The Burning Cycle

Author’s Note: This is my summative piece for the book Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. One of the things that I noticed as I was looking back at my notes after reading the book was how many times fire was used as a symbol. I saw a trend that throughout the novel there was a progression of how Montag viewed fire. Though I didn't initially see it when I was reading the book, there was a whole other meaning to fire throughout the novel that really intrigued me. I began to fire as cycle of destroying and rebuilding, and I also saw how it was necessary to experience both ends of the cycle.

Fire is contagious. It devours and destroys; within a matter of minutes it can turn years of work into ashes. It is ruthless and heartless until it is extinguished. We burn to rid the world of what is old and to make it new. Though it is perceived that fire should be feared, there is a whole other side to it to which we are drawn. This side brings us together; it shows us that there is pleasant atmosphere surrounding a little fire. Fire provides warmth for us when the world has none to offer, and allows us to gather around it in our times of need. Without the fearful side though, there would be no enjoyment in fire. Fire is a cycle of destruction and rebuilding, and we must experience the burning, the loss, and the sorrow to rise with hope from the ashes.

"It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed." (p 33) When the story began Montag's thoughts toward fire were that it was essential for destruction, and through that brought peace in the world. He saw fire like a roaring lion, just waiting to devour whatever was in its path for its own pleasure. Montag channeled his emotions into the fire, and used it as a cover up. Fire was a source of control through destruction. If you controlled the fire, you had all the power to either protect things or burn them, and everything was in your hands. The government clearly used fire in the same why. They did not want the people to have access to certain things -- books and other ideas -- that would provoke them to revolt, so the government burned to cover up and control the people.

There is a certain type of burning that reflects this part of the story; it is called a controlled burn. Present day firefighters use it to burn down prairies or large fields when they become overgrown. It is nothing wild and spontaneous like forest fires, it is more of a completely calm and well thought out, manipulative way to contain an area of land. Much like in the story, when the people of the city became overgrown and almost independent, the government used a controlled burn to destroy their hope of growing any further.

With this type of fire, though, the plants are not completely demolished. The visual part of them is burned, but there are always roots left underneath the soil that remain untouched. In time, the roots grow to be the same magnificent flowers they were before. But when they start to go their own way again, they get burned to their roots.

As we clearly see, it's a cycle. We always return to where we started. Destroy and rebuild, destroy and rebuild; we are creatures of habit, and it takes all the strength we have to turn away from what people are flooding into our minds. We build ourselves up and think we can disobey and turn our own ways, only to be reminded through burning that there is still someone in control. Fire expresses to us that, as people, we long for some sort of control, while it also shows us that some things are far out of our control.

Throughout the novel, Montag's interpretation of fire progresses from a fearful, powerful element to a warm, living element. When, he ran from the controlled fire of the government after they discovered what he was so diligently trying to hide, he began to see fire in a different way. In his pursuit to escape, he plunged himself into the river, hoping to cleanse him of his past. The water purified him and he emerged different "He was moving from an unreality that was frightening into a reality that was unreal because it was new." (p 165) Montag had finally found the only source that would ultimately destroy fire itself: water. It's water that makes old things new, that cleanses the conscious, and that can defeat fire.

As he proceeded with his new found hope, he saw a fire in the distance, but it wasn't the same as the fires he'd seen before.

"That small motion, the white and red color, a strange fire because it meant a different thing to him. It was not burning, it was warming… He hadn't known fire could look this way. He had never thought in his life that it could give as well as take." (p 171)

Montag felt intrigued by the fire, he found it strange to see people just sitting and talking around it, and he realized that fire could be used for so much more. It could bring people together instead of always tearing them apart. It could provide warmth instead of cold heartedness. It could rebuild instead of destroy. Fire was continually rotating throughout a cycle of causes pain and peace.

There is a mythological creature called the phoenix that symbolizes this cycle of fire. When the phoenix's days are gone and it's ready to die, it goes up in flames. Through the ashes, the bird is reborn. It shows us that there is a hope in destruction, and it is necessary and crucial to experience both of ends of the spectrum -- the death and the rebirth. Without the bird dying, there would be nothing to look forward too. In the novel, things were burned, but through the ashes new things were made. In the end, when the city went up in a bomb, it did not trouble Montag because he knew that it was a cycle. It was a sign of hope that all of the evil in the city had been destroyed. Montag knew that it was just like the phoenix, the city would be reborn through the ashes and it would have a fresh start, a new beginning.

Though we experience destruction, we can see it in a different way, knowing that there is a cycle and after destruction must come rebuilding. The novel displays that fire is a cycle, but furthermore it shows that life is a cycle, and ultimately the human race is a cycle. I always wondered why we had History class if the events were done and over with, but the truth is we need to be educated about past failures in order to avoid making the same mistakes again. No one really cares about what happened long ago, but we do care about the present day and we care about educating ourselves so that history doesn't repeat itself. Throughout the past decade, it is evident that we have a hard time learning from our mistakes, though. The human race has gotten themselves into war after war, killing millions of families, only to get themselves into more trouble. But through all of this, in the end, there is an inexpressible joy that we can experience: seeing soldiers coming home. There is nothing like a family reuniting after being separating. There is nothing like the hope and peace that comes after a fire.