9192Fahrenheit 451 - A Marxist criticism

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A Marxist Criticism of

Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury

2013 ATAR Notes submission: DJALogical

“Someday we’ll remember so much that we’ll build the biggest

goddam steam shovel in history and dig the biggest grave of all time

and shove war in and cover it up” (Bradbury 1967: 149).


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Contents STATEMENT OF INTENTION 3

“Don’t judge a book by its cover”

INTRODUCTION 3

“To everything there is a season”

PLOT SUMMARY 4

“Dust-jackets for books”

MARXIST CRITICISM

“The skeleton needs melting and reshaping” 5

“More spectacle – a better show?” 6

“The salamander devours his tail.” 7

“Mirror Factories” 8

“The dead beast, the living beast” 9

“These men were all mirror images of himself” 10

“The families in the walls” 10-11

“Fire is bright, fire is clean.” 11-12

“Books aren’t real” 12

“From the ashes…Born over again” 13

BIBLIOGRAPHY 14


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“Don’t judge a book by its cover”

This thesis is an attempt to apply the tenets of Marxist critical perspective in the analysis of

Bradbury’s writing; to draw parallels between how the text reflects the fears and concerns of the

1950s as well as its relevance to today’s society. My focus is the “vital centre”, the values and

ideologies selected by Bradbury as pivotal to the discussion of class struggle, control mechanisms

and revolutionary theories present in Fahrenheit 451. My intent is to explore Bradbury’s depiction of

methods of control through the firemen and other more subtle means in addition to examining the

effectiveness of these methods. By the end of the thesis, my aim is to have gained a better

understanding of the Marxist critical perspective itself, as well as a strong understanding of how

Bradbury’s personal concerns and views affected the text.

“To everything there is a season”

Fahrenheit 451 was written in 1953 by Ray Bradbury, in response to the changing values and the

introduction of the first incarnation of mass media – the television – in America during the 1950s.

Written in the aftermath of the legacy of deliberate cultural purges by Nazi Germany, and concern

regarding the impact of mass media on culture; the novel’s content is profound and highly

prophetic, as Bradbury's concerns regarding the loss of privacy and individuality, the potential

barrage of noise substituting for content is even more relevant to our society than his own time.

Born in 1920, Bradbury was brought up in the Depression years in Waukegan, Illinois and his small

home town is a reflection of the societies he conveys in many of his novels. In Fahrenheit 451, the

story focuses on a small segment of society, a microcosmic representation of the wider world's

ideologies and class structure. The Great Depression affected Bradbury personally, forcing him and

his family to move to Arizona where his father attempted to find work, leading to a strong prejudice

in the author against the large corporate capitalism, which he believed led to loss of individuality and

morality.

His childhood, the years preceding World War II, had been a time when America dreamt of utopias

built on triumphant co-operation and advances in technology, as reflected in the science fiction of

the era. However, these ‘progressive ideals’ were challenged by writers such as Bradbury, Orwell

and Huxley, who viewed the introduction of new technology, particularly mass media, with suspicion

and wariness and warned against unrestrained use and development of technology's potential to

warp society, and to endow power on a totalitarian government through their works; Fahrenheit

451, 1984 and Brave New World.

These writers were all disillusioned by the changes in their society after World War II. Bradbury, in

particular, felt very strongly about the destruction of literature by the Nazi party, comparing Hitler

“burning books” to “killing a person.” He was also highly critical of use of propaganda and

censorship by governments, manifesting his strong disapproval in his re-visioning of the 'firemen', as

men who made fires, in direct opposition to the established social image of the firemen as men who

put out fires, thereby creating the highly striking iconic imagery of fire identified with the title,

'Fahrenheit 451'. Thus Bradbury sought to ignite a discourse regarding the sustainability of

ideological position and the possibility of devising a set of agreed upon democratic values that would

serve as the foundation of a stable society through his portrayal of the 'death' of a society without


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such core values, and the potential 'resurrection' implicit through the 'seeding' of a new world with

'living books' like Montag and his fellow exiles.

