Theme Of Hands In Fahrenheit 451

Humans have remarkable hands that no other species acquire. Hands provide humans with the potential to play sports, write, and complete every day activities. The significant difference in human hands is the fact that humans have thumbs. Although hands are essential to humans, hands are also important in Fahrenheit 451 by author Ray Bradbury; he uses hands as a motif. On multiple occasions throughout the novel, Bradbury uses hands as a motif to emphasis his themes and main purpose.

The beginning of the story displays the destructive nature of hands. Bradbury starts the novel with Montag burning a house with books and he describes his hands as “the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down

Much later in the book, Ray Bradbury makes it apparent that Montag knows about the wrongdoings and manipulation to his society done by the government. The initial step before renovation is him being cleansed, so Montag burns his house down and “stood with the flame thrower in his limp hands” (117). After this occurrence, Montag may finally be in the correct mentality to join others resembling him; the burning of his house may signify the burning of society, which may lead to the beginning of the restoration process. Bradbury uses this major event to determine the turning point of Montag within his society and him departing. When Montag discovers others like him, the first thing he notices is his new perspective of fire; it was no longer hazardous but it was warming. This realization occurs to him when he notices how “many hands held to its warmth, hands without arms, hidden in darkness. Above the hands, motionless faces…” (145-146). Montag’s new outlook is Bradbury’s way to express to the reader that Montag is transformed; his purpose is to stress how Montag’s modification is crucial to the success in restoring a righteous government. When Montag meets the others, Granger states that his grandfather believed that as “long as you change something from the way it was before, you touched it into something that’s like you after you take your hands away” (156-157). This philosophy implies that change cannot simply be done with human hands – change requires time and something must be done in order for change to happen. Ray Bradbury strains the fact that hands are eventually going to advance their society into a government that promotes something more than equality among