How Does Montag Change In Fahrenheit 451

As Mildred once said “Books are not people.”(pg.69) She is absolutely right. Books are not people. They are people’s deepest thoughts and desires. Montag so desperately searched in books for people’s flaws for the dystopian society in which he lives forces the people to mask their emotions. At the beginning of the book Montag had been a very reserved man living in his own world, but as he meets Clarisse he contemplates whether there was something actually wrong with him. On his first encounter with Clarisse she states “‘You laugh when I haven’t been funny and you answer right off. You never stop to think what I’ve asked you.’’’” (Pg.6) At this early point in the book Montag is not searching for anything. He was not living, he was just existing. Clarisse came and gave meaning

His responses to what she says are automatic like he was a programmed robot. Montag’s meeting with Clarisse gave him a reason to look around him harder as it was fascinating how she seemed like from another world, and she was. Clarisse was part of the real world and Montag wanted to be a part of that strange new world that was different from his own self-centered world. From there on, Montag continues to change his view of the world, but there was no one to share his view of the world after Clarisse had died. Montag knew that he had to pass on the truth of the society so he went to a memory of his first meeting with Faber who had first introduced books to him. Montag had remembered how “Faber held his hand over his left coat pocket and spoke these words gently, and Montag knew if he reached out, he might pull a book of poetry from the man’s coat.” (Pg.71) Before, Montag would never think about the past. He would never look back to think about what had happened before because there was nothing ever worth experiencing in the past. The people of his society were not occupied about what happened in the past or the