Fahrenheit 451 | Literary Qualities

Fahrenheit 451 Literary Qualities

Bradbury was for years science fiction's premier literary stylist, and although his heavy use of adjectives and metaphors can seem cloying today, he remains one of the most sophisticated users of language in the genre. He is particularly fond of similes, such as the description of a book that tumbles into Montag's hand during a raid on an old woman's secret library: "A book lit, almost obediently, like a white pigeon, in his hands, wings fluttering. In the dim, wavering light, a page hung open and it was like a snowy feather, the words delicately painted thereon."

Bradbury enhances his narrative with symbolism. The river into which he plunges to escape the Mechanical Hound serves as a symbol of rebirth as it carries him away from the violent city to a vagrant community of book memorizers. The cold river also represents an antidote to the firemen's handiwork that...
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