What is a quote in Fahrenheit 451 that symbolizes the Phoenix? Why does it symbolize the Phoenix?

The Phoenix is a bird from Greek mythology that could regenerate or experience rebirth after being burned up. There are a few times in Fahrenheit 451 when books are being burned and they are likened to birds. For example, the first page describes the burning of books as follows:

"He wanted above all, like the old joke, to shove a marshmallow on a stick in the furnace, while the flapping pigeon-winged books died on the porch and lawn of the house" (3).

The above passage is taken while Montag, the protagonist, is burning books as a part of his job as a fireman in a futuristic society that values pleasure over literacy. Firemen are called out to burn people's books, along with their houses, if they are suspected and reported as owning them. During a scene when Montag is shown burning a woman's house, the text uses the symbolic images of birds to describe the books as they burn.

"A book lit, almost obediently, like a white pigeon, in his hands, wings fluttering. . . like a snowy feather" (37).

By the end of part three, an atomic bomb levels the city. Granger, someone Montag meets outside of the city, speaks of the Phoenix while watching a piece of paper burn in the campfire. Montag asks Granger what a phoenix is and he is told the following:

"There was a silly damn bird called a phoenix back before Christ, every few hundred years he built a pyre and burnt himself up. . . every time he burnt himself up he sprang out of the ashes, he got himself born all over again. And it looks like we're doing the same thing, over and over" (163).

Books are described as dying birds when they are burned, which can be connected to the symbolism of the phoenix. The city is completely destroyed, too. Granger makes the allusion to the phoenix because after all of the fires and bombs, he hopes that people will rise above the ashes and experience a rebirth. He hopes that the next civilization that rises from these ashes will appreciate literacy and bring back books. Granger also says that people are smarter than a phoenix because we can learn from their mistakes; so, his hope is that humanity will grow and become better than the last society that Montag lived in.