“Dust-jackets for books”

The novel’s protagonist, Guy Montag is a “custodian of the peace” tasked with the responsibility to

maintain a “happy world” through the destruction of “conflicting theory or thought” as represented

in books. Montag’s dissatisfaction with his existence is sparked with the revelation that “he was not

happy” following his first chat with Clarisse McKellan. Clarisse is a sixteen year old girl who, through

the influence of her family, retains her individuality and intellect, in contrast to the rest of the

populace in her society. From this point, Montag begins a journey of self-discovery as he struggles

with conflicting feelings of emptiness inside and his responsibility as a fireman.

Through the realisation of the importance of literature and the gaining of ‘class consciousness’,

Montag seeks out Faber, an intellectual who plays an important role in Montag’s gaining of

individuality. Through Faber, Montag gains courage and support through the ironic synthesis of their

identities. Following the reporting of his misdemeanours to the firemen by his own wife Mildred,

Montag kills Beatty and flees. He joins a group of intellectuals who have literally become “book

jackets” through their memorisation of literature, each man accepting the diminution of their

identity as they become incorporated into Bradbury's cultural hegemony of the selected literature of

an ideal society. In the conclusion of the novel, Montag's city – the 'world' of Fahrenheit 451 - is

destroyed obliterated by a 'great metal fist' and he and the living books are left to 'build up' a new

society.


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Marxist Criticism

“The skeleton needs melting and reshaping.”

The dystopic society of Fahrenheit 451 depicts a totalitarian police state society, defined by a

constant cold war as conveyed by “Jet planes” which constantly “roar overhead”, “cutting the sky

in…two pieces.” Society in Fahrenheit 451 is a metaphor for the growing de-individualisation of

American society in the 1950’s when the novel was written and reflects the domination of television,

consumerism and suburban lifestyles. Bradbury's intent in writing the novel was to show how,

without the wide-spread influence of literature on society, factoids1 replace true thought and

information and a loss of individuality occurs, creating a society which has lost its ability to

effectively communicate or even think. Bradbury communicates the value of individualism in a

highly poignant moment where Granger, the leader of the group of intellectuals at the end of the

novel, describes his sadness when his grandfather died. Granger explains his grandfather “shaped

the world,” he “did things to the world” and the world lost “ten million fine actions” when he passed

away thus portraying Bradbury’s admiration of individuals who can change society for the better a

point explored in depth in the novel.

The 1950s was a time of great change in America and in the wider world. Following the end of the

Second World War, technology was on the rise and many devices including the television were

beginning to appear in American homes. With the advent of television, many individuals feared the

negative effects of this perceived intrusion on society. More specifically, many wondered whether

the television would render the common book obsolete and archaic. Bradbury, writing the novel in

1953, was definitely influenced by these fears and thus produces a book which challenges the idea

of mass media and seeks to portray a possible outcome of events for a future society.

This kind of “disenchantment with communism and explicit ideological commitment” was explored

by Christopher Brookeman in his ‘American Culture and Society since the 1930s.’ In parallel, Bradbury

in Fahrenheit 451 takes a closer look at this idea of ideological commitment which is forced upon the

citizens of the novel and the disenchantment with communism expressed in an overt capitalist state.

By viewing Fahrenheit 451 through a Marxist lens, we are able to see how Bradbury has created an

example of the Capitalist society, focused on material possessions and entertainment through which

the invisible bourgeoisie class, represented only through the faceless 'Government' are able to

maintain power and control and oppress the proletariat through a variety of control structures both

overt and subtle. The power and control of the bourgeoisie in Fahrenheit 451 is so absolute that the

greater majority of people are ‘numbed’ to reality and live in the illusion that they are content. This

control is achieved through the inundation of mass media, which creates a consumerist mindset

focused solely in the acquisition of material possessions and distracts the people through the use of

spectacle.

1 A Factoid is an assumption or speculation that is reported and repeated so often that it becomes

accepted as fact. It is a term coined by Norman Mailer in his 1973 biography of Marilyn Monroe.


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“More spectacle – a better show?”

