Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Could someone please help me describe the coherence and unity of Fahrenheit 451?

Coherence: One of the themes is that technology has become
the ultimate pacifier. The Mechanical Hound is the reinforcer of this anti-literary,
anti-intellectual world. Fire is the symbol and actual element that is used to destroy
any/all books which threaten this new, technologically advanced, intellectually stagnant
way of life. Using fire adds to the coherence with these symbols and the overall
narrative of the story. The narrative is about the dangers of technology but also the
application of it by people in power. Using fire is important because fire and the wheel
are often thought of as the beginning of technology. Fittingly, when Montag starts to
see things differently and reads more, he notes that fire was once used for warmth and
cooking. The Myth of the Phoenix is also suggested, and here fire is portrayed as
capable of destruction but also creation. So, the unity of the story is about
technology, but a shift does take place. When Montag begins to see that technology (in
this case fire) can be creative as well as destructive/pacifying. Literature itself is
also a form of technology. Scholars often call Gutenberg’s printing press the greatest
discovery in history because it allowed knowledge to spread exponentially more quickly
and efficiently. Technology is the application of knowledge. The unity and coherence of
the novel is that it presents this way of thinking as Montag learns it himself. In other
words, we learn this as Montag does. The lesson is that technology is not inherently bad
or good; it is capable of both. How technology manifests depends on how we apply
it.

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