Discussion Topic
Meaning of "Ate Shadows for Breakfast" in Fahrenheit 451
Summary:
In Fahrenheit 451, Montag's comment about people "eating shadows for breakfast and steam for lunch and vapors for dinner" symbolizes the emptiness and illusionary nature of life in his society. This metaphor reflects how people, like Millie, live on insubstantial, unreal experiences, primarily through technology. As Montag escapes the city, he embraces a more authentic existence, akin to Clarisse's, where he can engage with nature and real community, contrasting with the superficiality of his past life.
In Fahrenheit 451, what does Montag's statement "they ate shadows for breakfast and steam for lunch and vapors for dinner" mean?
What Montag means when he says those things is that the people back in the "civilized" part of the country have no real lives. Their whole lives are illusions. This makes sense when you think about Millie's life, for example. The only things that really matter to her are the "family" inside the parlor walls. This is not real.
The line you mention shows this by using these images of things that are not real, that have no substance. Montag envisions these people eating things that can't be held, things that have no real physical presence: shadows, steam, and vapors. This is a metaphor for the unreality of what the people depend on. He is thinking that they are trying to live on things (like the families in the parlor walls) that have no real substance.
So, the whole point of this is that Montag is reflecting on how empty...
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and unreal the lives of the people in the cities are.
What does the phrase "going away from the people who ate shadows for breakfast and steam for lunch and vapors for dinner" mean in Fahrenheit 451?
The quote appears as a thought drifting through Montag's mind at the end of the novel as he floats on a river outside of the city.
He is contemplating the beginning of his new life. He has left behind the "shadows," "steam," and "vapor" of the view screens. These terms represent his old technologically driven existence in which almost everything he saw was a televised illusion. He follows this thought with the thought that:
The river was very real; it held him comfortably and gave him the time at last, the leisure, to consider this month, this year, and a lifetime of years. He listened to his heart slow.
As the false life he was leading fades, he is left with the kind of life Clarisse and her family lived at the beginning of the novel: close to nature, with real conversations, and with the chance to slow down and think. He will be able to read and share ideas in a real community. Solid material reality has taken over from the wispy shadows of the old society.
This quote demonstrates the emptiness of the people in Montag's society.
The “people who ate shadows for breakfast and steam for lunch and vapours for supper” are the people who Montag left behind. This quote demonstrates how Montag has begun to feel about his society since his exposure to the books.
After his murder of Beatty, Montag had to go on the run and used the river to escape from the mechanical hound. Since his pursuit was being filmed, the government found a scapegoat and the hound killed him. The man’s face was never seen, so even his closest friends would never know it wasn’t him.
Somewhere the saving and putting away had to begin again and someone had to do the saving and keeping, one way or another, in books, in records, in people's heads... (Part III)
Montag finds the people who save the books and joins them. When they see the city bombed, they realize they have to go back and recreate the society that was lost.