An important aspect of a typical dystopian society is the motif of spectacle as associated with a

fabricated reality and false ideology, and disseminated by mass media. Spectacle is a replacement

of true reality and the physical world with a substitution of technology which is so gripping and

realistic that the viewer feels like it is reality, As Beatty puts it, “they’ll get a sense of motion without

moving. And they’ll be happy.” A great example of this spectacle at work in creating a dystopia

where people have become disconnected with society is Montag’s wife Mildred. Through the

spectacle of her three “wall-TVs,” Mildred has become so attached to the “cousins” and “uncles” in

the TV programs she watches that she refers to them as “family.” This twisting of the family dynamic

is not only evident in Mildred, but it is evidently a social norm with Mildred’s friend Mrs Phelps,

inviting her to come to her house to visit her “family.”

The spectacle in Fahrenheit 451’s society causes its people to lose the ability to think coherently and

communicate, resulting in disconnecting the populace from real people and reconnecting them with

fake simulated 'family' offered in the 'walls', thus blanketing their citizens against the intrusive

reality and focusing them only to accept the illusion of the society created by technology. Clarisse

explains to Montag that this was not always the case, as explained by her uncle and that in the olden

days people used to “just sit, and think,” on the verandas of their houses. It is interesting to note

that verandas have been removed completely from houses, thus assisting the suppression of

thought which might breed discontent by removing the visible sign of communication and inter-

relationship that used to exist between real people and their neighbours.

Additionally, the constant distribution of mass media as a spectacle controls reality by distributing

propaganda which supports the society’s status quo namely that “books say nothing.” This false

ideology becomes the viewer’s reality by exploiting the natural human instinct to believe what you

see. Texts such as Fahrenheit 451 written in the 1950s were fixated with the effect of TV on society

and they conveyed the writer’s discomfort and unease over the fascination posed by a simulated

reality that existed in a non-physical and thus spectacle world. A more overt example of this trend is

observed in George Orwell’s novel ‘1984’. Nineteen Eighty-Four was published in 1949 at this same

period of suspicion of technology and was fascinated by the official deception, manipulation and

secret surveillance through technology in service to a totalitarian political agenda. A more recent

text dealing with this issue as popularised through its depiction on cinema is the novel “The Hunger

Games.” 2 Its protagonist, Katniss Everdeen competes in the notorious ‘Hunger Games’ a spectacle of

death devised to control the citizens and provide entertainment. Miniature cameras monitor every

contestant’s movement and provide real-time entertainment to the watchers thus providing an

engaging spectacle as a kind of reality TV show which is all too prevalent in our own society.

“The salamander devours his tail.”

2 ‘The Hunger Games’ was written by Amy Collins. The novel is set in a futuristic society which is

divided into districts. Every year, each district must provide a boy and girl between fourteen and twenty-one to

compete in the ‘Hunger Games,’ a spectacle of death where the victor is the person who survives the

bloodbath.


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The bourgeoisie in ‘Fahrenheit 451’ is hidden from the ordinary proletariat, behind its agents, the

firemen. The facelessness of 'government’ in Fahrenheit 451, emphasises the distance between

bourgeoisie and the proletariat and focuses the tension between the people - as individual members

are chosen to reinforce the status quo and dominant ideology of the state. In the novel, these

individuals are the firemen who are used as an overt “repressive structure3.” The firemen are used

as a method of control by supporting and disseminating the ideology of the dominant class. In the

context of Fahrenheit 451, the term ‘ideology’ 4refers to the idea that “books are nothing” and that

materialism is everything. The firemen are used to incite fear in the ordinary citizen of their power to

burn literature and punish as well as to spread the irrational belief that books are subversive and in

some way evil.

However, the ideology perpetuated by the firemen also serves to interpellate5 them into the power

structure as they ‘believe what they preach.’ Althusser explains interpellation as causing the

transformation of the individual into a subject by way of his acceptance and compliance with the

ideology. Captain Beatty is a clear example of this phenomenon, as having “read a few (books)” in

his time, he uses his knowledge of literature to deliberately re-enforce the belief that books are

useless and of no value not simply to the general public but especially in the proselytising of this

ideology to his own fire fighting team. Beatty’s zeal in his support of the ideology is displayed in his

visiting Montag when he was ‘sick’ and enthusiastically explains that the firemen were the

“custodians of the peace” that “books say nothing.” Beatty’s misguided nature is evident in his

apparent belief in the ideology he had been interpellated to serve and believe in his role as fireman.

