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(from []) =Fahrenheit 451 Allusions & Cultural References= When authors refer to other great works, people, and events, it’s usually not accidental. Put on your super-sleuth hat and figure out why.

Literature and Philosophy

 * Edna St. Vincent Millay (1.38)
 * Walt Whitman (1.38)
 * William Faulkner (1.38)
 * Alexander Smith, //Dreamthorp// (1.334)
 * Dante (1.530)
 * Jonathan Swift (1.530), //Gulliver’s Travels// (1.682, 3.335)
 * Marcus Aurelius (1.530)
 * Helen Bannerman, //Little Black Sambo// (1.530)
 * Harriet Beecher Stowe, //Uncle Tom’s Cabin// (1.530)
 * Samuel Johnson (2.2)
 * James Boswell (2.7)
 * Sophocles (2.181)
 * Aeschylus (2.202)
 * Shakespeare (2.46, 2.169, 2.329, 3.39), //Julius Caesar// (3.49), //Hamlet// (1.588)
 * Henry David Thoreau (2.55), Walden (3.444)
 * Luigi Pirandello (2.169)
 * George Bernard Shaw (2.169)
 * John Milton (2.181)
 * Eugene O’Neill (2.202)
 * The Chesire Cat, from Lewis Carroll’s //Alice in Wonderland// (2.245)
 * Matthew Arnold, //Dover Beach// (2.328-33)
 * Sir Philip Sydney (2.373)
 * Alexander Pope (2.373, 2.376)
 * Dr. Johnson (2.380)
 * Paul Valéry (2.382)
 * Thomas Hardy (3.314)
 * José Ortega Y Gasset (3.314)
 * Plato (2.46), //The Republic// (3.330, 3.332)
 * Arthur Schopenhauer (3.335)
 * Aristophanes (3.335)
 * Thomas Love Peacock (3.335)
 * Lord Byron (3.338)
 * Niccolò Machiavelli (3.338)

Historical Figures

 * Benjamin Franklin (1.311)
 * Hugh Latimer (1.325)
 * Thomas Jefferson (2.55, 3.335)
 * Marcus Aurelius (3.332)
 * Einstein (3.335)
 * Charles Darwin (3.335)
 * Abraham Lincoln (3.335)
 * Albert Schweitzer (3.335)
 * Confucius (3.335)
 * Thomas Paine (3.338)
 * Bertrand Russell (3.344)
 * The Magna Carta (3.353)
 * The Constitution of the Untied States (3.353)

Religious and Mythological References

 * Hercules and Antaeus (2.130)
 * Tower of Babel (1.349)
 * The Bible (2.42, 2.56, 2.186, 2.243)
 * Old and New Testaments (2.51)
 * Job and Ruth (2.329)
 * Book of Ecclesiastes (3.319, 3.388)
 * Book of Revelation (3.319, 3.388, 3.411)
 * Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (3.335)
 * Jesus Christ (3.338)
 * Mahatma Gandhi (3.335)
 * Gautama Buddha (3.335)

=Fahrenheit 451 Symbolism, Imagery & Allegory= Sometimes, there’s more to Lit than meets the eye.

Fire, Heat, Light
As you might expect from a novel about burning books, there’s a whole lot of fire in //Fahrenheit 451//. We’re not just talking about the burning houses, either. When people are angry, they’re burning with rage inside. When Montag senses Clarisse’s presence, it’s because he feels body heat. When Granger and Co. pick themselves up after the bombing, we get the image of a phoenix rising up from the ashes. This imagery is all over the place.

Fire seems to mean a lot of different things at different moments in //Fahrenheit 451//. Beatty and his fireman minions use it to destroy. But the woman whose house they burn interprets it another way: "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." For her, it represents strength. Montag himself discovers an alternative use for fire at the end of the novel, when he realizes that it can warm instead of destroy. Like that whole cycle of life thing, fire has a constructive and destructive half. And like the books that are burned, each character in the novel is forced to interpret for themselves and confront contradictory perspectives – just like Beatty said about the books.

Insects and Other Unpleasant Animals
There are several references throughout //Fahrenheit 451// to essentially yucky animals an insects (that’s the technical term). When Mildred gets her stomach pumped, the machine is like a snake. The earpiece she wears at night is like a praying mantis. The helicopters in the chase scene are described as insects. Even the Mechanical Hound has eight legs, like a spider. Notice a pattern here? These references all have to do with technology – destructive technology that the government uses to control its citizens. It’s basically a perversion of nature and of the natural order, which fits into the larger themes of //Fahrenheit 451// (because in this world of destruction without construction, the natural order is off).

Getting Naked in the River
We thought that would get your attention. When the chase draws to a close, Montag ditches his clothes, bathes in the river, and dons Faber’s attire instead. For a man who’s been through three or more identity crises, this is significant. He’s leaving the old Montag behind, cleansing himself of his old identity, and assimilating a new one for the time being (Faber’s). The fact that another man is captured and killed in Montag’s place is a great ancillary to this moment.