In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury uses allusion to create a unique and memorable world. An allusion is an indirect reference to a person, place, thing, or event. It can be a figure of speech or a passing comment that provides added meaning to the text. Allusions are often subtle and can be easy to miss if you’re not paying attention.
Bradbury employs allusion throughout Fahrenheit 451 to help evoke the mood and atmosphere of his novel. For example, in Chapter 1, Montag meets Clarisse McClellan for the first time. She asks him if he’s ever read a book called The Great Gatsby. This is an allusion to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel about the American Dream. Bradbury is hinting that the American Dream is a sham and that people are too busy living in their own bubble to see it.
Later in the novel, Montag visits Faber, an old professor who once taught him about books. Faber asks Montag if he’s ever read a book called The Catcher in the Rye. This is an allusion to J.D. Salinger’s novel about teenage angst and rebellion. Bradbury is highlighting the fact that many young people are rebelling against the status quo and searching for something more meaningful in life.
Allusions are also used to create symbolism in Fahrenheit 451. For example, the city of Boston is described as being “dark and rainy” (Bradbury 9). This is an allusion to the dark and depressing future that Bradbury envisions for America. The allusions in Fahrenheit 451 are a reminder that the world we live in is full of symbolism and hidden meaning. If you’re paying attention, you can find allusions everywhere.
This is also a direct allusion to the Tower of Babel. “You’ve been confined here for years with a regular damn Tower of Babel crap. Snap out of it! People from those novels never existed . Come on, now!” This quotation is an explicit reference to the Tower of Babel.
As the Lord looked down on his city, he exclaimed, “Look at them; they are one people and speak with one voice; and this is just the beginning of what they will accomplish; and nothing that they plan to do will be beyond their capabilities. Let us go down there and confuse their language so that they may not comprehend each other’s words.
The Lord’s goal was to stop the people from building the tower, and by doing so, dividing them by language. In Fahrenheit 451, Montag is in a society where books are outlawed. He has been locked up for years and has been living in his own Tower of Babel.
Clarisse comes along and shakes him out of it, telling him that the people in the books he’s been reading never existed. Just as the lord did to the people of Babel, Montag’s society does the same to him by confusing his language (making it illegal to read and understand books).
The Lottery (page 15) “It isn’t fair,” Mrs. Hutchinson screamed. “It isn’t right. It’s not a fair lottery!” This quote is an allusion to the Lottery. In The Lottery, every year the town gathers together to draw straws. The person who draws the black one is stoned to death.
Mrs. Hutchinson screams this same quote, protesting the unfairness of the lottery. In Fahrenheit 451, there is also a lottery, but it’s not a physical lottery. Instead, it’s a lottery where people are chosen to be burned alive. The quote is used as a metaphor for how unfair and unjust the burning of people is.
This allusion to the phoenix was utilized by Ray Bradbury in his work to depict a lunatic world. It also demonstrates that all prior knowledge of the Earth’s ancient world has not been lost. Phoenix (page 163) “There was a silly damn bird known as a phoenix before Christ, and he’d build a pyre and burn himself every few hundred years. He must have been first cousin to Man, since he came out of the ashes every time he burned himself up.
This allusion is used to represent the idea that people are continually making the same mistakes and not learning from them. The phoenix is a symbol of rebirth, which is fitting for a society that keeps repeating the same mistakes. The atomic bomb is also referenced, representing the destructive power that humans have at their disposal. This allusion underscores the theme of destruction in Fahrenheit 451.
“I’m not sure what the hell we were thinking.” The phoenix was a creature that could restart its life cycle. This compares to Bradbury’s work in that everything has been destroyed in the future illiterate culture. The loss of the futuristic world results in its rebirth as a literate and bright society, which will ultimately decay into an illiterate one. It is comparable to a never-ending cycle, like that of the phoenix and its rebirth. Jonathan Swift (page 151), ” I’d like you to meet Jonathan Swift, the writer of Gulliver’s Travels, an evil political book!
The full title of the book is, Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of several Ships. Swift was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1667 and he died there in 1745. ”
Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is not just a story about censorship and the burning of books. It is also a story about the cyclical nature of society. The world in Fahrenheit 451 is a future world where books have been outlawed and “firemen” burn any that are found.
Ray Bradbury is using these references to help readers understand the ideas in Fahrenheit 451. Charles Darwin, Schopenhauer, Einstein, and Schweitzer were all famous intellectuals of their time, and their work still resonates with people today.
By mentioning these individuals, Bradbury is showing that the ideas in Fahrenheit 451 are not new, but have been around for a long time. He is also implying that these ideas will continue to be relevant long into the future. The allusions in Fahrenheit 451 are not just limited to famous people and books.
There are also references to popular culture items such as magazines and television shows. For example, when Montag meets Clarisse for the first time, she asks him if he has seen “The Three Stooges”. This is a reference to a famous American comedy trio from the 1930s. By including allusions like this, Bradbury is showing that the characters in Fahrenheit 451 are embedded in our culture.
