(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).
Montag begins noticing how unimportant she is to him; “And he remembered thinking then that if she died, he was certain he wouldn’t cry” shows how messed up society is (Bradbury 44). They have turned this people into complete strangers, but that is the way live is for everyone living in this time. Next, the name Clarisse means light or clarity which provides foreshadowing on Clarisse’s role in the novel (Zipes 2). “’You think too many things,’ said Montag, uneasily” (Bradbury 9). The word “uneasily” gives the reader the sense that something is wrong, but Clarisse is only thinking.
It’s more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories’” (Bradbury 150). Granger’s grandfather told Granger this piece of wisdom, along with others, that Granger admits shaped him into the man he is in the present. “Granger turned to Montag. ‘Grandfather’s been dead for all these years, but if you lifted my skull, by God, in the convolutions of my brain you’d find the big ridges of his thumbprint. He touched me’” (Bradbury 150).
All throughout this story, Bradbury gives many examples of this happening and one of those times was when Montag was talking to Faber about the men that were mobilized for war and he says, “I’m not thinking. I’m just doing like I’m told, like always” (qtd. in 88). When Montag and Faber are talking about this, Montag realizes that before he met Clarisse, who made him step back and think about things, that most of the people in his world will do whatever they are told because in this utopian society the government have to tell them what to do so then they do not have time to think about other things. This relates to our world today because some people are constantly getting influenced by things in their society just like North Korea, how everyone is constantly being told what to believe and being continuously watched and listened in on to make sure they are not saying things that will make someone in the country unhappy or make the leaders look bad.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is about a dystopian society and how in their society books are neglected and burned. How he conveys these emotions or moment in the book by using lines from other books called allusions. Allusions are used to express how people feel in the moment of the book. Authors use allusions because it makes it easier for people to connect to the book and you get the sense of what is happening in the book. Bradbury uses it in Fahrenheit 451 because the book is complex and harder to understand so he uses allusions for the reader to get a better understanding of what is going on and what the situation is.
(Bradbury 8). What Montag is pondering about is how she behaved so attentive and natural towards him when they interacted, which was in fact, genuine social behavior.
After their short stroll from the recreation center back to their homes, Montag couldn't quit pondering her; "Of course I’m happy. What does she think? I'm not? "(7) "What incredible power of identification the girl had; she was like the eager watcher of a marionette show, anticipating each flicker of an eyelid, each gesture of his hand, each flick of a finger, the moment before it began."(8). The motivation behind why she vanishes from the novel is on the grounds that that is the place he truly begins to do things more for himself since he begins thinking for himself.
He feels like there is something missing; he is skeptical about the missing fraction of him. He said to Faber, “‘I’m not thinking. I’m just doing like I’m told, like always...I didn’t really think of it myself. When do I start working things out on my own’” (Bradbury 92). Montag is desperate for his own independence; he wants to be an individual that can think for himself without being programmed to do so.
He is a paradox in which his vague background, Montag’s assessment of him, and anti-intellectual actions and ideas clash with his intellectual thoughts, the ones where he is quoting literature and promoting knowledge to prove that a person like him will eventually crack from the pressures of society. Readers only get to witness Beatty from Montag’s point of view and are given very few clues to his background leaving them wondering who he actually is. While discussing the Hound Beatty tells Montag “Hell! It’s a fine bit of craftsmanship” (25). When Montag expresses his thoughts about the Hound, Beatty is quick to defend
(STEWE-2) As Montag starts to read a book to her, he comes across a point “‘That favorite subject, Myself”’(68), Mildred then responds saying “‘I understand that one”’(68). Mildred barely thinks about life, but when she does, it 's only about herself and herself only. She won’t have a single thought about others, not even her husband. (SIP-B)The book clearly shows that people in the society have no feelings towards others as they kill and hurt each other. (STEWE-1) When Montag gets angry, he says he has the urge to smash and kill things.