Themes in Fahrenheit 451.

The Science Fiction novel “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury uses themes, motifs and symbols to reflect the journey of humanity’s revival in an oppressed dystopian society overruled by technology. The author uses these literary devices in order to build a looking glass into the positive renewal of this society. 

Additionally, Bradbury wants to make the reader´s experience amazing; so, in order to achieve this purpose, he uses themes, symbols and motifs to enrich his audience´s reading.
Images from a specific theme are going to be analyzed through "The big 5"; a technique that evaluates all kinds of texts in a very effective way:

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?

Themes:

According to Spark notes, "Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work". In other words, themes are the "big ideas" of a book, novel, play, etc.

One of the most important themes in the novel is the continuous, irrepressible and unstoppable addiction that the majority of Fahrenheit 451´s population shows to the mass media.

Much part of the book is devoted to depicting a dystopic and futuristic American society struggling constant bombardings with fully-colored messages, imagery and propaganda by an omnipresent Mass Media. Instead of the black-and-white TV screens common in the United States´ households in 1953*, the characters in the novel squander and waste their life in front of the "TV parlors" instead of studding, reading or getting cultured, learned and educated. This XXIV century society spends more than three fourths of the day with their gigantic screens; or, as they call them, their relatives. As a result of spending practically all the day with these distractors instead of being with their children and/or spouse, people started to think that the TV parlors were their brand-new family, as they joked and "loved"** each other. 

A TV Parlor.

In TV parlors, scenes changed rapidly and images flashed quickly in bright colors; producing distraction and fascination among the population. Moreover, many of the TV shows and serials presented (Also available for children), encouraged violence and murders; so, in this way, most of the adults and teenagers were "impulsed" by the force of media, to behave violently and trust the government´s policies blindly as a result of propaganda.

When not in their interactive TV rooms, many characters, including Guy Montag's wife Mildred, spend much of their time with "Seashell ear thimbles" in their ears—miniature radio receivers that play constant broadcasts of news, advertisements, and music, drowning out the real sounds of the world and promoting censorship and manipulation of information from the governmental system.

Moreover, mass media has a huge effect on our consumerist need. In page 18, Mildred stays that she is willing for Montag to buy her a fourth TV parlor despite they had just bought the third. In this way, Mildred, the representation of a weak and manipulable society, is always exposed to tons of propaganda and TV shows that corrupt herself and her thoughts.

In Fahrenehit´s society, people believe that happiness lays on the mass media, the seashell radios and the TV shows they watch. However, this is not certainly true. The real role of propaganda and electronic entertainment is to distract people from the problems that afflict and beset society and, also, to restrict the thoughts and human reasoning. In this way, people are not happy; because, as many philosophers said, happiness lays on finding the real truth of life; and truth is, actually, found in knowledge and books, not in distractive mass media.

The big 5 applied to the theme: "Mass media":

1. Audience / purpose (Whom does the text target? What does the author wish to achieve through the text?): It is seen that the four images explain the influence of the mass media on the human being. Through them, it can be understood that propaganda and electronic distractions encourage censorship, manipulation of information, consumerism, lack of knowledge, hedonism and suppression of personal thoughts and ideas. In the book, mass media is the complete antagonist of books; and, if books are burnt in order to "open the path" to technology, then, all of the aspects mentioned above would be intensified, limiting people´s thoughts and the burying of the most reliable and truthful source of wisdom and knowledge: books. For example, in image 1, the author sends a desperate sign to all the people related or interested in learning through books and in the exercise of the individual reasoning; in order, for them, to turn off the mass media; but it also recalls that if action is not taken, then the system would take advantage of them in the most unexpected moment and forbid to everybody the knowledge as it would represent a threat. In the second one, the artist of the image shows that, in Fahrenheit 451, media made people think in the particular way it wanted to mold the society; in this way, it gives the population the instruments to make them think as the governmental system wants society to think; in other words, its purpose is to criticize subjugation and media influence. The third one aims to show how, without books, our minds, that have to be full with something, start to satiate its emptiness with mundane and worldly products commercialized and promoted by propaganda and enterprises; in this way, it criticizes the consumerism as an escape from knowledge condensed in books. And, the fourth one, shows how media can be injected to us through a "needle" (Metaphor) and make us think as it wants to. Moreover, its purpose is to criticize media influence as it censors the individual thought. 

