All 3 Uses of
consequence
in
Fahrenheit 451
- For everyone nowadays knows, absolutely is certain, that nothing will ever happen to me. Others die, I go on. There are no consequences and no responsibilities. Except that there are.
p. 109.0consequences = undesired effects
- By the time the consequences catch up with you, it's too late, isn't it, Montag?
p. 109.1consequences = unintended results of prior actions
- Its real beauty is that it destroys responsibility and consequences. A problem gets too burdensome, then into the furnace with it. Now, Montag, you're a burden. And fire will lift you off my shoulders, clean, quick, sure; nothing to rot later.
p. 109.5 *consequences = undesired effects
Definitions:
-
(1)
(consequence as in: a direct consequence of) a result of something (often an undesired side effect)
-
(2)
(consequence as in: of little consequence) importance or relevance
-
(3)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
In classic literature, consequential may refer to someone with too much feeling of self-importance as when Dickens wrote "Because he's a proud, haughty, consequential, turned-up-nosed peacock."
Self-consequence was used in a similar manner, but is more easily understood by modern readers since important is one of the modern senses of consequence.
Another classic sense of consequent that is similar to importance or significance refers to "material wealth or prominence" as when Jane Austen wrote: "They had each had money, but their marriages had made a material difference in their degree of consequence."