In the opening scene of the novel, Bradbury likens a fire hose to a "great python" that is spitting "venomous kerosene" while Montag burns someone's illegal book collection. Later on, the image of an "orange snake" is sewn onto the sleeve of Captain Beatty's uniform. In both instances, snakes are associated with the destructive, malevolent fireman institution, which censors literature by burning books. Therefore, the snakes in both examples symbolically represent the destructive nature of the fireman institution in Bradbury's dystopian society, which is a debased, harmful organization on a sinister mission.

Montag also compares a "black cobra" to the machine that the two callous medical technicians use to pump Mildred's stomach. The image of a venomous snake symbolically represents the dangers of technology and relates to how advanced technologies completely consume the culture of Bradbury's dystopian society. The "black cobra" leaves Mildred's stomach empty and replaces the blood in her veins, which symbolically represents the dependence and overconsumption of technology by citizens living in the dystopian society.