The author wants to target all people, mainly adults and grown-ups, that want to "close the doors" to mass media influence, and are scared about the fact that  the truth condensed in books, the source of consciousness, can be burnt at any moment. The text also targets all those who want to prevent book and knowledge-burning to our society and promote education and enlightenment and reading.

2. Content / theme -(What is literally ‘happening’ in the text? What is it about? What are the main ideas of the text?). The main idea of the four texts is to show discomfort or displeasure with awareness of the negative effects of media on society, they aim to criticize it and, in that way, gain followers for the pro-book and intellectual movement.

The first image communicates that it is important to read and get learned and cultured instead of watching TV or surfing in the web. These, because, if the government starts to manipulate society, then the most valuable aspect of the human being, its reasoning, would be lost, as a result of censorship to individual thoughts. It reflects the author´s concern for the prevention of censorship and manipulation. The second one, aims to criticize how addicted and corrupted to mass media society is (Which is shown in the man´s face), and how people believe that the most important aspect of life is to waste it with media. While a person is "satisfied" (He/She isn´t, as it is just a perception or illusion) with media, this last one starts to mold him/her, giving them their dairy "technological food" that would result, in a small period of time, in a manipulation of the personal reasoning and ideas as media starts to mold people the way it wants. In the image, a media-addicted man is getting his daily technological food ration, like if he was a dog depending on his owner, master or mistress (Media). The third one, shows how the mind of a person starts to get plenty of worldliness, because of consumerism, instead of being satiated with thoughts and reasoning. It is deduced that people are manipulated throw propaganda and advertisements in order, for them, to buy products that, maybe, the don´t need but buy to fulfill the empty potholes that are in their lives, caused by an absence of reasoning. The last one, shows how a human being is being injected with a needle of mass media that would make him change radically his thoughts about the government, TV shows, daily situations, among others. It shows how mass media changes one´s brain.

Generally, the four images show how people prefer to be ignorant and feel empty of knowledge instead of being cultured, learned, intelligent, and questioning themselves about life. In a deeper sense, it shows how people are easily-directed by the government as it is a "piece of cake" to control one-minded people and convince them, through mass media, to burn books, the only source of free-thinking and multiple-mindedness which is available to them.  

3. Tone/mood - (How does the text make you and/or the target audience feel? Describe the atmosphere of the text): The four images present different tones; but, mainly, they all make the audience feel caged from the individual thought as, before the screen, there is someone or something thinking for them. The first image, shows an anxious and preoccupied tone because it is, practically, begging to a person to turn off their media before it starts to become illegal to do it. It encourages the viewers to read books and think before the time of totalitarian control arrives. This image makes me reconsider all the time that kids, teenagers and adults spend before their screens, preventing themselves from learning as they prefer to be entertained. It also scares me a little bit as I don´t want to have my mind controlled by a totalitarian government were books are destroyed in order to be buried in time. The second image has a critical tone as it judges the negative influence of media on society and how the "technological food ration" damages our minds and individual thoughts. In my opinion, I feel that if the XXI century society, including me, doesn´t reduce the time they spend in their "TV parlors", then we will end wrapped-up in a totalitarian and controller government were free thought isn´t allowed. Because of this, I feel that if we don´t take action, our society, in a small time-lapse, will collapse into a government not ruled by people, but by the mass media. The third one, as well as the fourth one, also shows a critical mood because it judges our continuing media-fating and influenced minds. For me, it is sad and melancholic that, because of manipulation, our society is leaving encyclopedias and books aside as they are guided by pleasure and a hedonistic ethic.

4. Stylistic devices (How does the author use language to convey a sentiment or message? What kinds of linguistic tools does he/she employ?) In the first image, the author shows a muted or dull TV were the text "Turn it off while it is still legal" lays in the center. As the author aims his/her audience to read, instead of using mass media, he/she puts a turned-off-TV to encourage this aim. In the second picture, the author shows a man with a bib and a TV with a spoon as if it was his mother. He is willing to receive his daily, technological food ration from his "mother" that always is with him and "takes care of him". In the third one, the author uses lots of colorful things in the man´s brain that show how the appealing and well-looking stuff catches our attention. The artist of the image also uses a fat man to show how media has influenced him to buy and acquire "stuff" that makes him more mundane and less intellectual. Finally, the fourth image, is in a black cover were the needle, full of advertisements, propaganda, violence and catching colors, contrasts with the cover. This, makes the needle highlight in the image, as it is the most important part to be shown in it and how its injection affects the human brain.

