(SIP-A) Montag is not willing to believe what the society says about books and is denying it. (STEWE-1) Even though Montag has read the books that he hid and does not understand them he still tries. “Here now, said Montag We’ll start over again, at the beginning” (Bradbury 65). Even though his society has said books are harmful he reads them and does not hesitate to read again, even though Beatty said to Montag books have nothing in them he still reads, he rejected his society and is not willing to believe what Beatty says is true. (STEWE-2) Montag realizes how the people of the society are so distracted from the world and sees how wrong it is. “Every hour so many damn things in the sky! How in the hell did those bombers get up there every single second of our lives! We’ve started and won two atomic wars since 2022! Is it because we’re having so much fun at home we’ve forgotten the world?” (Bradbury 69). Realizing how wrong the society is cause him to deny his society even more than before. (SIP-B) Montag rebels against his society because of the lack of actual people. (STEWE-1) Montag’s last encounter with Beatty is what made him act out. “Montag only said, We never burned right… Hand it over, Guy, said Beatty with a fixed smile. 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. (CS) Everything that has happened to Montag
It is evident in the beginning that Montag had some very quiet doubts about the structure of his society, but he was not convinced enough to take any defiant action yet. As time progresses, he finally makes a decision for himself “But everything at once, but everything one on top of another, Beatty, the women, Mildred, Clarisse, everything...No, we’ll save what we can, we’ll do what there is left to do. If we have to burn, let’s take a few more with us” (115). Here, Montag takes into account “everything at once;” he looks at everyone he has observed to form his own identity. He reminisces about significant people and events in his life, almost in a stream of consciousness, listed one name after the other. He remembers “Beatty,” who defended conformity, “the women,” who paid with their lives to defend knowledge, “Mildred,” who lived in technology-induced ignorance, “Clarisse,” who took the time to see what no one else did in the world, and “everything” else he watched in his life. The variation in different values and outcomes helped Montag to finally make a decision about who he wants to be. He repeats the word “we” three times, implying that their lives helped build up what he is about to do; Montag decides to “take a few more with us” and “save what we can.” De recognizes that there is a personal risk knowing that “we have to burn,” but he still decides to try and make a difference in their society. Recognizing the experiences of others and noticing what worked and did not for them helped a potential hero determine his values and decide to finally heroically act on them. As Montag goes deeper into exploring what he is fighting for, he finally shares his beliefs with Faber: “‘Yes, I believe that, if there’s nothing else I believe. It saved itself up to happen’” (125). After living in a
loving his job to rethinking of his job. Montag came in mind that his job not only hurt him but
In stories, a character can be influenced by many things. In Bradbury’s, Fahrenheit 451, Montag meets new people, and finds out new things about people whom he already knows. Along the way, the people he interacts with influences his choices and actions; including Clarisse, Mildred, and Faber. Frequently, Clarisse influences Montag’s choices and actions. In the beginning of the book, she influences Montag by making him realize that he is not happy with his life, by asking him the simple question, “Are you happy?” (pg. 8). Montag does not respond, but it does make him think. After hearing this question Montag goes home, greeted by his cold, sterile home, questioning his life and whether he is happy or not. Later, Montag is influenced
He is always following others' rules and he never has a chance to decide and act based on his own ideas and moral standards. In most occasions, Montag is just a reflection of people's expectations. Montag's job consisted of setting fires (which is very ironic) and burning books because knowledge was considered a threat to the higher authorities. In his community people never had time to appreciate the little things around them; their lives were driven by technology and entertainment. However, one day he met a girl named Clarisse, she made Montag realize that he was not happy and that things in his community were not right. Soon, he began to wonder why he was not satisfied with his life, he began to question why nobody had the time to sit back for a minute and reflect upon their lives. He discovered that nothing he had done through out his life defined his character; everything Montag had done was merely influenced by his community. He had adapted an image of someone that was not him. He had to met Clarisse in order to realize that his behavior and his way of living was not who he wanted to be. Subsequently, he began a desperate quest to find his true character and comprehend his purpose in
He became a different person after he have left the society. It states, “Had he ever seen a fireman that didn’t have black hair, black brows, a fiery face, and a blue-steel shaved but unshaved look? These men were all mirror images of himself!” (pg 30). This shows that Montag was like everyone else. He represents a fireman and everyone one else that is a fireman. Since every man is made the same, that is why Montag and everyone one else at his work looks the same. Everyone will be conformed that looks like him will become a fireman in the future. Once he escaped from the society, he met Gregor and he said, “Walk carefully. Guard your health. If anything should happen to Harris, you are the Book of Ecclesiastes. See how important you’ve become in the last minute!”(pg 144). This shows that Montag has changed and that he wasn’t like everyone else, but he was his own person. He is the Book of Ecclesiastes and that everyone else in his past society is not like him
Ray Bradbury was a man of his time. He was able to accurately predict the future in Fahrenheit 451. He shows that our societies are not different. In Montag 's Society people show desensitization, brainlessness, and self-centeredness. The streets are shown everywhere in the 21st-century. From children two adults, almost everyone can relate.
