Yaneli Roman
January 13, 2012
English 3
Fahrenheit 451 Literacy Analysis Essay
Fahrenheit 451 is about a fireman that was in charge of burning every book. His
uniform is black with a salamander on the arm. One day after work he meet his new neighbor,
she was 16 years old, and her name was Clarisa. She told him about the past men used to save
people from fires instead of starting fires burning books. He also talks about the laws in his life
and how does that affect him and the people around him. Like people aren’t allowed to have
animals they can even read or have a normal life like a real human being.
In this book the hearth means a traditional symbol of the home, or a fire place. The
salamander is one of the official symbols of the firemen. As well as they call their fire trucks.
The hearth contains the fire that heats the peoples homes. Ancient beliefs were that the
salamander lived in fires and was unaffected by flames. Also both of this symbols are related
with fire.
The hearth and the salamander introduces many symbols and tells it importance
through the novel. The most significant thing is the enemy of the state that are the books, every
book is the representation of knowledge and awareness. Nobody can read a book, its illegal, so
firemen burn them, and here appears the hearth in the novel where the fire is built and burns
strongest. I think that the salamander represents the fire destructive side. The salamander was
introduced as the fire truck and the little patch that firemen use on their uniform.
The title of the book helps the reader to understand better of what the book will be
about. Fahrenheit is a scale so you can measure the temperature and its used in the United
States. Like I said before The hearth and the salamander have a relationship with fire, and in
this society the firemen were in charge to burn every book they could find.
The number that appears next to the word Fahrenheit might be the temperature in which the
firemen used to burn all the books. It’s interesting because there is a big hint but at the same
time they try to struggle you by putting it backwards.