What is a "phoenix" and how is it used in the Fahrenheit 451?

In Greek mythology, the phoenix is a large bird with the ability to be reborn. To do this, the phoenix builds a flammable nest called a pyre and allows its body to be consumed by the flames. After three days in the fire, the newly-reborn phoenix emerges from the ashes of the flames.
In Fahrenheit 451, this mythical bird is used by Bradbury as a symbol. Firstly, it is used as a symbol of censorship. You will notice that Montag (and the other firemen) wear the image of a phoenix on the sleeve of their shirts. In this context, the phoenix represents the rebirth of this society, after censorship and book-burning were introduced.
In addition, the image of the phoenix acts as an allusion to the fire, which is used by Montag and his colleagues to burn illegal books.
At the end of the novel, the phoenix takes on a new symbolic meaning, as explained by Granger:

There was a silly damn bird called a phoenix back before Christ, every few hundred years he built a pyre and burnt himself up. He must have been first cousin to Man. But every time he burnt himself up he sprang out of the ashes, he got himself born all over again. And it looks like we're doing the same thing the phoenix never had. We know the damn silly thing we just did.

To put this quote into context, Granger and the other book covers are watching the city being destroyed by firebombs. This makes Granger think of the phoenix because, although the city is being destroyed, its death will provide the opportunity for a rebirth, just like the mythical bird. It is Granger's hope that, instead of creating another society filled with censorship, he and his men can create a new society which is based on learning, books, and independent thought. So, instead of repeating history, like the phoenix does, Granger hopes that society can learn from its past mistakes.
The symbolic meaning of the phoenix, therefore, changes as the novel progresses. While it begins as a symbol of the fire and censorship, it takes on a new meaning at the end of the novel because there is hope that the city can be reborn, just like the phoenix. Unlike the phoenix, however, there is a realization that society must learn from its past mistakes and never let censorship take over again.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How does Bilbo show leadership and courage in The Hobbit?

Bilbo’s increase in confidence and courage is the defining aspect of his character arc. At the beginning of the novel, he is shut away content in his Hobbit hole, happy to remain separate and coddled from the rest of the world. In the movie, Bilbo chooses to join the dwarves on their quest out of a sense for adventure. In the book, however, Bilbo wants nothing to do with them and only joins because he had been duped into signing a contract. Despite being on the adventure somewhat against his will, Bilbo still proves himself time and again, saving the dwarves from the spiders, the trolls, and a number of other dangers they encounter along the way. Bilbo’s character arc has even been cited as a sort of Christian metaphor for the growth of the soul, though how much Tolkien intended on this front is up for debate. From a thematic standpoint, the ring of invisibility also plays into Bilbo’s brand of bravery. If Hobbits are the overlooked creatures of Middle Earth, then it is noteworthy that...
Read more

In “Goodbye to All That,” Joan Didion writes that the “lesson” of her story is that “it is distinctly possible to remain too long at the fair.” What does she mean? How does the final section of the essay portray how she came to this understanding, her feelings about it, and the consequences of it?

In this classic essay, Didion describes moving to New York City from her native Sacramento at the age of twenty-one, and, as she freely admits, a somewhat naive twenty-one, her mind, "programmed by all the movies I had ever seen and all the songs I had ever heard about New York," with the typical feeling, at that age, that, "nothing like this...has ever happened to anyone before." Intending to stay for only six months, she falls in love with the city. As she says, "I do not mean 'love' in any colloquial way, I mean that I was in love with the city the way you love the first person who ever touches you and never love anyone quite that way again." This initial love led her to prolong her residency, since, "I still believed in possibilities then, still had the sense, so peculiar to New York, that something extraordinary would happen any minute, any day, any month." But as the next years roll past, and the "new faces" she encounters...
Read more

Why does the poet say "all the men and women merely players"?

It's one of the most famous lines in literature: All the world's a stage,And all the men and women merely players . . . This famous saying comes from Shakespeare's play As You Like It, and it's spoken by Jacques. What he's saying here is that simply going about our daily lives is a type of performance. Just like actors on a stage, we all have roles to perform: Daughter. Student. Sister. Captain of the soccer team. The fact that Shakespeare writes that men and women are merely players suggests that the roles are preordained and that a person's choice in being a mother, for example, or a doctor or starting point guard for the Brooklyn Nets is out of their hands. What roles a person performs over the course of their lifetime is up to fate. The notion that "all the world's a stage" has entered pop culture, but within the context of the play, this idea does not sit well with Jacques. He's a pessimist, and the idea that everything is up to fate makes...
Read more