The tower of Babel (page 38) “You’ve been locked up here for years with a regular damned Tower of Babel. Snap out of it! The people in those books never lived. Come on now! ” This quote is a direct allusion to the Tower of Babel. As the lord looked down on his city he said “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; and nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
Ray Bradbury incorporated this allusion into his novel to show the images of a crazy disrupted world. It also proves that all knowledge of the past world has not been lost. Phoenix (page 163) ” There was a silly damn bird called a phoenix back before Christ, every few hundred years he built a pyre and burnt himself up. He must have been first cousin to Man. But every time he burnt himself up he sprang out of the ashes, he got himself born all over again. And it looks like we’re doing the same thing, over and over, but we’ve got one damn thing the phoenix never had.
We know the damn silly thing we just did. ” The phoenix was a bird that could virtually rebirth itself. This compares to Bradbury’s novel in the sense that in the futuristic illiterate society everything has been messed up. The destruction of the futuristic world ultimately leads to a rebirth of a literate and bright society, which will turn in to an illiterate society once again. It is like a never-ending cycle, just like the phoenix and its rebirth. Gulliver’s Travels (page 151) ” I want you to meet Jonathan Swift, the author of the evil political ook, Gulliver’s Travels!
And this other fellow is Charles Darwin, and this one is Schopenhauer, and this one is Einstein, and this one here at my elbow is Mr. Albert Schweitzer, a very kind philosopher indeed. Here we all are, Montag. Aristophanes and Mahatma Gandhi and Guatama Buddha and Confucius and Thomas Love Peacock and Thomas Jefferson and Mr. Lincoln, if you please. We are also Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John. ” This quote is without a doubt an allusion to famous books and people of the past world.
The author includes this quote in the novel to show that he past world of books and literacy is not entirely lost, and that people refuse to let go of these masterpieces that the fireman are so desperately trying to purge from the modern world Through this quote Montag also discovers that he is not the only one who has discovered the beauty of books and all of the great things of the past world. Candle Quote (page 36) ” 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. This quote refers to Ridley and Gladimer who were two martyrs killed or their religious beliefs. I believe that the author utilized this quote to foreshadow Montag standing up against book burning. This quote also sheds a new light and hope for the people standing up for what they believe in. The woman sacrifices herself who will only live an extended mount of time, for books, which will live on forever, if they aren’t burned.
This quote shows the great courage of the woman just as the martyrs had great courage to stand up for their religion. Isaiah 53:6 bible old testament) page 105 “All we like sheep have gone astray. We have left God’s path to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the guilt and sins of us all. ” Through this quote originally from the Bible, Mr. Bradbury is trying relate the modern world to books and the past world. This quote makes the reader think about the past and relate it to the present. The people in the modern world have gone astray and are somewhat lost, like the sheep in the bible. Montag begins to find his way as the novel progresses. (Alexander Pope, Essay on Criticism) Page 106 ” A little learning is a dangerous thing.
Drink deep, or taste not the Persian spring; there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again. ” Pope. Bradbury uses this quote originally stated by Alexander Pope to inform the reader of the dangers of learning through the eyes of an outsider prospective. Bradbury makes the reader think a little bit with this quote. It is twisted, telling of the dangers of reading, while on the other hand those dangers aren’t in fact dangerous. Reading is a powerful tool. This tool is what the political officials are afraid of the people in the modern world having. Sir Francis Bacon, Sacred Meditations) page 106 Knowledge is Power” Bradbury has a strong message with this quote originally stated by Sir Francis Bacon. Knowledge is power. When reading this quote it really makes you think deeply about how you when knowledge is applied you have great power. Bradbury includes this quote in the novel because one of the central focuses of the novel is knowledge, or the lack of knowledge. The people of this world have little knowledge of their own. They have now power. In the past world people were filled with great knowledge, therefore having more power than they do in the modern world.
Truth will come to light; murder cannot be hid long. Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice II, ii) page 93 “Truth will come to light; murder cannot hide long. ” This quote goes along perfectly with the main themes of the novel. It is basically saying that the truth about the past world will become known (truth will come to light) and the book burning will come to an end and the world will become new (murder cannot hide long). This quote helps to foreshadow the future of the novel and what will happen in the end. It is a hint to the reader of what is coming next.