A blue-point (Image 3) in all the darkness of
images 1 and 2.

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?): All of the images analyzed have a rectangular layout; however, the first and the second images, for example, don´t use bright colors. In the case of picture number 1, bright colors are not intended to be used because, as it consists on a turned-off TV, a white-empty screen had to be put; but, in the second one, as it is a comic, consisting on a man getting fed by a TV, only black and white colors could be used. However, in the case of image number 3, the bright colors make it look more exalted and that is the way the message, of consumerism, is conveyed, also, it is very well depicted, and, the color and intensity of objects in some places of the brain make it look really intense. Also, it is the only picture that has a non-white cover; so, in this way, it is the one in which people should show more interest as it is the most colorful. Finally, image 4 shows a colorful needle (Because it has all the media inside of it) with a pink-like silhouette of a human body in a black cover. The colorfulness of the needle shows how colors of media, propaganda and advertisements influence our thoughts, ideas and conceptions.

Personification and Allusion in "The Sieve and the Sand".

One of the most interesting personifications of the novel is:

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“The train radio vomited upon Montag, in retaliation, a great ton load of music made of tin, copper, silver, chromium and brass”. (Bradbury, 75).

This quote is a personification because it is impossible for trains to vomit; so Bradbury is giving human or living things´ characteristics to this object. However, this quote is also a metaphor; because the loud noise overwhelms the protagonist. In this way, he compares all the horrible sounding radio with vomit and metals because the sound, as metals, was heavy. 

With this quote, I noticed that Montag was becoming a stranger to the civilization in which he was living; the high sound of the propaganda and the TV parlor overwhelmed him and he preferred the silent and slow world of books.

The last figure that is going to be studied is the allusion. Bradbury uses this figure of speech in a high rate in Fahrenheit 451. In the second part of the book, he alludes to Plato´s Cave Allegory when he says “Half out of the cave” (Ignorance=Cave, Knowledge=Sunlight) or the people running in the eruption of the Vesuvius Volcano to compare, in a simile, how Mildred ran, as well as the mouth of this volcano which works as a metaphor of the TV parlor; the Cheshire smiles of the ladies, alluding to fictitious cat smiles in Alice in Wonderland or, in many cases, the merchant of Venice of William Shakespeare. Allusions are, in my opinion, a way to enrich the beautifulness of any literary work with the beautifulness of other writers´ works.

Allusion to how Mildred ran to receive her friends.
People run from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

Metaphor
(The mouth of the volcano is the TV parlor:
Where ideas "die")
Allusion to the Mouth of Vesuvius Volcano.

         

Allusion to the ficticious smile of the Cheshire cat in
Alice in Wodnerland. It stablishes that the ladies had
ficticious smiles.

Finally, I conclude that the Figures of Speech are one of the most important aspects that a writer has to take into account in order to write his/her work; because, if they don´t include them, their works will not have enough literary richness and they will run through us as a stream of insipid and tasteless words without quality or texture, as Faber said once.

Irony and Simile in "The Sieve and the Sand".

Before.

I also found an Irony in the page 78 of the book: 

1. “I looked around. The only thing I positively knew was gone was the books I´d burned in ten or twelve years. So I thought books might help”. (Bradbury, 78).

After.

In this quote, Montag stays that his happiness laid, before, on burning books. However, that didn´t happen anymore. As he was searching for the truth and the happiness, he thought that books were the way to find it again; which is ironic because he first destroyed them but know he was willing to scape in order to protect them and find the truth in the ideas and thoughts they had. With this quote, the reader understands that Montag no longer wants to be a firemen and that he wants to find the truth no matter the consequences. I perceived this effect because that is what we felt when we read it; I confirmed that Montag´s thirst of knowledge had to be satiated with books.

The most prevailing figure of speech in the second part of Fahrenheit 451 is the simile which is a comparison between two unlike things using the words “like, such as or as”.

