Title: Fahrenheit 451 Author: Ray Bradbury Genre: Dystopian; Science Fiction Setting: In the U.S., in the future, sometime after 1990. (Note that there have been two atomic wars since 1990) Point of View: Third-person; follows Montag’s point of view, often articulating his interior thoughts Atmosphere: Fear; Isolation; Extreme …show more content…
Books have been deemed dangerous because they make people unhappy and discontent. Therefore all books must be destroyed. The citizens cannot do as they please, and they must do what society circulates. Another external conflict is between Montag and Beatty. As the story prolongs, Beatty tries to convince Montag that books can support ideas on both sides of an issue and will only create chaos. When Beatty tries to arrest Montag, Montag kills him. In addition, the Mechanical Hound doesn’t like him from Montag’s sense of perspective. Internal Conflict: When Montag is wondering whether he should read or shouldn’t read books; then wondering if answers to life can be found in books. In addition, Montag struggles with the realization that he is not happy; he is unsatisfied with his …show more content…
He battles this within himself. Protagonist’s Epiphany/Insight into the world: While Montag’s curiosity for books have been ignited by this relationship with Clarisse, he remained as a faithful firemen. He still burned houses and people in the past, and did his duties as a firemen, however, with a weakened moral by Clarisse and his desire of reading books; he became mentally broken by the suicide of an old woman. This exhibited to him that even though life is no longer valued, some things are still worth dying for. The woman’s desire to destroy herself and her books rather than allowing the government to take them from her, ignited a spirit in Montag, who cannot grasp or understand how an inanimate object could cause such love and devotion. He was struck by her great strength, and now, he cannot continue his work with this new epiphany. Climax: Montag’s murder of Beatty Other Significant Characters and their
Montag is afraid of the hound, and he believes it will attack him. A major theme is technology, and the hound is a machine. The mechanical hound is programmed to function as if it were a living being, but has no original thoughts or motives nor does it like or dislike. The hound seems to represent the government, and just like the government it eliminates any person that opposes rules that have been created. Montag believes it was programmed to be aggressive toward him.
There is an internal conflict shown in a passage of the novel Fahrenheit 451 “Hearth and the Salamander” shown within the character Guy Montag. The conflict here is shown through many literary tools such as personification, similes, and detailed observation. Personification is used in ways of Montag questioning himself on whether he is happy or not. For example, after reassuring himself that yes, he was happy, suddenly “‘What?’” was asked by “that other self, the subconscious idiot that ran babbling at times,” Bradbury (8). The other conscious in Montag’s head questions him, and the author puts this into effect with personification, describing the thought as a person.
First, Montag was not conscience of his surroundings. Like everyone else, he was a slave to cheap thrills, fast pleasures, and mindless entertainment. In fact, he loved his job burning books, “It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed” (Bradbury 1). Then, his new mind began to stir when he met Clarisse.
But like with Millie, his relationship with Beatty drastically changed throughout the book. “Montag shut his eyes, shouted, shouted, and fought to get his hands and his ears to clamp and to cut away the sound. Beatty flopped over and over and over, and at last, twisted in on himself like a charred wax doll and lay silent” (Bradbury 113). Montag went from trusting Beatty to killing him in his own house. He felt betrayed that he burned his house and his books, depleting his overall trust.
Once Montag saw how much the books meant to the old woman, he took it upon himself to find out exactly what she was protecting. He began reading and never looked back, reading as much as he could before he had to surrender his books to the government. After being exposed to new ideas, Montag begins question society and himself. Being exposed to new ideas helps Montag find his humanity and he begins to feel guilt for all the books he took pleasure in destroying. After the woman dies in the burning building, Montag reads her books and says, “Last night I thought about all the kerosene I've used in the past ten years.
After the incident, Montag thought about the suicidal woman and he is confused as to why she would sacrifices her own life for some mere books. Since he’ve been told that books are evil, a spark of curiosity blooms within him. In part two, Montag is desperate for help. After his boss, Beatty, talks to him about the history of firemen and books, Montag is afraid that Beatty knows that he stole a book.
In the novel, it states, “I was just figuring,” said Montag, “what does a hound think about down there nights?” (#1) This quote makes Montag very mad and upset. The thought of the hound being built to kill people really irritates Montag. In the novel, Montag is a firefighter.
Bradbury justifies to warn us that isolation from others lead to suicide because of all the influence of technology that was brought into their dark, dystopian, book-despising world. Technology took over everyone from their new “Wall-TV’s” to the “seashell,” being what they spend all their time on everyday, cutting off most interaction with other humans, leading to the thoughts of suicide. Early in the book, readers notice several attempts of people trying to kill themselves as well as each other; because the audience notices that they know they are not in a content state with all the things going on around them, especially the lack of socializing. There are many situations where Montag sees and realizes that a lot of people are losing their
Montag is extremely curious about books, and the idea of freedom that it drives him crazy. He becomes so crazy that he lies to his wife, and kills his boss. Montag will go to any extent to gain freedom, in the means of breaking laws, and hurting
To begin, At first montag is the average civilian living a normal life. He does what he needs to do to survive, all the while he knows something is missing. Before he met the life changing character Clarisse, he was conformed to society just like everyone else. However, Clarisse was the spark that grew the fire of knowledge in his heart. Then when he seen a woman rather be burned alive then to live without books the spark only grew.
And then he was a shrieking blaze” (Bradbury 113). Montag’s last encounter with Beatty pushed him over the edge by first threatening to find Faber and kill him, which made Montag turn off the safety switch (STEWE-2) After killing Beatty, the government labeled Montag a criminal. “He was three hundred yards downstream when the Hound reached the river” (Bradbury 133). Montag acts against his society by running away from the punishment they have decided to give him. Montag did all of this because he was also looking for real people, people such as Clarisse.
Fahrenheit 451 Essay Courage enables an individual to stand up for what they believe in order to make a change. In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, Montag’s courage enables him to envision a different future and take action to achieve it. Initially, Montag does not question the world around him; however, he becomes aware of the limitations of his society in his search for happiness.
Every single person on this Earth is currently facing a problem, whether it is life changing or minute. The novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury touches upon each type of conflict a character can face: man versus self, man versus man, and man versus society. The story follows around a fireman named Montag who realized that the he and the world around him is incredibly ignorant and censored. Three parts make up the book entitled The Hearth and the Salamander, The Sieve and the Sand, and Burning Bright. Bradbury chose to organize the book into sections because each section introduces a new form of conflict, which relates to the titles because The Hearth and the Salamander relates to two different types of people and how they view fire, The Sieve
Montag internally conflicts with himself as he gradually begins to consider what books truly have to offer. For instance, “A book alighted, almost obediently, like a white pigeon, in his hands, wings fluttering. In the dim, wavering light, a page hung open… Montag had only an instant to read a line, but it blazed in his mind for the next minute as if stamped there with fiery steel… Montag's hand closed like a mouth, crushed the book with wild devotion, with an insanity of mindlessness to his chest.”
” shows the hound’s vicious personality, representing totalitarianism. The Author gives predictable resolutions spoiling the suspense. When Beatty sends the hound to Montag’s house, readers know that Montag is under