The firemen of Fahrenheit 451 also control their own society through the destruction of language

and knowledge itself directly through the burning of the books, and also by the breaking down of

school into little more than a babysitting centre. Control of language, means control of the people.

Beatty, Montag’s boss and antithesis, comments to a woman whose house he is about to burn due

to her keeping of a private library, “You’ve been locked up…with a regular tower of Babel.” This

allusion to the Bible story serves to point out that if literature is a tower of Babel, its destruction

represents the destruction of diversity and thus the threat of plurality and by consequence, the

possibility of expanding choice and the ensuing potential to spark rebellion in the oppressed people

in Fahrenheit 451.

3 Louis Althusser (1918-1900), a famous modern French, Marxist theorist describes the overt forms of

repression in a class based society as “State Repressive Structures.” Traditionally, these were represented by

prisons, police and armies to control by sheer force and fear.

4 In this Marxist discourse, Althusser hypothesised that there was a material existence of an ideology

intrinsically bound within the control structures of the society. Thus individuals act based on ‘material

relations.’

5 Interpellation a process coined by Althusser which disguises the more traditional forms of overt

domination by incorporates individuals into the power structure. Interpellation ‘recruits’ subjects from

individuals by having an ideology which ‘hails’ the individual.


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“Mirror Factories”

“Take a long look in them”

Fahrenheit 451 is a distorted reflection of the fears of American society in the 1950s. Bradbury wrote

the novel as a prediction of events which could take place in the future, in order for own society to

examine the ‘reflection’ in the mirror represented by the narrative and thus learn from it. Today, we

are able to look at the ‘mirror’ Bradbury constructed for his society and learn from it once again thus

exemplifying the “mirror factories” which Bradbury uses as a metaphor for society in Fahrenheit 451.

From the ‘social mirror’ in the novel, we are able to get a good idea of Bradbury’s depiction of

capitalism and the ideologies of its society.

By “subjecting individuals to the political State6 ideology,” through the “communication apparatus”

of the “press, the radio and television” and of course, the schools, interpellation is observed once

again. This unassuming yet highly effective form of control exists under the umbrella description of

‘State power ideological apparatuses’ which use societal apparatuses to disseminate the ideology.

The schools of Fahrenheit 451 have desecrated the word ‘intellectual’ to a “dirty word.” As described

by Beatty, the schools are “turning out more runners, jumpers…tinkerers… and swimmers instead of

examiners, critics, knowers and imaginative creators.” The absence of the intellectual in society

points to the fact that the majority of the population have been deceived from an increasingly young

and thus impressionable age as the “kindergarten age” has been lowered “year after year” until the

firemen are “literally snatching them (the children) from the cradle.”

The truth of the functioning of school as a propagation of State ideology to the children is confirmed

by Beatty’s comment to Montag, “The home environment can undo a lot you try to do at school.” It

is clear he is referring to Clarisse in her “family feeding her subconscious” which allowed her to ask

the feared question, “why?” Without the oppression of school to hamper the child’s mind into being

moulded into an ideology supported by the dominant class, Clarisse is able to form her own

individuality as separate to the rest of her society. A far more subversive way of interpellating the

individual into the ideology of its society while also numbing them and providing an effective control

structure is through the “press, radio and television.”

In explaining how power is maintained in Capitalist society, Althusser explains that the use of

‘repressive structures’ such as the firemen in Fahrenheit 451 and their use of fire to destroy

literature, incite fear in the populace, rendering them docile through the intermittent display of

force that reminds them of the potential danger of challenging the state. In Fahrenheit 451, the

omnipresent mass media is disseminated throughout society by the ever-present radio, television

and advertisements which flood the people’s every waking moment. Montag describes the radio

and TV in his house as a physical presence, an “electronic ocean of sound.” This constant flood

numbs the person, stripping away any sense of individuality and enforcing the ideology by

repetition. Mildred, Montag’s “sickly…wife”, has her Seashells “stuffed in her ears” constantly,

providing a barrage of media directly to her consciousness. Her request to Montag to have a “fourth

6 In the context of Fahrenheit 451, the “State” refers to a force of repressive execution and

intervention as represented by the agents of the bourgeoisie, the firemen. However, the firemen are not the

‘State’, but function instead as a ‘State repressive apparatus’.