One of the most important similes in Fahrenheit 451 is:

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“How like a beautiful statue of ice it was, melting in the sun. I remember the newspapers dying like huge moths” (Bradbury, 85).

This is a simile because it is a comparison made between two unlike objects (Statue of ice and newspaper) and the word like is used in it. In this case, Faber refers on how the newspaper was “dying” or disappearing when he was a student; because no one wanted it back and, also, the government didn’t see a use to keep printing newspapers; so they turned to electronics.

This simile refers how the newspaper ( the statue of ice )  is disappearing or melting in this futurist society where they do not care about the news and aren’t open minded about what was happening at that moment, in the rest of the world, or in the past.

When I read this, I liked the way in which Faber expressed about the newspaper. When he says it is beautiful, I noticed that he really sees a value in the newspaper and appreciates the privilege of have being able to know the newspaper when it was still “alive”. However, he is living in a society where it is already melted.​

Also, as it is shown in the image below, the abolition of the newspapers casues corruption because the government has more options to manipulate the information and become corrupt.

Consonance and Onomatopoeia in "The Sieve and the Sand".

Man= Government and Firemen.
Woman=Society.

A Consonance, which is a Figure of Speech where consonant sounds are repeated in words that are close together, was also found in the following quote:

  “Ladies, you won´t understand a word. It goes umpty-tumpty-ump”. (Bradbury, 95).

In this example, the consonant sound of “ump” is repeated. By using it, Mildred produces the effect on the ladies and on the reader that poetry is boring and incomprehensible.

I perceived it because it is a way to show how “stupid” poetry was because it was unintelligible, sad and boring for the society that lived suppressed under the government’s regime and the TV parlor; which eradicated the brain activities and capabilities and made them live a superficial life.

I also found an onomatopoeia at the beginning of “The Sieve and the Sand”:

     

    “It´s only a dog, that´s what! You want me to shoo him?”. (Bradbury, 68).

In this quote, Mildred uses “shoo” instead of “Chase away”, dispel it away or any other similar phrase. The reader analyzes that, as society has been simplified, people are now using shorter words because, if they have less vocabulary, they will have less ability to think. Personally, I wouldn´t like to have my vocabulary reduced; because that would be another attempt of the government to control myself.

Alliteration and Anaphora in the "Sieve and the Sand".

Another figure that was found on the book was the alliteration which consists on the repetition of beginning sounds. This figure of speech is seen in the following quote:

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     “(…)Denham´s Dentifrice, Denham´s Dandy Dental Detergent, Denham´s Dentifrice Dentifrice Dentifrice (…)” (Bradbury, 75)

This quote consists on an alliteration because of the repetition of the sound (Den, D, De) all along the sentence. It shows the reader how the repeating sounds of the propaganda of the train influenced people´s thoughts and doings: “[They were] tapping their feet at the rhythm of Denham’s (…)” (Ibidem). I perceived this effect because making repetition of words or sounds makes people “store in their minds” the repeated sound; and possibly, they would buy the product the advertisement is trying to sell because they remember the repeating sounds. With this quote, I felt subordinated becasue media is always manipulating us in order to make us buy the products it is selling.
(Video: Denham´s Dentifrice).

The Anaphora, another figure of speech present in the novel, is a technique where several phrases or verses begin with the same word or words. Here are some examples that were found in the book:

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    1.  “Light the first page, light the second page (…) Light the third page”. (Bradbury, 72).

In this quote, the sequence of burning the pages is said in order to add mystery, suspense and intrigue to the action that is taking place. It can also make readers suffer because of the fact that “knowledge” is being burnt and how the efforts of the author to write the book were destroyed by fire. I perceived this effect because I had that feeling when I read it; I felt pain for the books which, after burnt, couldn´t return to us with all their ideas because they were dead; they had been turned into insignificant ashes.

Another Anaphora present in the novel is:

2.  “Does your ´family´ love you, love you very much, love you with all their heart and soul, Millie?” (Bradbury, 73).

In this quote, Montag emphasizes in the word “love” in order to have a deeper penetration in his wife´s thoughts and to create an effect similar to the Denham´s Dentifrice´s one: to make Mildred reflect if the TV parlor really gave her love.

