In the science fiction novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the literary device Faber uses when comparing himself to a queen bee and Montag to a drone is a metaphor. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a metaphor is
a figure of speech in which a word or phrase literally denoting one kind of object or idea is used in the place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them.
In this case, the relationship of a queen bee and a drone is symbolic of the relationship between Faber and Montag. It is not a precise metaphor, because it is worker bees, not drones, that fly outside the hive and gather nectar and pollen. However, Bradbury most likely intended a double meaning for the word drone : it is not only a type of bee that serves the queen, but also a type of surveillance device capable...
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of gathering information. At the time this novel was written, rudimentary drones were already in use by the military.
Faber has just confessed his cowardice to Montag and explained his need to stay safely behind walls, hidden from sight. Just as the queen bee stays safely within the hive and other bees go outside to do the work, Faber will remain at his home and gather the information that Montag, and hopefully others, will supply him by means of the tiny radios inserted in their ears. Faber tells Montag,
If the drones die, I'm still safe at home, tending my fright with a maximum of comfort and a minimum of chance.
However, Montag does not see Faber's cowardice as betrayal. Instead, he says, "We all do what we do." In having Montag say this, Bradbury is continuing the metaphor of bees in a hive. Each person in the resistance has a role to play, and not all of these roles will be the same, just as Faber has a different task to perform than Montag.
References
When Faber says he is the "Queen Bee, safe in the hive," he is using not one, but two metaphors. He means, first, that he will be buzzing advice into Montag's ear like a bee, but from the safety of his hive. The hive is thus the second metaphor, as he compares his home to a hive. Like a queen, he will be directing operations by talking into Montag's ear through the listening device he has devised. He compares Montag to a drone, a worker bee, because Montag will be the one out doing all the legwork. A darker implication might be that because Montag is taking all the risks, he might end up dead.
Calling Montag "the traveling ear" is an example of metonymy, a literary device in which a part stands for the whole. The most common example of this is calling a king "the crown," an example in which the item most identified with a ruler, his crown, is used to mean all of him. Montag's ear stands out to Faber as Montag's most important characteristic in this situation, so Faber uses it to mean all of Montag.
Faber, a former college professor, has a way with words, as we can see in this lively quote. In essence, he is communicating that because of the listening device, he and Montag will be closely connected and working together.