Antaeus+the+giant

=__The Story Of Antaeus__= Antaeus also spelled Antaios, came from a Greek mythology. He was the son of Poseidon and Gaia. He was found in the sixth century within the interior of Libya's desert. He would challenge a traveler to a wrestling match, in which he always killed his opponents. He then took the skulls in hopes of building a temple for his father Poseidon. He was a very strong man, and that strength came from his connection to the earth. If he were to be lifted from the earth, he would become as weak as any other man. The one to discover his weakness ended up being Heracles (Hercules). While Heracles and Antaeus were fighting, Heracles discovered that on matter how many times Antaeus was thrown to the ground, he would always regain back his strength. Once he discovered the hidden secret to Antaeus' power, he took him from the ground and held him in the air. He then crushed him in a bearhug.

//" The story of Antaeus has been used as // // a symbol of the spiritual strength which occurs when one rests one's faith on the immediate fact of things ."//

=__The Connections to Fahrenheit 451__=

" So now do you see why books are hated and feared? They show the pores in the face of life. The comfortable people want only wax moon faces, poreless, hairless, expressionless. We are living in a time when flowers are trying to live on flowers, instead of growing on good rain and black loam. Even fireworks, for all their prettiness, come from the chemistry of the earth. Yet somehow we think we can grow, feeding on flowers and fireworks, without completing the cycle back to reality. Do you know the legend of Hercules and Antaeus, the giant wrestler, whose strength was incredible so long as he stood firmly on the earth? But when he was held, rootless, in midair, by Hercules, he perished easily, If there isn't something in that legend for us today, in this city, in our time, then I am completely insane." ~Faber (page 83) This greek myth connects to Fahrenheit 451 because every one of the characters in this story seems to have their own Hercules that comes along and "kills" some part of them. An example would be Clarisse. Her Hercules would be the society in which she lives in. The firemen and school views her as a problem. She is a problem to them because she actually wants to know WHY something works. She makes people think about the simple things that many do not notice anymore. If you look at the firemen and their purpose as Antaeus, then their Hercules is thought and the books that they burn. If enough people start reading books again, like Faber and Montag, they start seeing the "pores of life" that the firemen are out to burn. They are trying to keep the people happy by destroying the things that documents the flaws and failings that humans can encounter over a lifetime. So if their society starts accepting books and the messages they have once more, then the use of the firemen's purpose would no longer need to exist. Sources: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3192/2910328576_c4d2d3b291.jpg [] []