 I perceived this because, as the reader notices the continuous repetition of the word “love”, he/she knows that Montag wants to emphasize on that word to ask his question and to echo on Mildred´s thoughts; to make her think at least once in her life. However, as Millie does not want to think, she answers that that was a silly question.

The last most important Anaphora we found on the “Sieve and the Sand” is the following:

·      

            3. “Fool, Montag, fool, fool, oh God you silly fool” (Bradbury, 98).

In this quote, Faber wants to emphasize how he felt about Montag in that moment: he thought that his “drone” was a complete fool and repeated that word to himself. The reader may think that, most of the times when a person believes someone has almost ruined something, they start to say words like “silly, fool, stupid”, among others; and that is what Faber did: he repeated the same word “fool” to himself until his rage, anger, scariness and disappointment got reduced.

I perceived this effect because this event happened after Mildred’s friends went to the house and Montag disconnected the TV parlor while they were watching it and read them poetry (Dover Beach). As Faber was scared and angry because their plan was about to be revealed; and, therefore, ruined, he started to say to himself “fool, Montag” after a very stressful episode in Montag´s house.

Metaphors in"The Sieve and the Sand".

A metaphor is a figure of speech that consists on comparing two unlike objects or ideas. The following quotes are examples of this figure of speech found in “The Sieve and the Sand”:

1. “‘Each page becomes a black butterfly. Beautiful, eh? Light the third page from the second and so on, chain smoking, chapter by chapter” …There sat Beatty, perspiring gently, the floor littered with swarms of black moths that had died in a single storm.” (Bradbury, 72-73). 
   

In this quote, Bradbury compares the burnt pages of the book to a swarm of black moths, which lied “dead” from the fire. Moths are usually white but would turn black if burned. In this entry, Bradbury foreshadows an earlier part of the novel where books were described as birds (Which represented freedom). In this way, burning pages was equal to killing the freedom that society should possess.

This quote makes readers feel that books are living organisms, that suffer when they are burnt; and that, when they are “killed”, all the freedom and inspiration, which makes them fly in the imagination of readers, also dies. On the other hand, it makes people aware of all the danger that can happen if censorship starts to be a primordial policy in a government; and how freedom starts to be restricted by it.

When I read it, I perceived this effect because I felt sorry for the books that were burnt with fire, as living things, and how they “died” progressively. I felt that if a book of mine was burnt one day by the firemen, I would feel completely controlled by the government´s policies and unable to have my own thoughts and ideas.

Literary devices and figures of speech in “The Sieve and the Sand”

Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury, has been recognized as one of the most precious jewels of the English Literature and one of the best masterworks written in the XX century.

Beyond its meditated, interesting, dystopic and futuristic plot; a book, plenty of literary devices, waits for the discovery of its treasure: the ability that it has to enrich reading, using figures of speech, throughout a novel that makes readers ponder about the social and political circumstances in which they live, the governmental system that controls their country and how their situation is compared to the one exposed in Fahrenheit 451.

These ideas are successfully communicated through figurative language; a resource Bradbury uses to create an image of a determined situation in the reader´s mind.

In the second part of his book “The Sieve and the Sand”, Bradbury uses some figures of speech such as:

• Alliteration: The repetition of beggining sounds. For example:
  
• Anaphora: A technique where several phrases or verses begin with the same word or words. Some examples are:
•  I came, I saw, I conquered - Julius Caesar.
•  Mad world! Mad kings! Mad composition! King John - William Shakespeare.
• We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. - Winston Churchill.
•  With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right,-Abraham Lincoln.
•   We laughed, we loved, we sang.
• Assonance: The repetition of vowel sounds in words that are close together: 
  
  
  
• Irony:  Consists on using words where the meaning is the opposite of their usual meaning:
• For example: The Titanic was said to be unsinkable. 
  
• Metaphor: They compare to unlike things or ideas:
  
•  Onomatopoeia: Is a word that sounds like what it is describing: 
     
• Personification: Figure of speech in which non-living things or ideas are given human qualities.
  
• And Simile: Which stablishes a comparison between two unlike things: 
  

These figures of speech make the reader feel vividly Montag´s livings and thoughts, the actions of the book´s society and how Montag reacts to them.