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wall-TV put in” on the basis that it is “only two thousand dollars,” exemplifies the consumption

driven society and its habituated citizens whose only escape from the intrusive onslaught is to in

effect divorce themselves voluntarily from reality so that they may submerge themselves in the

artificial world of “non-combustible data”. Thus crammed “damned full of facts,” the individual will

“feel like they’re thinking”, deceived into believing that they have free thought when in fact their

thoughts are being regulated by the media input. Bradbury's imagined society is uncanny as insight

into our own society with its increasing information barrage and the resultant 'noise'.

“The dead beast, the living beast”

In the Marxist discourse, the role of technology is usually relegated to a role as the perpetrator of

‘working class misery’ where the increase in the efficiency of machinery in factories causes the

worker to become more and more an ‘appendage of a machine” and thus becomes alienated.

However, Fahrenheit 451 focuses primarily on the role of technology within the context of the

repressive mechanisms and reflects Bradbury’s personal dislike of technology which birthed a highly

sinister piece of advanced technology in the novel.

The Mechanical Hound is the ultimate repressive device able to perform surveillance, incite fear and

track down and kill as a “good rifle that can fetch its own target”. Its otherworldliness and almost

supernatural power is conveyed in how it “slept but did not sleep, lived but did not live.” Its growl is

a “rasping combination of electrical sizzle…a turning of cogs…ancient with suspicion.” These

picturesque descriptions paint an image of ‘technology out of control’ which could almost live,

“dream”, “like and dislike’. The Hound is Bradbury’s manifestation of the fears of the 1950’s in terms

of technology that is out of control, threatening and dangerous. This idea of technology which is

deeply sinister and dangerous is echoed in the movie industry of the 1950s which saw the birth of

cult science fiction films such as ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still.” The robot ‘Gort’ in the movie is a

huge monster that ravages the Earth, kidnapping people and destroying Earth with its powerful

super laser. ‘Gort’ is almost supernaturally portrayed closely paralleling the Hound’s power and

advanced technology.

The Mechanical Hound serves a dual purpose in the text with its first and main purpose being to

provide a spectacle for the people in society. The spectacle of death historically has been one which

keeps citizens pacified and perhaps, ideologically anesthetised and through technology, the mass

media represents its next logical development as it transforms all society into theatre. Bradbury

expands on this power of spectacle in the “chase” of Montag in his description of the 'special' hound

that has been brought in to track his target. His gripping description through the commentator's

excited description of how the Hound “never fails” and will “always find its target,” heightens the

suspense of the chase and the eventual kill hence creating an exciting spectacle for the citizens. The

second, less overt purpose of the Hound is far more sinister. The Firemen, due to their role as the

‘book-burners’, logically have the most contact with the literature they destroy and therefore are

most likely to acquire an “itch” to read a book. Thus the firemen represent the greatest potential

threat to the state and therefore in need of a specific method of surveillance and control to monitor

them, hence the Mechanical Hound. This “incredible invention” serves as a testament to the

technological advancement of the invisible Dominant class in Fahrenheit 451, and as Montag

gradually realises, to monitor the daily life and repress any stirring embers of rebellion amongst the

Firemen. However, the Mechanical Hound is clearly selective in its observation of firemen as threats


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and does not seem to distinguish the firemen who disobey and read literature between the ones

who have or do. In fact, it follows the direct orders of Captain Beatty, a fireman who is in no way

perfect, having read much literature in his time as fireman.

