What are some cultural allusions in Fahrenheit 451?

There are historical allusions, mythological allusions, Biblical allusions, and literary allusions in Fahrenheit 451. These references serve to illuminate Bradbury's themes of censorship and ignorance versus knowledge.

(Historical Allusion/Theme of Censorship) When the firemen come to the house of a woman with an attic full of books, they find that she does not attempt to run from them. Instead, before she lights a match herself and burns with her books, she says,

Play the...

There are historical allusions, mythological allusions, Biblical allusions, and literary allusions in Fahrenheit 451. These references serve to illuminate Bradbury's themes of censorship and ignorance versus knowledge.

(Historical Allusion/Theme of Censorship) When the firemen come to the house of a woman with an attic full of books, they find that she does not attempt to run from them. Instead, before she lights a match herself and burns with her books, she says,

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 (p.33).

These are Hugh Latimer's words to his friend Thomas Ridley. Both were bishops who rejected the Roman Catholic doctrine regarding the pope as heir to the authority of St. Peter and the transubstantiation of the host in the ceremony of the Mass. When Mary Queen of Scots became Queen of England, she wanted to restore Catholicism. Bishops Latimer and Ridley were burned as heretics. The quotation contains the words of Bishop Latimer to Bishop Ridley before they were burned at the stake. 

(Historical Allusion/Theme of knowlege versus ignorance) Beatty explains to Montag why there are no books in their society:

Technology, mass exploitation and minority pressure carried the trick. . . . "Intellectual" became the swear word it deserved to be. . . . We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal. Each man the image of every other; then all are happy (p.55).

(Historical Allusions) When Captain Beatty comes to Montag's house, Beatty speaks of the profession of firemen, one that "got started around about a thing called the Civil War" (p.51). Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln are mentioned, along with Mahatma Gandhi, Gautama Buddha, and Confucius (p.145).

(Literary Allusions) There are allusions to various writers throughout the narrative. Montag tells Mildred that the firemen burned "copies of Dante and Swift" (p.47). Beatty alludes to authors such as Thomas Jefferson, Henry David Thoreau, Machiavelli, and Thomas Paine (p.145) and to literary works such as Hamlet (p.52), Uncle Tom's Cabin (p.57), and Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (p.113). Montag reads aloud "Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold (p. 96). Beatty also alludes to playwright and poet Ben Johnson (p.102). He also quotes Ralph Waldo Emerson when he says "the. . . tyranny of the majority."

(Biblical Allusions) When Faber talks to Montag after seeing his Bible, he observes how Christ has been mitigated. "He's a regular peppermint stick now. . . when he isn't making veiled references to certain commercial products that every worshiper absolutely needs" (p.78). Montag memorizes part of the Book of Ecclesiastes.

(Mythological Allusions) Captain Beatty alludes to Icarus whose father made wings so they could fly. Icarus failed to heed his father's warnings, and he flew too close to the sun, melting the wax that held the feathers together. Consequently, he crashed into the sea. Beatty tells Montag that he has flown too close to the sun because his curiosity about books is dangerous (p.113). Later in the narrative, Granger alludes to the phoenix, the bird that was reborn from ashes (p.156).