Fahrenheit 451

One of the major themes in the novel is rebirth. At first glance when you are talking about a novel where the firemen burn books, it is difficult to first see how a key theme can be rebirth. However, out of the dust and ashes of the books arise new ideas. Montag begins to see the importance of books as the story goes on. After countless piles of the charred remains of old books, Montag finally gets the idea that something is wrong with how he is living. He concludes subconciously at first, but later most definitely conciously that he himself needs to be reborn. There is no love between him and Millie and the books he has gotten his hands on and read are far from evil. Montag finds his path to rebirth at the same time the city and the society find theirs. As Montag watches the city turn to dust just like the countless books he burned, he is surrounded by men who will help him be reborn. Montag must remember the Book of Ecclesiastes. It is almost as if Montag's rebirth will result from a sort of Penance he is being assigned. He was responsible for thousands of books being burned; thus to be forgiven he needs to remember one so in essence, the books will never be destoryed completely. The paper and binding may have burned in the fire, but the content will live on forever in the minds of the faithful.

This whole process reminds me of a phoenix. To be reborn, a phoenix must burn to dust so that from its ashes it can be reborn. The phoenix accepts that it must sacrifice everything because the future is bright if it is willing to do so. The same held true for Montag. He had to give up whatever he had with Millie, stand up to Beatty, and face the Hound before he could move on to the men by the river. Things had to get rough before they got better. The phoenix is also representative of the books themselves. The phoenix's body burns and settles to ash, but never does its spirit.

Fahrenheit 451 confused me at first. I had not read any books regarding such an oppressive society. I also had difficulty comprehending the irrationality of the rationale behind the burning of the books. Similar to The Handmaid's Tale, though, it was frightening to realize that a society like the one presented in the novel also is not that unrealistic. There is often censorship of photos, words, and news in our society today. It is not that difficult to fathom complete censorship like in the novel. I also thought it was interesting how the lack of books and reading effected the people. Without literature to challenge people to think, all there was to worry about were the censored and specified programs on the televison. It was simple, but I appreciated the emphasis put on the importance of books and other types of uncensored literature.