You are of course referring to the opening chapter of this
classic dystopian novel that refers to Montag's penchant for fire and in particular the curious
way that the books themselves are described as Montag and his colleagues burn them. Note how the
books are given the qualities of living animals that are
slaughtered:
...while
the flapping, pigeon-winged books died on the porch and lawn of the
house.
The books are given life, but
this life is only to be extinguished when the firemen arrive and burn them. Likewise too when
they raid the woman who burns herself and her book collection, this imagery is repeated as "books
fell like slaughtered birds" and a book falls into Montag's
hands:
A book lit,
almost obediently, like a white pigeon, in his hands, wings fluttering. In the dim, wavering
light, a page hung open and it was like a snowy feather, the words delicately painted
thereon.
This imagery is used
throughout the novel to make the crime of burning books and the destruction and loss of all the
ideas, culture and thought that they represent worse. By depicting the books as birds, killing
them is a much more heinous crime, as it helps us to see how books are not just inanimate objects
but real life beings.
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