where the honey is full of poison wildness, of insanity and nightmare..." and later to "a moth in the raw light, finding, holding its victim, inserting the needle..." Even in it's actual description the hound sounds like a giant spider: "[T]he Hound had sunk back down upon its eight incredible insect legs."

Montag's world extends beyond the dangerous, insect-ridden firehouse to a cold and dark home life. When Montag comes home after his first interaction with Clarisse, he walks into his home and compares it immediately to a "mausoleum after the moon had set." He goes on with a vivid description of his home:

"Complete darkness, not a hint of the silver world outside, the windows tightly shut, the chamber a tomb-world where no sound from the great city could penetrate."

Bradbury then continues with the insect imagery by comparing the music coming from his wife's Seashells (what we would call earbuds) being called "mosquito-delicate" with an "electrical murmur of a hidden wasp snug in its special pink warm nest."

Meanwhile, the world Clarisse shows Montag is beautiful and slow. Twice in the chapter, Montag compares his wife to a praying mantis, but in this chapter, he says Clarisse's face is like that of a clock in the middle of the night:

"[Y]ou waken to see the time and see the clock telling you the hour and the minute and the second, with a white silence and a glowing, all certainty and knowing what it has to tell of the night wiftly on toward further darknesses but moving also toward a new sun."

In addition, Clarisse provides several strong images to Montag at the beginning of the book that contrasts the insect-filled, fast world. She tells him that "there's dew on the grass in the morning" and "...if you look ... there's a man in the moon."

Bradbury provides all of these images as a way to provide contrasts between the two worlds and to indicate that the world run by the firemen is a cold, fast, insect- and serpent-filled one, while the world of books is slow and timeless.

Some more striking imagery is illustrated in descriptions of Clarisse. She is the first person to provoke new thoughts in Montag. This enables him to question why and how she thinks differently but more significantly, she gets him to question himself. As such, he literally and figuratively (hence the following imagery) begins to see himself differently in her eyes: 

He saw himself in her eyes, suspended in two shining drops of bright water, himself dark and tiny, in fine detail, the lines about his mouth, everything there, as if her eyes were two miraculous bits of violet amber that might capture and hold him intact. 

How like a mirror, too, her face. Impossible; for how many people did you know that refracted your own light to you? 

Given these images and those that follow (of Montag's home), note the sharp contrast between Montag's vivid descriptions of Clarisse and the dark, sterile descriptions of his home with Mildred. After his conversation with Clarisse, Montag is ruminating on the question of whether or not he is happy. Montag, still with the question in mind, must be aware of this transition from his thought-provoking discussion with Clarisse to his entrance into his boring routine of life. Entering his house, he describes his home like a tomb: 

It was like coming into the cold marbled room of a mausoleum after the moon had set. Complete darkness, not a hint of the silver world outside, the windows tightly shut, the chamber a tomb world where no sound from the great city should penetrate. 

An excellent example of imagery comes right at the start of the novel, which shows how content and proud Montag is of his job burning books. His love of burning, which has been instilled by years of indoctrination, appears in the connections his mind makes:

With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world, the blood pounded in his head, and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history.
(Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451, Google Books)

The imagery in that sentence includes the "great python" of the kerosene hose, which feels alive because of the pressure inside and "spits venom" into the house; venom is harmful, and so is kerosene. Montag's hands, which recur throughout the novel as almost a separate character, are shown as "the hands of some amazing conductor," playing music of destruction instead of creativity. These images show the power of Montag's job, the animal connotations which also recur throughout, and the way destruction is glorified in this future society.

Auditory, gustatory, and tactile imagery has to do with the human senses of sound, taste, and touch. In part one of Fahrenheit 451, there are many examples of these images. First, examples of auditory imagery can be found in the smallest of details as Montag burns books or listens to cues around him. For instance, the sound of burning books is compared to birds' wings and described as "the flapping pigeon-winged books died on the porch" (3). Another auditory image is found when Montag describes Clarisse:

"Her dress was white and it whispered. He almost thought he heard the motion of her hands as she walked, and the infinitely small sound now, the white stir of her face turning when she discovered she was a moment away from a man who stood in the middle of the pavement waiting" (5).

The words "white stir" seem to connect to what we also call "white noise." White noise is the sound one hears when a TV screen turns to snow and nothing is being broadcast. Bradbury also mixes auditory and visual images to create an interesting scene that describes the quiet movements of the girl and her clothing.

Next, examples of gustatory imagery (the sense of taste) are found when machines are brought in by medical personnel to pump Mildred's stomach. The machines are compared to a black cobra that eats up all of the toxins from her stomach and digests it in a huge, belly-like container. The Gustatory images are as follows:

"It drank up the green matter the flowed to the top in a slow boil. Did it drink of the darkness? Did it suck out all the poisons accumulated with the years? It fed in silence with an occasional sound of inner suffocation and blind searching" (14).