One man whose name was Mahatma Gandhi has said, “Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes” In my opinion I believe freedom is one of the most important things in life but I think most people take freedom for granted and unknowingly let it slip away as a consequence. It is not that difficult to guess that we have had a time when we said, “I can just do it sometime later” so we leave it for later, or we leave it for a while getting lazy and not even giving it a try so we eventually give up. If you had the chance to be the best you could be, why don’t you take it? For example, with the news daily reporting about threat of terrorism today, it 's more relevant to make sacrifice for the greater goods. Airplane
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. Inspired by this new knowledge, he acts courageously in an attempt to change his life and the lives of those around him. Montag must abandon all previous views and principles he had about society to enable a change. Through the character of Montag, Bradbury suggests that individuals are courageous when they sacrifice themselves for the improvement of society, even when there is a risk of achieving nothing.
To begin, the rising action of Fahrenheit 451 includes Montag’s internal conflict. This internal conflict initiates doubt in Montag. When Clarisse asks Montag “‘Are you happy?’”, he initially responds “Of course I’m happy” (Bradbury 7-8). However, it is evident that doubt has been planted in his mind, “What does she think? I’m not?” (Bradbury 8). Montag is faced, for the first time, with having to examine his life and if he is actually happy. It destroys his “mask”, allowing him to see the problems of his life, and, more importantly, society. The new perspective “kills” a part of him, the part that was content with his perfect life (having a good,
(MIP-2) From certain experiences, Montag comes to realize that he’s not actually happy with his life because he discovers that it lacks genuine, valuable, or humane relationships, eventually driving him to find the truth about his society by making him think about and question it. (SIP-A) Montag realizes from his experiences with Clarisse that his relationships in his life lack genuity, value, or humanity. (STEWE-1) From one of his first experiences with Clarisse, Montag feels something that he realizes he never felt before in his daily life. He ponders to himself, "How rarely did other people's faces take of you and throw back to your own expression, your own innermost trembling thought?" (Bradbury 8). What Montag is pondering about is how she behaved so attentive and natural towards
As Clarisse questions why Montag begins to think about his actions and how they affect people as well as society. The reader realizes Montag is a puppet in the dystopian society following the protocol as he is told by society. Montag’s inability to reason with what he is doing makes him gullible. Montag’s society would consider him dangerous within his society, but in reality he is escaping what is a dysfunctional. Montag is a puppet in the dystopian society following the protocol and his inability to reason with what he is doing makes him gullible and dangerous within this
Fahrenheit 451 takes place in a dystopian society where knowledge and critical thinking is considered to be different. The novel revolves around the main character, Guy Montag, referred to as Montag throughout the novel. Montag is a firemen, which means that in his society he starts fires rather than puting them out. A ban was put on books by society the people because they were seen to create a form of inequality, and contained controversial content. This was replaced by modernized technologies such as wall televisions. Montag questions his beliefs when he encounters his new teen neighbour Clarisse, who exposes him to what being social really means rather than society’s interpretation.
Montag killed Beatty he thought what he was doing was right. Montag was justified for killing Beatty because he thought he was protecting himself and Faber, Beatty had to die for society to change, and Beatty wanted to die. Montags anger towards Beatty may have persuaded his decisions and made him do what he did to Beatty.
After his encounter with Clarisse, Montag’s eyes seemingly opened to the faulty society he was living in. Other than Clarisse, he had never met anyone who talked about non-materialistic things. As Clarisse said, “They name a lot of cars or clothes or swimming-pools mostly and say how swell! But they all say the same things and nobody says anything different from anyone else.” After meeting Clarisse and hearing her wise words, her cavalier feelings towards the government made Montag realize his true thoughts about his job and his “happiness mask” had been taken away after realizing this.