Neil Gaiman once wrote, “some books exist between covers that are perfectly people-shaped” (Gaiman xvi). The idea that books can be defined as the sharing of thoughts and information between people reveals a deeper meaning in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. In Fahrenheit 451, the protagonist faces a society in which books are censored and, thus, burned. This, according to his definition, means that if books become banned, certain connections between people will, too, be destroyed. Ray Bradbury reveals the theme (the importance of books) through the protagonist’s dynamic character, which comes as a result from his conflicts with society.
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
In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, Montag, the protagonist and book burner, battles between the light and dark sides of society, first with Beatty, his boss, and the government and then with Clarisse, a neighbor girl and Faber, an English professor. Montag is stuck in the dark burning books and is ignorant to the world around him. He moves towards greater awareness when he meets Clarisse and is awakened to the wonders of deep thought and books. Finally, he risks his life by trying to save the books.
A usual fireman will try to put off fires but Montag is a fireman that starts a fire with his flamethrower and burns books and the houses where they are illegally kept. Firemen wore helmets that had the numeral numbers of 451 which represented the temperature that paper burns. Montag meets a young girl named Clarrisse and suddenly realizes the emptiness of his life when he was questioned about his happiness. Since then, Montag questions what he had been doing and what he had not and searches for an answer/reason why stuff was like the way it was. Guy Montag can be a brave character because he decides to put himself in a situation where he is the outlier in the society.
As the books went up in flames, Montag became enraged by society and how the world was becoming. Mildred, Clarisse, and Captain Beatty influenced Montag the most throughout the book to rebel against the government.
Clarisse McClellan and Mildred's friends in Bradbury's novel, Fahrenheit 451 appear only briefly, nonetheless, they still have a great impact on the development of guy Montag as well as the plot. Montag thrives to do better with their influence; Clarisse by making him wonder about the potential beauty of the world, and Mrs. Clara Phelps and Mrs. Ann Bowles by proving to him the harshness of the society.
Can books and people change a person’s way of thinking? Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is about Guy Montag who is a fireman who burns books and houses. Throughout the book he realizes he’s not happy so he has to transform his mindset by using books and people. Guy Montag changes in the story through his increasing problems in his relationship and his perceptions in books.
Starting fires appeared to be his passion. However, as he considers Clarisse’s question, “Are you happy?” (Bradbury 10), his views being to change and Montag wonder if he truly is. From this point on, Montag’s life tears at the seams.
Guy Montag a firefighter but instead he starts the fires. In the book Fahrenheit 451, Montag Mildred, and Beatty are impacted by the alienation. By looking at Montag, one can see he is lost which is important because he has to go to other people for help. Everyone around him was alienated from the real world and believe everything they hear.
Changing Montag In the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the main character Montag, learns and develops throughout the story. Montag morals change from the beginning and the way he thinks and acts change. In this novel there is a couple of characters who try and stop Montag and theirs characters who help Montag to become the person he became at the end. Montag went from a depressed normal person, to a hero to believe in meaning.
(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
Montag’s Internal and External Conflicts People sometimes have a great effect on other people, even if they do not realize it. That is what happens to Guy Montag, a main character in Ray Bradbury’s science fiction novel, Fahrenheit 451. In the novel he comes across many characters that change him. In the novel Ray Bradbury uses conflict to show the knowledge and ignorance in the characters. Ray Bradbury uses Montag’s internal and external conflict throughout the book to show how he is changed by these things.
Would anyone conform to their societies wishes if they were in Montag’s place, or would they still be their own individual as Montag did throughout Fahrenheit 451? Montag was told, on multiple occasion, to conform to the society and that it would be easier; however he denies society and forms his own individual personality due to the influences of his friends. Although Montag’s society told him to be indifferent and conform to what the society wanted, many other societies would have told him to be unique, not the doll that his society and government had made and told him to be. Montag was told to be what society wanted him to do; however, he lived by being an individual against the grain of society in the book.
Guy Montag has a moral dilemma whether to rebel against the government or comply with the law. The law has illegalized books, whether it is owning or reading them. Montag’s responsibilities of being a firefighter ironically is to ignite fires rather than put them out. Guy Montag lives in a very uniform society where everyone acts the same, dresses the same, and even thinks the same. Therefore, it is uncanny to be different and unique.
The word illicit sums up the confusion and weakness of the main character, Montag, a follower of the dystopian society, but introduced to a new way of thinking, but he is incapable of handling the contrast of reality and what life is really about. The oppression of dystopian society reveals when he is unsettled about his life due to several instances which make him begin to think beyond his ability and act irrationally rebelling to in an attempt to make changes in society. In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury illicits a rebellion through the characterization of Guy Montag as he questions the direction of society in order to suggest the audience does the same thing.