“These men were all mirror images of himself”

Captain Beatty is in many ways Montag’s antithesis. Beatty has an in-depth knowledge of literature

which rivals that of the men in hiding who memorise books. He confidently recites “Shakespeare,”

and famous lines from history with ease both to Montag and to the other firemen in his unit. It is

clear then that like Montag, Beatty has read much literature but unlike his fellow fireman, Beatty

uses his knowledge to oppress and is effortlessly interpellated as explained above. The immolation

of Beatty at the hands of Montag when Montag realises that he had “burned wrong,” is a

destruction of his identity as a firemen which is intrinsically linked to the Dominant class and Montag

becomes free to escape and pursue his role as revolutionary. The faked “death” of Montag as a

televised spectacle seals the destruction of Montag’s firemen persona and Montag watches his

fireman identity’s death in the forest along with the Intelligentsia who rescued him.

Montag’s transformation from complacent fireman to confident revolutionary is ultimately the

result of his relationships with two women, his wife Mildred, and Clarisse McKellan. In his

transformation, Montag sheds his performativity, an aspect associated with the firemen and

‘rediscovers’ his childhood self. Montag’s bears two alternate personas. The opening scene where

the “minstrel man,” Montag, winks at his reflection in the mirror introduces this idea of doubleness.

It suggests that he wears this “fiery smile” as a “mask of happiness,” and that when that mask slips, a

more troubled persona emerges. This split in Montag’s being between the ‘firemen’ and the man

underneath is immediately recognised by Clarisse at their first meeting. Another character who

echoes Montag’s split persona is his wife, Mildred.

“The families in the walls”

Mildred is a deeply unhappy individual who projects a mask of happiness which covers “another

Mildred,” a “Mildred so deep inside, and so bothered…that the two women had never met.” Mildred

interacts with the “family” on the walls on a day to day basis and her part in the television play has

her acting out a role as “homemaker” – a role unavailable to her in reality. This interaction is

explained by Marx in his famous line, “Religion is the opiate of the people.” In the case of Mildred

and the society of ‘Fahrenheit 451’, the opiate which keeps them ideologically and intellectually

drugged and passive is the false interaction created between the individual and mass media.

However, mass media is unable to keep the citizens emotionally drugged and pathetically, Mildred

actually finds her life so unsupportable that she attempts to commit suicide but she covers this truth

with a mask of conformity.

Both Montag and Mildred despair due to the cultural substance which they are without. Mildred’s

attempt to commit suicide is because she is unable to find fulfilment in the “wall TVs” which she

uses in an attempt herself emotionally anesthetised. Montag’s reaction to the fact that “he was not

happy” is to become driven to resist and search for answers. Montag’s two selves are also reflected

in his body seemingly acting of its own accord when he “rips pages out of the books” without

thinking and himself “glanced down” to see what was happening. This phenomenon indicates a split


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between mind and body, between ideological imperatives as a fireman and the requirement to fill

the void within. This dissatisfaction is a testament to the ultimate failure of the use of mass media as

a repressive structure as it fails to meet the emotional needs of its viewers.

Clarisse, as a representation of all the things that have been lost in society and what Montag desires,

is the direct result of Bradbury’s love of nature, the natural order of things and his inherent hatred of

technology. She is contrasted sharply against the menacing Mechanical Hound and the wild youths,

brought up in a culture of consumerism and the overstimulation caused by technology which is a

growing concern in our own society. Clarisse is able to “laugh” and “smile” and is the embodiment of

both culture and childhood. In Montag’s flight and rebirth, he internalises the values that Clarisse

represents. By crossing the river to travel to forest, Montag symbolically washes away the “mask of

happiness” that had been his cover for his entire life and comes into a territory of memory,

childhood and fantasy. Childhood as represented by Clarisse as the only true child, is a Utopian state

which is absent from the dystopian society.

Montag’s reacquisition of childlike qualities of trust, memories and friendships, is only possible after

the destruction of his original identity as a firemen and finally his alternate persona is able to shine

out among the members of the Intelligentsia. In this way, Montag is able to discover his individual

identity as had Clarisse and so breaks away from the bonds inflicted by the propagation of mass

media which causes a de-individualisation in his society. His new identity disconnected from his role

as firemen is reflected in his perceiving of fire as “not burning” but “warming” and his revelation that

“he hadn’t known fire could look (that) way.” To him, the “fire was different.”

