Symbols are objects, characters, figures, and colors
used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.
Blood
Blood appears throughout the novel as a symbol of a human
being’s repressed soul or primal, instinctive self. Montag often
“feels” his most revolutionary thoughts welling and circulating
in his blood. Mildred, whose primal self has been irretrievably
lost, remains unchanged when her poisoned blood is replaced with
fresh, mechanically administered blood by the Electric-Eyed Snake machine.
The symbol of blood is intimately related to the Snake machine.
Bradbury uses the electronic device to reveal Mildred’s corrupted
insides and the thick sediment of delusion, misery, and self-hatred
within her. The Snake has explored “the layer upon layer of night
and stone and stagnant spring water,” but its replacement of her
blood could not rejuvenate her soul. Her poisoned, replaceable blood
signifies the empty lifelessness of Mildred and the countless others
like her.
“The Hearth and the Salamander”
Bradbury uses this conjunction of images as the
title of the first part of Fahrenheit 451. The
hearth, or fireplace, is a traditional symbol of the home; the salamander
is one of the official symbols of the firemen, as well as the name
they give to their fire trucks. Both of these symbols have to do
with fire, the dominant image of Montag’s life—the hearth because
it contains the fire that heats a home, and the salamander because
of ancient beliefs that it lives in fire and is unaffected by flames.
“The Sieve and the Sand”
The title of the second part of Fahrenheit 451, “The Sieve and the Sand,” is taken from Montag’s childhood memory
of trying to fill a sieve with sand on the beach to get a dime from
a mischievous cousin and crying at the futility of the task. He
compares this memory to his attempt to read the whole Bible as quickly
as possible on the subway in the hope that, if he reads fast enough,
some of the material will stay in his memory.
Simply put, the sand is a symbol of the tangible
truth Montag seeks, and the sieve the human mind seeking a truth
that remains elusive and, the metaphor suggests, impossible to grasp
in any permanent way.
The Phoenix
After the bombing of the city, Granger compares mankind
to a phoenix that burns itself up and then rises out of its ashes
over and over again. Man’s advantage is his ability to recognize
when he has made a mistake, so that eventually he will learn not
to make that mistake anymore. Remembering the mistakes of the past
is the task Granger and his group have set for themselves. They
believe that individuals are not as important as the collective
mass of culture and history. The symbol of the phoenix’s rebirth
refers not only to the cyclical nature of history and the collective
rebirth of humankind but also to Montag’s spiritual resurrection.
Mirrors
At the very end of the novel, Granger says they must build
a mirror factory to take a long look at themselves; this remark
recalls Montag’s description of Clarisse as a mirror in “The Hearth
and the Salamander.” Mirrors here are symbols of self-understanding,
of seeing oneself clearly.
