Fahrenheit 451 has many sarcastic elements that poke fun at Guy's society (and western modern society by extension). For example, in "The Sieve and the Sand," Mildred, Guy Montag's wife, has gathered her banal female friends at their home, and Guy taunts them with the poetry he is illegally reading.
Mildred urges Guy to read by saying, "Here's that real funny one you read out loud today. Ladies, you won't understand a word. It goes...
Fahrenheit 451 has many sarcastic elements that poke fun at Guy's society (and western modern society by extension). For example, in "The Sieve and the Sand," Mildred, Guy Montag's wife, has gathered her banal female friends at their home, and Guy taunts them with the poetry he is illegally reading.
Mildred urges Guy to read by saying, "Here's that real funny one you read out loud today. Ladies, you won't understand a word. It goes umpty-tumpty- ump" (page numbers vary by edition). Mildred finds poetry riotously funny because it means as little to her as nonsense syllables. After Guy finishes reading "Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold, a serious and contemplative poem that reaffirms the poet's belief in the power of love above all, the ladies at the party, who Mildred thought she would entertain with silly poetry, instead break into sobbing. In fact, Mrs. Bowles, a party-goer, says to Montag, "You're nasty!" She conceives of his poetry reading as threatening and evil, which is ironic because the society is evil for making literature and poetry illegal. Guy is not evil for simply reading poetry. Hence, this scene employs sarcasm because Guy finds beauty in poetry, while the women, brainwashed by their society, find his reading poetry evil and harmful.
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