“Fire is bright, fire is clean”

Fire, being the chosen agent of control by the dominant class is utilised for its efficiency – “fire is

bright and fire is clean” as well as for the sense of power which it imparts on its user. Montag, feels

“pleasure” as he holds the “great python spitting its venomous kerosene on the world.” The

metaphor of the great python is a clear allusion to the destructive power of fire. Montag begins in

the narrative as a content individual in his job as a fireman describing it as a “pleasure to burn.”

However, he goes on a journey typical of the burgeoning revolutionary. His first reaction to meeting

Clarisse’s highly individual and inquisitive nature is to comment “You think too many things,”

demonstrating the brainwashing and conditioning that has been imposed on him to halt thought.

The continued effect of Clarisse’s insistent questions causes him realise that “he was not happy” and

thus he breaks out of the comfortable and complacent existence that is held by the majority of the

population and attains ‘class consciousness’7. This class consciousness for Montag is a realisation of

that the ideology “books mean nothing” is in reality a lie and also refers to his comprehension of the

control which had been placed around him since infancy through the media, schools and firemen

doctrine. This comprehension is manifested following his reading of literature and the stimulation of

his mind by Clarisse’s intellect. Montag’s journey from acceptance of his role as an agent of the

dominant class, to a revolutionary is typical of the Marxist model where the oppressed become

7 ‘Class Consciousness’ is a term used to describe the awareness of their predicament that the

proletariat eventually attains after periods of oppression by the bourgeoisie.


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dissatisfied with the control being imposed on them and thus find the will to revolt, however, his

initial attempts to revolt are “clumsy” and hesitant as he attempts to “plant the books” in firemen’s

houses to frame them.

It is interesting to note the kinds of literature and authors Bradbury chooses to mention throughout

the novel. The book which Montag has ‘memorised’ at the end of the novel is Ecclesiastes from the

Christian Bible. A key passage from Ecclesiastes explains how ‘all things’ “Go to one place; all are

from the dust, and all turn to dust again.” (Ecclesiastes 3:20-21) This passage reflects key Marxist ideas

of the necessity of the destruction of a society before a new one can emerge as well as portraying

Montag’s previous sense of futility in life which forces him to seek meaning and conversely causes

Mildred to attempt suicide. Bradbury also mentions many famous individuals and authors as told by

Granger including, “Mahatma Ghandi, Gautama Buddha, Confucius…and Mr Lincoln.” These

individuals were all revolutionaries in their time whether in practice or in thinking and impacted on

their respective societies for the better thus reflecting the positive effect of the single revolutionary

as represented by Montag. It is ironic that immediately following Montag’s realization of his identity;

his entire society is destroyed thus rendering his revolutionary attitudes useless.

“Books aren’t real”

Montag’s search for knowledge and answers leads him to Faber8. Faber is a representation of the

aged citizen crucial in the explanation of the past while Montag is the young proletariat

revolutionary, eager to bring down the firemen and change society. Bradbury describes their

relationship as “fire plus water” which when left would turn into “wine.” This colourful description is

echoed by Montag’s comment that he had become “two people,” “Montag-plus-Faber.” Montag and

Faber are linked through a high tech listening and transmitting device which looks like a “Seashell

radio.” The device allows Montag to be the “drone, the travelling ear” while Faber can sit back

“listening and evaluating.” This system allows Montag to become more confident and sure of his

ways and is even “comforting” to him.

The bourgeoisie’s abhorrence and fear of books, hence their careful control methods are a

manifestation of a symbolic breaking-away from a “liberal humanist civilization” to a highly

controlled ‘Firemen-state’. Books pose a danger to this society because their “high culture” is a

means whereby mass media and state control can be opposed and thus provide the ‘spark of

revolution’. To read a book, in their society, is to express individuality and moral action. Books are

actually humanized in the book with them actually taking human form as memories at the end of the

narrative. It is no surprise that Bradbury describes Montag as “a book-burner who suddenly

discovers that books are flesh-and-blood ideas and cry out, silently, when put to the torch.”

