Symbols, Motifs and Themes throughout Fahrenheit 451
In this entry there is an analysis of each one of the terms mentioned in the title, using a technique called The Big 5.
THE BIG 5:
1. Audience / purpose - Whom does the text target? What does the author wish to achieve through the text?
2. Content / theme - What is literally ‘happening’ in the text? What is it about? What are the main ideas of the text?
3. Tone / mood - How does the text make you and/or the target audience feel? Describe the atmosphere of the text.
4. Stylistic devices - How does the author use language to convey a sentiment or message? What kinds of linguistic tools does he/she employ?
5. Structure - How is the text organized, literally (i.e. layout/formatting)? What kinds of structural elements of a particular text type do you see?
THE BIG 5:
1. Audience / purpose - Whom does the text target? What does the author wish to achieve through the text?
2. Content / theme - What is literally ‘happening’ in the text? What is it about? What are the main ideas of the text?
3. Tone / mood - How does the text make you and/or the target audience feel? Describe the atmosphere of the text.
4. Stylistic devices - How does the author use language to convey a sentiment or message? What kinds of linguistic tools does he/she employ?
5. Structure - How is the text organized, literally (i.e. layout/formatting)? What kinds of structural elements of a particular text type do you see?
Symbol:
- The Hearth and the Salamander
This is the title of the first section of the book. Both Hearths and Salamanders represent fire. Hearths, aka fireplaces, are shown as a symbol of the center of the home and a place that gives warmth. Salamanders are worn by fireman on the sleeves of their uniforms, and also they call the fire trucks by the name of this animal because they were once believed to live in fire without being consumed by it.
Big 5:
- This image is targeting anyone who has read the book and therefore will understand that it is not just a salamander. This image wishes to achieve the understanding of the meaning of the title of the first section of the book.
- In this image there is literally a salamander lit on fire. The main object is the salamander that is clearly burning.
- This image produces a feeling of uselessness, because there is nothing to do in order to get the salamander out of the fire. It can also produce a feeling of misunderstanding to people who haven't read the book.
- The author is using fire as the cause , because it causing the “problem“ which is the burning salamander.
- This image has fire in the background and a black space which can be taken as the night or as some ashes. The main object here is the salamander because it is bigger and it is the first thing you see.
This is the title of the first section of the book. Both Hearths and Salamanders represent fire. Hearths, aka fireplaces, are shown as a symbol of the center of the home and a place that gives warmth. Salamanders are worn by fireman on the sleeves of their uniforms, and also they call the fire trucks by the name of this animal because they were once believed to live in fire without being consumed by it.
Motif:
- Paradox
Throughout this novel there is a lot of paradoxes, for example in the first chapter “The hearth and the Salamander“ Montag says his room is not empty but then he says it is indeed empty because Mildred is physically there but all her thoughts and feelings are not there. Also Ray Bradbury is constantly describing things as dead but alive or there but not there making reference to several things like for example the mechanical hound which is just a machine but it is kind of alive, also referring to his society whose minds are not in their bodies but somewhere else where they are being controlled by the authorities. But in my opinion it is mainly referring to Mildred who is always physically but is never there mentally, so her and all their society are more like machines than humans.
Also in my opinion it is a paradox that we are reading a book where books are seen as bad things and are being burned while we read one of them.
Big 5:
- This text targets anyone who is looking for the answer of the question What is freedom? The author wishes to get people to question about this life and the consequences of everything you do.
- In this text there is a quote explaining today's society and how it is never possible to reach freedom. The main idea of this text if freedom.
- This text makes me feel kind of hopeless because even though we try really hard we can not be totally free, and everything we do will always have a consequence which can be either good or bad. This text creates a tense atmosphere because there is a lot of questioning.
- The author uses language that is meant to make everyone feel sad of the society we live in.
- It is written in a font it is really strong so it makes us feel somehow useless. It is organized in sentences and then there is like a pause before saying that it is a universal paradox.
Theme:
- Knowledge Vs. Ignorance
In Fahrenheit 451 there is a constant fight between knowledge and ignorance that includes Montag, Faber and Beatty. The objective of the firemen is to destroy knowledge (books) and promote ignorance but they say it is the other way around, because they say books make you ignorant, and also that everyone should be the same and not have more knowledge than one another. Montag is constantly fighting ignorance in order to get some knowledge but the society makes it really hard. At the end of the book he finds the intellectuals who were fighting for knowledge just like him.
Big 5:
Also in my opinion it is a paradox that we are reading a book where books are seen as bad things and are being burned while we read one of them.
Big 5:
- This text targets anyone who is looking for the answer of the question What is freedom? The author wishes to get people to question about this life and the consequences of everything you do.
- In this text there is a quote explaining today's society and how it is never possible to reach freedom. The main idea of this text if freedom.
- This text makes me feel kind of hopeless because even though we try really hard we can not be totally free, and everything we do will always have a consequence which can be either good or bad. This text creates a tense atmosphere because there is a lot of questioning.
- The author uses language that is meant to make everyone feel sad of the society we live in.
- It is written in a font it is really strong so it makes us feel somehow useless. It is organized in sentences and then there is like a pause before saying that it is a universal paradox.
Theme:
- Knowledge Vs. Ignorance
In Fahrenheit 451 there is a constant fight between knowledge and ignorance that includes Montag, Faber and Beatty. The objective of the firemen is to destroy knowledge (books) and promote ignorance but they say it is the other way around, because they say books make you ignorant, and also that everyone should be the same and not have more knowledge than one another. Montag is constantly fighting ignorance in order to get some knowledge but the society makes it really hard. At the end of the book he finds the intellectuals who were fighting for knowledge just like him.
Big 5:
Big 5:
- This image targets a person or a group who is trying to say the truth and show the knowledge but is being told wrong.
- In this text there is a person being laughed at and left alone because of his thoughts. The main idea is to show that society is really bad and judgmental and doesn't give any time to hear the thoughts of the others.
- This text / image makes me feel sad because nowadays you can't show your thoughts because you will be hated by society, and even though you talk the truth, people won't believe it.
- The author uses an image in order to complement the text and show what he is referring to with the words.
- The text is written in a small font and it is organized in a neat way, showing at the bottom the name of the author of the quote. It also has an image in which a person is being left alpine because maybe his thoughts were different.
Bibliography:
http://451fahrenheit.weebly.com/uploads/7/5/3/2/7532319/291720777.jpg?249
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/77/b9/9b/77b99b7e2c73c07fac120509cf434a0e.jpg
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/f3/42/67/f34267e1a58a7ac93fe4f5b637449d5f.jpg
http://www.thinkib.net/englishalanglit/page/11116/the-big-5
