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Metaphor

Simile

Personification

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Metaphor- a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two seemingly unlike things without using the connective words: like, as, than, or resembles.

  • "With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world, the blood pounded in his head, and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history

    • In this metaphor, Montag is comparing the brass nozzle to a 'great python' because it spits out kerosene, like a snakes spits out venom. It helps us to see the  nozzle better and see it spitting out the fire like a snake would spit venom.

  • "He strode in a swarm of fireflies."

    • In this metaphor, Montag is comparing a swarm of firelflies to the ash from fire. This metaphor helps us to understand that walking through ash is like walking through a swarm of fireflies.

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  • "A book is a loaded gun in the house next door."

    • In this metaphor, a book is being compared to a loaded gun. The book is not actually a loaded gun, but the author is trying to tell you that the book can cause something large. The book is like a loaded gun, because it is a bad idea. Just like it is a bad idea to have a loaded gun laying around, in Guy Montag's world, you should not have a book laying around. 

Personification- a kind of metaphor in which a nonhuman thing or quality is talked about as if it were human.

  • "She made the empty rooms roar with accusation and shake down a fine dust of guilt that was sucked into their nostrils as they plunged about."

    • This quote is a personification because an empty room cannot roar. Only people can, Ray Bradbuary is giving the room detail, letting us know that you could feel the accusation from the woman as if the room were roaring accusations at you.

  • "Time has fallen asleep in the afternoon sunshine."

    • This quote is a personification because time cannot fall asleep. Only living beings can fall asleep. The author is just saying that it is like time has frozen, or stopped.

  • The firehouse trembled as a great flight of jet planes whistled a single note across the black morning sky."

    • This quote is a personification because a firehouse cannot tremble. Only living beings can tremble. The author is just trying to tell us that the firehouse shook with the force of the fighter jets that just flew by.

    • This quote is a personification, because it is saying that jet planes whistled a note. Only living beings can whistle, a jet plane cannot whistle. This quote is telling us that the author wanted us to know that the sound the jets made as the flight of jet planes flew by sounded like someone whistling.

Simile- a figure of speech that makes a comparision between two seemingly unlike things using the connective words: like, as, than, or resembles.

  • "In the dim, wavering light, a page hung open and it was like a snowy feather, the words delicately painted thereon."

    • ​This is a simile comparing a book to a snowy feather. Bradbury is helping us picture the book that has fallen into Montag's hands by saying it is like a snowy feather. 

  • "They fell like slaughtered birds and the woman stood below, like a small girl, among the bodies."

    • This simile compares books to a slaughtered bird. The books did not actually fall like slaughtered birds because they are not birds and were not slaughtered. The author is just trying to tell us that the books fell rapidly. 

    • This simile compares a woman to a small girl. The woman was like a small girl, she is a woman. Not a girl, the author is just saying she looked like an innocent girl in the middle of the books.

  • "Montag's hand closed like a mouth, crushed the book with wild devotion, with an insanity of mindlessness to his chest."

    • ​This simile compares Montag's hand to a mouth. Montag's hand is not actually a mouth, but the author is just saying that Montag's hand closed around the book like a mouth would close.

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