Liam Rivera
Mrs. Pixler
9H English 1B
20 February 2015
Burning Bright
“Its perpetual motion; the thing man wanted to invent but never did…it’s a mystery…its real beauty is that it destroys responsibility and consequences…clean, quick, sure; nothing to rot later. Antibiotic, aesthetic, practical.” These words were spoken by Beatty the moment before Montag burns him to death with the flamethrower. I believe this is symbolic to the phoenix and the theme of the book by the symbol of a new start. In mythology a phoenix is a bird that can regenerate or reborn. This relates to Fahrenheit 451 by Beatty being burnt he is burning down the government where from the ashes will arise a new better government in its place just as the phoenix did.
In Fahrenheit 451 the government sends firemen to destroy all traces of books, due to the fact that books have ideas and knowledge, which is a threat to the government. The government can better control a society of this nature because “lack of knowledge enables ignorance…ignorance creates people who are easier to control.” Ideas and knowledge make people question how things are, makes people see the faults in the world. I do have the same fear as Bradbury had as he was writing Fahrenheit 451 due to the fact that government today is already withholding crucial information from the citizens. With advancement I believe it could become the same concept as in Fahrenheit 451, not burning down library’s and books with flamethrowers but the same idea of “lack of knowledge enables ignorance...ignorance creates people who are easier to
