does Ray Bradbury have?
What is a long eared hound? What is Ray Bradbury's full name? What is Jason bradbury's gamertag? A lover of life and nature, Clarisse, an affable neighbor who is seventeen, is the foil of Mildred — Montag's cold, mindless, conforming wife.
Delightfully human and aware of her surroundings, Clarisse disdains the fact-learning that passes for modern education. She enjoys rain, dandelions, autumn leaves, and even sessions with her analyst, who misdiagnosis her exuberance for living.
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