Post #4

The symbolism of fire.

"What is fire? It's a mystery.....Its real beauty is that it destroys responsibility and consequences. A problem gets too burdensome, then into the furnace with it." (Beatty, page 115)

Fire burns everything; including books. The books are burned, simply because the society does not accept them for the possibility of 'corrupting people's minds.'

The ongoing theme in this book is the uses of fire; when a character is burdened with something, another may advise to him, "just throw it in the furnace and be done with it." An example is when Montag reveals his secret stash of books to his wife: Mildred is terrified when she finds out, because of the consequences they'll have to face when someone finds out and pulls the alarm. So fearing the consequences and the responsibilities of being a book owner, she urges Montag to burn them quickly. Just throw them in the furnace and everything will be back to 'normal.'

The above quote is very important because it shows how fire is portrayed in the book: simple method of destruction. Through the quote we realize that the books are 'burdens' to the society so therefore they must be dealt with. And since the fire is a main theme of this novel, we are introduced to what fire really symbolizes:

Censorship.

Books corrupt minds. Burn them. Books will result in consequences - people having different ideas and opinions. So burn them. The theme of this novel is censorship: as some civilizations have done before, the society in the novel are censoring books and banning publishers because they want to plant different meaning of life. They don't want people to reach their potential of deep, virtuous, and thoughtful people.

The fire symbolizes the government's intention of destruction. Its beautiful appearances deceive; its true intention is to destroy everything. Burn them out of existence.

This is another example of people being shallow; in the book whenever there is a book/house burning, neighbors come out and watch the 'spectacle.' They think it's beautiful, and it surely is, if you don't know the meaning behind it. The ugly truth is that, the society is using censorship. But the people - firm believers of their so-called facts - cannot interpret the meaning of book burning and only enjoy them because they look nice.

The irony is that, after Captain Beatty says the quote above, he is murdered by...none other than fire. He too, was burned out of existence.

However, such symbolization contradicts later on:

"That small motion, the white and red color, a strange fire because it meant a different thing to him.
It was not burning. It was warming.
...He hadn't know fire could look this way. He had never thought in his life that it could give as well as take..." (Montag, pages 145-146)

This quote shows the other side of fire; the giving part. This quote is important because it shows that in the hands of other people, fire can symbolize something less sinister. In this case, fire symbolizes warmth and hope, as Montag - after a brutal escape down the river - finally finds the ex-professors and is given new hope and warmth. There are people like him living in the world.

I can understand Montag's reaction. He was awestruck at such sight of fire giving warmth to men because as a fireman, he had only witnessed all the burning and destruction fire had caused ceaselessly. He was also reluctant to approach the bonfire and the men, and I understand that because Captain Beatty had told him about the intention of fire, and as a fireman he surely believed that.

The quote "It was not burning. It was warming," is really important to me because I can surely make out the difference between those two words. Even though fire both burns and warms, they carry such opposite meanings.

***For example, if I stick my hand in the fire, and I scream, "It burns!" It would be totally different than me saying, "Ah, it's warm!"