Can someone explain to me this text passage? What does it mean? "One time as a child, in a power-failure, his mother had found and lit a last candles and there had been a brief hour of rediscovery of such illumination that space lost its vast dimension and drew comfortably around them, and they mother and son, alone, transformed, hoping that the power might not come on again soon"

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Franklin Molina

14 November, 22:10

Can someone explain to me this text passage? What does it mean? "One time as a child, in a power-failure, his mother had found and lit a last candles and there had been a brief hour of rediscovery of such illumination that space lost its vast dimension and drew comfortably around them, and they mother and son, alone, transformed, hoping that the power might not come on again soon"

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Karlie Marks · Answer 1

The passage shows Montag feeling conflicted with what his job as "fireman" entails while at the same time feeling a sense of responsibility to be true to his human self and not act according to the authorities' ways of maintaining a dystopian society.

Explanation:

The given excerpt is from Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 where the protagonist Guy Montag works as a "fireman". Set in a dystopian world where the presence or possession of books is prohibited and the 'firemen' are employed to burn these sources of evil and dangerous ideas.

The passage is from when Montag was walking towards home with Clarisse McClellan, his neighbor. He then sees himself in the teenage girl, as if "her eyes were two miraculous bits of violet amber that might capture and hold him intact". Walking and talking with her brought back memories of when he was a little boy himself, when the lights had gone out. He and his mother were sitting in the candlelight, feeling a sense of connection that was so special that both hoped "the power might not come on again soon". He was taken back to that night, signifying the rising internal conflict within himself.