Introduction
Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopia, i.e. a description of a society that is rather frightening. The genre became popular in the 20th century, and one of the main themes of this genre is totalitarian state control. Similar to Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four or Zamyatin’s We, Bradbury’s novel is about a society in which human beings and their lives are extensively controlled by the state. Fahrenheit 451 is filled with symbols, i.e. images that bear profound and hidden meanings.
The most appealing symbol is fire. Fire is used in the described society to destroy everything that can disturb the established order—primarily, books, as they carry intoxicating ideas of liberty and self-expression. In this system, firemen serve “as custodians of [the] peace of mind” (Bradbury 56). Fire symbolizes totalitarian rule: what does not fit in is burned down, even ideas. However, there is the other side of this symbol. At the end of the story, the legend of the Phoenix is told. This bird dies in flames and revives from the ashes, which symbolizes the cycle of life and the history of humanity, which brings itself to disasters in which it perishes but manages to be reborn. The difference between humanity and the Phoenix is that the former can remember its previous lives and can learn from its past. The character who tells the story of the phoenix then says that a factory of mirrors should be built to “put out nothing but mirrors for the next year and take a long look in them” (Bradbury 157), which is another symbol—a symbol of self-reflection and learning, a symbol of becoming better through cognizing oneself.
The Primary Conflict in Fahrenheit 451
Like in other dystopias, the primary conflict in Fahrenheit 451 is the conflict between a human and society. Montag, the story’s main character, goes through a transformation, starting as a loyal member of the system and a man with a key function in it—a fireman who burns books, thus destroying controversial ideas that disturb the existing order. Later, however, he escapes and starts pursuing knowledge. His inability to reconcile himself to the described society and the same inability of other people he meets constitute the main conflict that shows that human nature is incompatible with the totalitarian rule. Attempts of the state to completely regulate the lives of people are doomed to fail because human nature finds a way out and protests.
Other conflicts in the novel affect the primary conflict, e.g. the conflict between Montag and his boss Beatty. Beatty is the antagonist of the story and a proponent of the current rule. He says that everything that disappoints people should be burned so that everyone is happy and satisfied (Bradbury 57). In a different part of the novel, however, Beatty confesses that he used to be a passionate reader once but then decided that books were a bad thing. This shows the primary conflict from a new side: when living in a system that is anti-humanistic, discourages free-thinking, and oppresses the natural urge for knowledge and development, one can choose to either surrender and become convinced that the system is just and wise or to fight against it. Beatty chose the first option, and Montag chose the second.
Realism in Death of a Salesman and Fences
Realism is a literary style in which everyday situations and problems of people to which readers can relate constitute the essence of narration and the driving forces of a story. Two of the great 20th century plays, Miller’s Death of a Salesman and Wilson’s Fences, are realistic because they are stories of ordinary people. In Death of a Salesman, the main character desperately tries to provide for his family and ensure that his children have a better life than his own. Money problems and family conflicts are things that a lot of people can similarly encounter, which makes the play particularly appealing. In Fences, the lives of African Americans in the 1950s are described with vividness and profound psychological exploration, which qualifies for realism, too.
It can be argued, however, that Death of a Salesman exemplifies the use of realism better. The scene in which Willy, the salesman, and his wife Linda discuss their finances appeals to anyone who has ever experienced money problems, and this scene is bitter but also touching, as Willy is angry and very tired, yet optimistic (Miller 173). Also, the theme of reality, as opposed to illusion, is one of the major themes of the play: Willy lives in a lie about his success, and facing reality becomes a hard blow to him. In Fences, on the other hand, the lives of people in an underprivileged community are shown, and it can be striking to the audience, but people who never lived in such communities are unfamiliar with these experiences, which is why, for them, the play is less realistic, which does not make it less appealing because what is described in it could happen in reality. However, there are still many aspects of the play that viewers can understand because they have been through similar things. For example, one of the characters says, “You’ve got to take the crooked with the straights” (Wilson 37), which is an attitude that many people adopt as they face real-life problems. The stories of people who “take the crooked with the straights” have become powerfully appealing to the audience.
Catharsis in Oedipus the King
Catharsis can be defined as relief provided by art. This is a challenging concept, and the debate continues whether paintings, films, books, or music can release people from different emotional tensions and urges to do certain things, such as committing violence. However, the concept has been widely used in literary analysis. Particularly, catharsis applies to tragedies, as both the concept and the genre come from Ancient Greece. According to the theory of catharsis, one of the functions of a tragedy is to provoke fear and pity in a viewer that is further relieved. The relief is due to two major reasons: first, there is a distance between viewers and actors, and the former understand that what happens on the stage is not “for real,” and this allows them to feel unaffected by the dreadful things they witness. For similar reasons, people today watch horror movies. Second, at some point in a tragedy, according to the principles of the genre, something happens to the characters that relieve the viewers from their fear.
Oedipus the King is an example of this process. Viewers witness constant miseries of the main character and his bitterly ironic fate of fulfilling the prophecy that he tried to escape. The way the story unfolds fills the viewers with pity for Oedipus and fear of realizing how cruelly things can turn out for someone unaware of what he was doing. Following the rules of tragedy, catharsis comes at the very end, when Oedipus learns the truth. His mother kills herself, and Oedipus blinds himself with the points of golden brooches (Sophocles 91). The act of self-punishment provides relief from the entire story of lies, patricide, and incest.
Works Cited
Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. Simon & Schuster, 2012.
Miller, Arthur. The Penguin Arthur Miller: Collected Plays. Penguin Books, 2015.
Sophocles. Antigone; Oedipus the King; Electra. Translated by Humphrey Davy Findley Kitto, edited by Edith Hall, Oxford University Press, 2008.
Wilson, August. Fences. Plume, 2007.