Themes, Motifs, and Symbols

1. Themes, Motifs, and Symbols in Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451

2. Theme: Censorship Why books banned? • People just aren’t interested • TV • Radio • Fast cars • people aren’t used to slowing down, concentrating, thinking

3. Books/ideas are bad • Why make people who aren’t well-read feel bad just because others have? (wide-spread ignorance levels the playing field) • Objections of special-interest groups that what is being said in books is offensive (political correctness)

4. Motif: Motif – as a literary element, an idea or image that is repeated or carried through an individual work • A motif differs from a theme in that it can be expressed as a single word or fragmentary phrase, while a theme usually must be expressed as a complete sentence. • Blood is an important motif in A Tale of Two Cities, appearing numerous times throughout the novel.

5. Motif: Paradox • Paradox -- Where a situation is created which cannot possibly exist, because different elements of it cancel each other out. • In 1984, “doublethink” refers to the paradox where history is changed, and then claimed to have never been changed. • A Tale of Two Cities opens with the famous paradox, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

6. Motif: Paradox Examples in °F 451: Things, or people are . . . • Dead and alive • There and not there • Seeing but not seeing • Shells of people, not thinking, not mentally present although they are physically present; empty; grotesque • What other examples from the text?

7. Motif: Paradox In the sense of the book itself: • Is this an example of art imitating life or life imitating art? Both? In American society today: • Freedom is what makes America strong, yet it makes us susceptible to people who would take that away from us.

8. Motif: Nature • Elements of the natural world are real, pure, and represent truth and innocence • Clarisse • Dandelions • rain • Presented as authentic, simple yet profound, beautiful • Mechanical devices modeled after nature • Snake • Hound • Presented as skewed, warped, grotesque

9. Symbolism: Symbolism -- The use of specific objects or images to represent abstract ideas. • A symbol must be something tangible or visible, while the idea it symbolizes must be something abstract or universal.

10. Symbol: The Hearth and the Salamander • Hearth symbolizes home • Salamander symbolizes the firehouse, the firemen, and their trucks • Both deal with fire • Hearth heats the home • Ancient beliefs that the salamander lives in fire and is not burnt by flames

11. Symbol: The Sieve and the Sand • Sand symbolizes tangible truth • Sieve symbolizes the human mind • Together = the human mind trying to obtain elusive truths

12. Symbol: Phoenix • In ancient Egyptian mythology and in myths derived from it, a mythical sacred firebird • The phoenix is a male bird with beautiful gold and red plumage. • At the end of its life-cycle the phoenix builds itself a nest of cinnamon twigs that it then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix arises. • The bird was also said to regenerate when hurt or wounded by a foe, thus being almost immortal and invincible — a symbol of fire and divinity.

13. Symbol: Phoenix • After bombing, mankind is a Phoenix that burns itself up and rises out of the ashes • Refers to the cyclical nature of history • Collective rebirth of mankind • Resurrection of Montag

14. Symbol: Mirror • Symbolizes self understanding or awareness through deep reflection • Clarisse • Granger says they should build a mirror factory