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.
But now that he sees someone’s life be taken by his enforcement, he starts putting in hard consideration about the very things that are against the laws of his own society and wonders why exactly his society would ban books. (STEWE-3) Eventually, he questions his society so much that Montag starts rebelling by reading books against the rules, now determined to find the answers to his questions about
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.
In this powerful novel science fiction novel, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, explorer technology and lack of knowledge in a society, Montag is forced to face his society alone. Not the only one in his city, but the only one who stood up to something he was around his whole life. The reader will experience Montag’s journey to change the thoughts of his people. Characterization in the story can show the reader how the characters have developed over time. In the beginning of the book, Montag is seen doing what he was suppose to do.
Also censoring the importance of knowledge, reading and thinking. It has been like this for many years and Montag has always thought by doing his job he could prevent that. Especially with books, he has always been doing what his job entails, burning books, doing the kind deed for the city. One day while on his way to work, Montag meets his new neighbor a young, free spirited, seventeen year old girl names Clarisse McClellan. She was different than anyone he has ever met in the town.
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.
Matthew Nodder ENG 3UC Mr. Hokstad May 2, 2017 Essay Rough Copy 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 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
Montag hides some books until he finds the courage to read them. He goes from burning books to a book reader, effectively demonstrating his objection towards his society. The society forces people to watch their television instead of going outside or having meaningful conversations. They don’t even have porches“’[… but Clarisse’s] uncle say that was merely rationalizing it; the real reason, hidden underneath, might be they didn’t want people sitting like that, doing nothing, rocking, talking; that was the wrong kind of social life.
Due to this action, we see that the protagonist isn’t able to read books; his job [as a fireman] does the opposite. Apparently, Montag’s society does not believe in pursuing knowledge because it makes people see the faults in the world [wisdom creates a threat in the government]. As the story
In this part of the book, all of the firemen including Montag received a call to burn a house with the books in there. Here became the turning point for Montag as he saw the woman, who already had made her decision to die rather than live in a world of oppression and restricted freedom of thought which books symbolize in this part, burns with the illegal books in the burning house, refusing to go out without the assurance of the safety of the books. We can suppose that his perception is gradually changing through the phrase showing that Montag felt a huge guilt over this, unlike the other firemen or Beatty. Furthermore, during the conversation with his wife, Mildred, Montag says, “We burn a thousand books. We burnt a woman.
“you’re not like the others...when I talk, you look at me. When I said something about the moon, you looked at the moon, last night… the others would never do that… that’s why I think it’s so strange you’re a fireman, it just doesn’t seem right for you, somehow” (Pg 21) Clarisse, 17 years old and crazy really makes Montage question who he is as a person. If it weren’t for her, he might not ever have had the thought to go against the society to do what’s right. This relates to the theme because society is trying to change everyone to be the same but because of Clarisse, Montag realizes questions who he is as a person and learns right vs wrong which helps him to stand up against the bad things that society is doing and do the right thing.
This is until the day he meets Clarisse, who looks at the world in a different way than anyone else. Then, shortly after, he has to burn down a house full of books and burn the woman inside also because she refuses to leave. This causes Montag to realize that books should not be burned and have great significance in the world. He then shows his wife the abundance of books that he has collected from his job, and his wife, Mildred, becomes concerned. This later causes her to make up lies to cover the fact that Montag is breaking the law of owning books.
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. Initially, Montag seems as static and obedient as all the others in this totalitarian society; however, through talking with Clarisse, Montag’s views change, causing him to question the rules around him.
Montag eventually reaches a point where he can’t stand his normal life anymore. Clarisse, intentionally or not, has shocked Montag back into his childlike curiosity. All he wants to do is learn, something he’s never felt so attached to before. This is how Montag becomes comfortable enough with his wonder to start reading books. Within just a few moments of interaction with her, Clarisse was able to bring back the curiosity in Montag’s