Even though the verbs used above don't identify a particular taste, they do show the action of tasting, eating, and drinking, which are all gustatory actions. One can easily imagine that food this machine is eating would not be very tasty in any way.

Finally, the tactile images, which refer to the sense of touch, can be found in many different passages throughout the story. Here is one example as Montag enters his bedroom after his shift ends and where his wife is sleeping:

"It was like coming into a cold marbled room of a mausoleum after the moon has set" (11).

Another example of a tactile image is when Montag's foot accidentally kicks his wife's sleeping pill bottle in the middle of the night:

"An instant before his foot hit the object on the floor he knew he would hit such an object. It was not unlike the feeling he had experienced before turning the corner and almost knocking the girl down. His foot, sending vibrations ahead, received back echoes of the small barrier across its path even as the foot swung. His foot kicked. The object gave a dull clink and slid off in darkness" (13).

In the passage above, the combining of auditory with tactile imagery helps to solidify the objective of the darkened scene as Montag enters his bedroom at night. Visual images are thus limited because the character does not have light as a reference; therefore, sounds and the sense of touch are needed to decipher what is going on around him in the darkness.

The duality of fire is extremely prominent all throughout Ray Bradbury's eerie dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451. Even the title of Part 1 ("The Hearth and the Salamander") is a nod to this duality. Fire can burn, but it can also warm. It can destroy, but it can also create. It is because of the complexity of fire itself that the lines are sometimes blurred between whether or not someone like Captain Beatty is truly a villain or not.

However, in Part 1, the imagery of fire is used mostly to illustrate how quickly the propaganda regarding censorship has spread, just like fire. Guy Montag, the protagonist, believes that it is a "pleasure" to burn and even remarks that all of the book-burning happens at night because it creates more of a "spectacle."

One of literature's best opening lines is Bradbury's: "It was a pleasure to burn." Those words capture the interest of the reader by pure shock value. As the opening paragraph continues, Bradbury paints a picture of the firehose as a snake and Montag's hands as "some amazing conductor." The metaphors continue with "swarms of fireflies" and "pigeon-winged books."

Bradbury's use of ironic imagery creates a sense of realism to a skeptical reader. Most people view fire with a healthy respect for its power or as a symbol of comfort and warmth. Bradbury eliminates both, making fire something controlled by an authority and used to destroy. (Bradbury references this in the third part of the book when Montag observes the fire of the book-men was not burning, but was warming.)

By turning the common view of fire upside-down, Bradbury begins to show readers how censorship turns the common view of books upside-down. To Bradbury, books are important keepers of information, of philosophy, and of culture. Condemning books based on transitory emotions is no more logical than believing fire can be controlled.

In Part 1, when the firemen go to burn down the old woman's house, she says, "Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out." This quote reportedly comes from Hugh Latimer, a martyr in 16th Century England. Under the orders of Queen Mary, Latimer, along with Master Ridley, was burned at the stake after refusing to pledge loyalty to the pope and the Roman Catholic Church.

This historical allusion relates to the idea that through her martyrdom, the woman could provide a light for those who did not believe in the firemen's way of being. In fact, Montag somewhat confirms her hopes when, later in the chapter, says, "[M]en like Beatty are afraid of her. I can't understand it. Why should they be so afraid of someone like her?"

In addition, her martyrdom inspires Montag to steal a book from her home. While the reader later finds out he's stolen many books, he hasn't read any of them. Instead, he has hidden them away in his walls. However, the old woman's martyrdom in the name of her books inspires Montag to actually sit and start reading them.

The passage he reads at the end is another allusion, this one from Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels: "It is computed that eleven thousand persons have at several times suffered death rather than submit to break eggs at the smaller end." Again, like the woman who quoted Latimer, this passage reinforces the idea that dying for something is worthwhile. 

Bradbury depicts books burning in the opening scene of the novel and describes Montag's reaction to setting books on fire, writing,

It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed. With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world, the blood pounded in his head, and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history. (Bradbury, 1)

Bradbury's opening lines are full of captivating imagery depicting Montag burning books. Montag's hose, which sprays kerosene, is depicted as a "great python" that blackens everything, while he acts as the conductor of a flaming orchestra. Bradbury continues to depict the image of burning books by writing,

flapping pigeon-winged books died on the porch and lawn of the house. While the books went up in sparkling whirls and blew away on a wind turned dark with burning. (Bradbury, 1)

Montag's reaction to burning books at the beginning of the story is rather pleasant and joyful. As a callous, ignorant fireman, he takes pleasure in burning novels. As the story progresses, Montag meets his charismatic, insightful neighbor, who influences him to dramatically change the trajectory of his life. Montag begins to analyze his life and wants to quit his job as a fireman.