Bradbury’s belief that books contain material ideas which are central to the human experience and

human culture is a testament to the horror of the loss of books and thus the loss of ethical

knowledge which can produce stable and communicative communities. The society of Fahrenheit

8 In ‘Fahrenheit 451’ Faber is an intellectual, a lover of literature and once a keen teacher of English.

Following the diminishing of school into little more than a babysitting centre and the word “intellectual”

becoming the “dirty word” in society, Faber was forced to put up a pretence of the acceptance of his dystopic

society in order to stay alive and avoid the “mental institutions.”.


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451 is without this direction and thus bears no ethical base, hence Beatty’s phrase “Bring on your

clubs and parties…your sex and heroin.” Thus, society is organised solely through culturally

reinforced habit as portrayed often inaccurately on the wall TVs. Montag must therefore

reconstitute his moral and authentic self as he distances himself from society.

“From the ashes…Born over again.”

A key Marxist concept is the wasteful necessity of the complete destruction of society before a new

society can develop. This idea is reflected in Marx’s model of history where feudalism gives way to

capitalism which gives way to socialism and eventually communism. It is interesting to note that the

complete removal of the previous economic structure is required before the new one can be

implemented. In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury uses the metaphor of a phoenix to illustrate this very

idea. The phoenix as explained by Granger, the leader of the Intelligentsia was a “silly damn bird”

who “every few hundred years…built a pyre and burnt himself up.” “But every time he burnt

himself…he got born again.” This cycle of destruction and rebirth closely parallels their own society

and Granger points out that they’re “doing the same thing over and over.” However, he hopes that

they will learn from all the “damn silly things” they had done for a thousand years and one day they

would eliminate war completely. At the end of the text, Montag and his other fellow “Books” so to

speak, set off towards the ruins to rebuild society.

Montag as the ‘spark of revolution’ represents the triumph of individuality as portrayed by Bradbury

and in the end of the novel “Granger nodded him on” to take the lead as they walk towards the ruins

of their society thus completing the circle of Montag once being the ‘student’ to Faber and finally

becoming a ‘leader.’ It is ironic to note that following Montag’s gaining of his identity; he must

relinquish a portion of it in order to be subsumed into the group of Intelligentsia and thus becomes

nothing more than “dust-jackets for books,” much like the other men.

As Montag walks, he recalls a passage from Revelations, the conclusion of the Bible; “…there was a

tree of life, which…yielded her fruit every month; And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of

the nations.” Bradbury conveys Nature as symbolised in microcosm by the “tree of life” and

Literature as symbolised by the “leaves…for the healing of the nations,” as the panacea of all ills and

the essential foundation of any society.


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Bibliography Baker, Brian, Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451,

http://www.scribd.com/doc/86591732/37/Ray-Bradbury-Fahrenheit-451 Barry, Peter (2002). Barry, Peter (2002), Beginning Theory; An introduction to literary and cultural theory. 2nd ed. Manchester University Press. p156-171 (Marxism). Nguyen, C Interpellation The University of Chicago, http://csmt.uchicago.edu/glossary2004/interpellation.htm McCaw, Neil (2002). How to Read Texts, A Student Guide to Critical Approaches and Skills . Cromwell Press Ltd. p42-44, 91-92. (Author unknown) About Ray Bradbury (2001) HarperCollinsPublishers, http://www.raybradbury.com/chrono.html (Collaborative authors) Manifesto of the Communist Party MIA (Marxists Internet Archive) http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch01.htm#007 (Author unknown) Marxism ©2012 Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc, All Rights Reserved

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/367344/Marxism

(Collaborative authors) Marxism (2001) Wikimedia Foundation, Inc,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxism

(Collaborative authors) Ray Bradbury (2001) Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Bradbury (Collaborative authors) Relation of Wage-Labour to Capital MIA (Marxists Internet Archive), http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/wage-labour/ch06.htm

(Author unknown) What is Marxism Copyright © 2002 - 2012 AllAboutPhilosophy.org, All Rights

Reserved http://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/what-is-marxism-faq.htm

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9192Fahrenheit 451 - A Marxist criticism