Examples Of Archetype In Fahrenheit 451

Hero’s Journey Archetype Literary Analysis - Fahrenheit 451

Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451 describes a society where people are used to violence and danger. They are accustomed to strict laws and deadly consequences for owning books. People tend to hurt themselves and others because they are dissatisfied with their lives. Guy Montag is a fireman who burns the houses of people who own books. Montag begins to encounter various perspectives on issues that have evolved into becoming normalized in their society through the three stages of the hero's journey: departure, initiation, and return. He also starts to understand and learn more about his identity and self-awareness.

In the departure stage, Montag learns that he isn't satisfied with

In the story, a very important act occurs when a woman protests that she burns with her books. ' "You can’t ever have my books," she said. "You know the law," said Beatty. … She shook her head. "The whole house is going up," said Beatty. The men walked clumsily to the door. They glanced back at Montag, who stood near the woman. "You’re not leaving her here?" he protested. "She won’t come" (Bradbury 39). This is a significant event not just in the novel, but also in Guy Montag's life because it impacts and modifies his perspective on the capacity to read books as a result of the lady protesting her death with her books. Another major event is when Montag steals a book. "He made more soft sounds. He stumbled toward the bed and shoved the book clumsily under the cold pillow. He fell into bed and his wife cried out, startled" (Bradbury 41). This is a major event because it shows that his outlook and opinion of reading books has shifted, making him think it should be legal due to him hiding the fact that he has one. Therefore, as a result of him finally finding the source of his unhappiness, he decided to finally do something about

A very prime event in the story is when Beaty comes to Guy Montag's house looking for a book after being rated out by his wife and her friend. "‘... Go ahead now, you second-hand literateur, pull the trigger." [Beaty] took one step toward Montag. Montag only said, "We never burned right..." "Hand it over, Guy," said Beatty with a fixed smile. And then he was a shrieking blaze, a jumping, sprawling gibbering manikin, no longer human or known, all writhing flame on the lawn as Montag shot one continuous pulse of liquid fire on him." (Bradbury 119) This is one of the most essential events in the story because it shows Montag later in the story that Beaty didn't do much to prevent his death; he even mentions that it's as if he wanted it to happen. This also demonstrates how satisfied the characters are with themselves in the story. At the very end of the novel, Montag decides to run from the town after being chased down by policemen trying to find him. He ends up near a river and finds other runaways like him. "It can’t be," said Montag. "It is," replied Granger smiling. "We’re book burners, too. We read the books and burnt them, afraid they’d be found. Microfilming didn’t pay off; we were always traveling, we didn’t want to bury the film and come back later. Always the chance of discovery. (Bradbury 152).