In part three of the novel, Captain Beatty instructs Montag to set his home on fire and orders him to burn his book collection. As Montag aims his flamethrower at the books, Bradbury writes,

The books leapt and danced like roasted birds, their wings ablaze with red and yellow feathers. (54)

After Montag burns his home and book collection, he aims the flamethrower at Captain Beatty and pulls the trigger. Bradbury describes Captain Beatty's body ablaze by writing,

And then he was a shrieking blaze, a jumping, sprawling, gibbering mannikin, no longer human or known, all writhing flame on the lawn as Montag shot one continuous pulse of liquid fire on him. There was a hiss like a great mouthful of spittle banging a redhot stove, a bubbling and frothing as if salt had been poured over a monstrous black snail to cause a terrible liquefaction and a boiling over of yellow foam [. . .] Beatty flopped over and over and over, and at last twisted in on himself like a charred wax doll and lay silent. (55)

In Fahrenheit 451, "burning" takes on literal and figurative meaning. Here is an example from Part 3 of the novel:

He burnt the bedroom walls and the cosmetics chest because he wanted to change everything. . . everything that showed that he had lived here in this empty house with a strange woman who would forget him tomorrow.

Here, Montag gladly sets fire to his own home because he is fed up with the government's control over the lives of people. Montag decides not to run and to do the "clean-up" of his own home. He wants to destroy the house because it represents the "empty" life he has lived there with Mildred, who is more content to listen to the radio and watch television shows than she is to have a relationship with Montag. For Montag, the burning is a release and a chance to start over. Beatty arrests Montag after this event, so the burning is a signal to all that Montag has been caught in possession of books, but for Montag, the burning is a step towards his intellectual freedom.

Ray Bradbury uses imagery throughout Fahrenheit 451. In the early part of the novel, there are many instances where several senses are combined in a sentence or paragraph. Page numbers vary among different editions. While he evokes all five senses, visual imagery is dominant, and sound is also common. Light and dark contrasts frequently appear. Bradbury sometimes combines the senses, using the literary device of synesthesia.

The paragraph beginning with “He walked out of the fire station” uses visual, auditory, and tactile imagery. The reader sees Montag walking along the very dark or “midnight street,” and the silence is emphasized in “the silent air-propelled train slid soundlessly.” The next part of that sentence uses tactile imagery, referring to “lubrication” and the “warm air” he feels upon moving up through the station.

The next few paragraphs continue to evoke the sense of touch in reference to the air, along with the visual qualities of the starry night and the sounds he makes or hears—or imagines he might hear. “Whistling” as he is wafted up, Montag

slowed as if a wind had sprung up from nowhere, as if someone had called his name.

In the next few paragraphs, as he grows increasingly apprehensive that someone might be nearby, the imagery has multiple sensory dimensions. In the starlit night, he feels like a waiting person might have

simply turned into a shadow. Perhaps his nose detected a faint perfume, perhaps the skin on the backs of his hands, on his face, felt the temperature rise.

After he turns the corner, he encounters the girl who turns out to be Clarisse. The paragraph beginning with “The autumn leaves” is a long description of Montag’s first impression of her. Whiteness and paleness are emphasized, in her face and dress, and contrasted to her dark eyes.

Her face was slender and milk-white, and in it. … was a look, almost, of pale surprise; the dark eyes were so fixed on the world.

Whiteness is combined with sound and assigned to motion.

Her dress was white and it whispered. He almost thought he heard the motion of her hands as she walked, and the infinitely small sound now, the white stir of her face turning.

Whiteness and light become more prominent, as Clarisse continues to impress Montag and prompts a memory of candlelight during a power failure. The paragraph beginning “He saw himself in her eyes” has references to “the soft and constant light” from her “fragile milk crystal” face, which he realizes is

the strangely comfortable and rare and gently flattering light of the candle.

After their conversation concludes, as the neighbors reach their respective homes, Montag enters his house and goes into the tomblike bedroom. In “the cold marbled room,” it seems as if the moon has set.

Complete darkness, not a hint of the silver world outside.

Several paragraphs below, the candle image returns but, this time, as if extinguished when he stops smiling:

A fantastic candle burning too long and now collapsing and now blown out. Darkness.

One of the most notable aspects of this excellent dystopian classic is the way that allusions populate its pages. This of course highlights the irony of this future society that has done away with literature and books, as the constant allusions only serve to reinforce the cultural void that lies at its very heart, and that cannot be filled by the facile media programmes that Montag's wife and her friends are so enamoured with.

One poetic quotation early on about burning comes when the woman hiding books chooses to burn with her collection rather than live. She says:

Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.

This quote is highly significant as it was said by Hugh Latimer who chose to be burnt at the stake rather than compromise on his religious beliefs. What is key about this quote about burning is the way that, just as Latimer's death became a candle of hope and light for others, so the woman's death becomes a candle of change, as it begins the process of transformation within Montag that leads him to rebel against society.

This is one major allusion to do with burning. Others involve alluding to the Greek myth of Icarus, who flew to close to the sun which resulted in his wings being burnt and his death.