Diction:
Diction refers to the deliberate choice of words and phrases in writing. What is interesting about Fahrenheit 451 is that it is set in the future. As a result, common words and phrases are appropriated to have new meanings (that is to say, meanings other than what we would typically associate with them). For example, a "beetle" is the term for a taxi or car. A "salamander" is the form of transportation used by firemen; it is much like a fire truck, but it is intended to start fires, rather than put them out. A "hound" is a robotic tool used by the firemen in order to track things, provide injections, and so on. "Seashells" are tools which are used for listening. "Programs" are three-dimensional, lifelike shows that take place in the "parlor" of a house and which contain interactive characters referred to as "family" or "relatives."
Sentence Length and Complexity:
Sentence variety (which relies on the varying length and complexity of sentences) gives prose life and keeps readers interested. Bradbury healthily alternates between extremely short, simple sentences and long, complex ones throughout the book. For example, we can see a staccato description composed of short sentences here, which is largely comprised of incomplete phrases:
One drop of rain. Clarisse. Another drop. Mildred. A third. The uncle. A fourth. The fire tonight. One, Clarisse. Two, Mildred. Three, uncle. Four, fire. One, Mildred, two, Clarisse. One, two, three, four, five, Clarisse, Mildred, uncle, fire, sleeping tablets, men disposable tissue, coattails, blow, wad, flush, Clarisse, Mildred, uncle, fire, tablets, tissues, blow, wad, flush. One, two, three, one, two, three! Rain. the storm. the uncle laughing. Thunder falling downstairs. The whole world pouring down. The fire gushing up in a volcano. All rushing on down around in a spouting roar and rivering stream toward morning. (Bradbury, P.18)
We see a completely different styling in the following monologue delivered by Beatty:
Classics cut to fit fifteen-minute radio shows, then cut again to fill a two-minute book column, winding up at last as a ten- or twelve-line dictionary resume. I exaggerate, of course. The dictionaries were for reference. But many were those whose sole knowledge of Hamlet (you know the title certainly, Montag; it is probably only a faint rumor of a title to you, Mrs. Montag) whose sole knowledge, as I say, of Hamlet was a one-page digest in a book that claimed: now at least you can read all the classics; keep up with your neighbors. Do you see? Out of the nursery into the college and back to the nursery; there's your intellectual pattern for the past five centuries or more.
Patterns of Sound
Sound is exemplified through the use of onomatopoeia in the novel, largely for the purpose of emphasis. Take this excerpt from a speech that Beatty gives to Montag:
Speed up the film, Montag, quick. Click? Pic, Look, Eye, Now, Flick, Here, There, Swift, Pace, Up, Down, In, Out, Why, How, Who, What, Where, Eh? Uh! Bang! Smack! Wallop, Bing, Bong, Boom! Digest-digests, digest-digest-digests. Politics? One column, two sentences, a headline! Then, in mid-air, all vanishes!
Beatty is demonstrating how to confuse the human mind with a bombastic use of the senses.
Use of Imagery and Symbols:
Similes (modes of comparison using "like" or "as") and metaphors are frequently used within the novel to create imagery and to function symbolically. Some examples are,
A book lit, almost obediently, like a white pigeon, in his hands, wings fluttering (Bradbury, 34).
A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it (Bradbury, 56).
He wore his happiness like a mask and the girl had run off across the lawn with the mask and there was no way of going to knock on her door and ask for it back (Bradbury, 9).
[S]he was like the eager watcher of a marionette show, anticipating each flicker of an eyelid, each gesture of his hand, each flick of a finger, the moment before it began (Bradbury, 9).
They held to the earth as children hold to familiar things (Bradbury, 153).
We also encounter some repeated symbols throughout the book. Blood represents the repressed, instinctive self. Montag has his most revolutionary thoughts while "feeling" them in his blood. Mildred's blood replacement by the Electric-Eyed Snake machine has no impact on her, as she has lost touch with her primal self.
The phoenix becomes a symbol of mankind's ability to rise above the ashes of its own mistake and the cyclical nature of history.
Mirrors are symbols of self-awareness and the ability to see oneself clearly.
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