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Allusions
"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."Pg.36
The woman who burned herself in the fire quoted this line just before she dies, and this is signifiant because it shows how she is ready to be burned for her beliefs, which makes Montag wonder about the truth of his life
"Colored people don't like Little Black Sambo. Burn it. White people don't feel good about Uncle Tom's Cabin. Burn it. Pg.59
When captain Beatty was talking to Montag about why books are being banned in the society of Fahrenheit 451, he quoted this line to show Montag how none of the books can make everybody happy. This quote is important because it explains the reason to why books are being burned through out the novel.
"Consider the lilies of the field, shut up, shut up." Pg.79
This quote takes place when Montag was riding the subway. On the subway, Montag tries to memorize lines from the book, but the toothpaste advertisement makes it impossible for him to read. This is a very symbolic quote because the "lilies of the field" grew up without any human help and are tended by God alone; as Montag yells " shut up, shut up" to the sound system, people begin to notice him as an outsider, which makes him a rebel against the culture.
"Do you know the legend of the Hercules and Antaeus, the giant wrestler, whose strength was incredible so long as he stood firmly on the earth? But when he was held, rootless, in midair, by Hercules, he perished easily." Pg.83
The connection between Fahrenheit 451 and Hercules and Antaeus's story is that anything that seems impossible to be beatan has its own fatal weakness. It is just up to the society and the people to find it and take advantage of it
"Where's your common sense? None of those books agree with each other. 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!"Pg.38
Ray Bradbury mentioned the tower of babel in the novel to help emphasize the theme of Fahrenheit 451. People in this society is not encouraged to read and think, nor are they allowed to act on their beliefs. Their thoughts are controlled based by the government, and the communication between them is meaningless and has no real basis.
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