Question

"With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world" (Bradbury). Which description below, provides the BEST explanation of the figurative language in the quote above. Question 3 options:
a) The great python is a creative way to describe the firehose full of kerosene.
b) The quote is describing an old fashioned kerosene lamp.
c) None of the answer choices are correct.
d) Montag is literally holding a python and focusing it to spit venom everywhere.

Answer 1

Answer:

a) The great python is a creative way to describe the firehose full of kerosene.

Explanation:

In Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451",the main plot revolves around the world where books or any form of intelligent thinking is prohibited. Amidst this dystopian world where books are illegal, the main protagonist Guy Montag begins to question his job and the very act of putting the discovered books on fire.

The given passage is from the first paragraph of the text where "helmet numbered 451" Guy Montag had burned books. Instead of water which was supposed to extinguish fire, this hose rather contains kerosene which will heighten the burning. The narrator's description of the hose as akin to a "great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world", allows the figurative language to perfectly portray the dangerous nature of the hose and the carnage it will inflict on the victims.

Answer 2

Answer:

The best answer to the question: Which description below, provides the BEST explanation of the figurative language in the quote above, would be, A: The great python is a creative way to describe the firehose full of kerosene.

Explanation:

This particular quote in the question comes from the novel "Farenheit 451" written by Ray Bradbury and published initially in 1953. The story narrates the events that take place in the year 1999 in an unspecified location, as the world becomes set on the idea of burning away books, as they are now considered useless and even bad. At the beginning of the story we find Guy Montag, at a fire scene, and he, instead of holding a waterhose to put out the fires that are consuming a house where books have been discovered, is rather holding a huge firehose that is filled with kerosene, the fuel firefighters now use to set up places on fire where books are. The use of the figurative symbol "great python" allows the reader to understand that this hose was enormous and of course, later on we know that it is kerosene being used because the fire sprouts, instead of being put out.