How Does Montag Change In Fahrenheit 451

In the view of Thomas Foster in the chapter, “If She Comes Up, It's Baptism” water for the most part symbolize something outside of the context given in the novel. In other words he says that if a character is written to almost drown and don’t the author may have been using this as an excuse to make the character reborn. “So maybe on some level tossing the characters into the river is (a) wish fulfillment, (b) exorcism of primal fear, (c) exploration of the possible, and not just (d) a handy solution to messy plot difficulties” (Foster 153). Furthermore the author can craft their narration, however they see fit, similarly with any other literary technique. After some thought, seeing the correlation between this and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 came to mind.

Starting the novel, Montag was a firefighter that burned all books, but when Clarisse came to be his neighbor, he he discovered her intriguing knowledge. As a result, he forces himself to grow and change throughout the entire novel, in a way this change was great, he had never thought in the way these books made him. However, his society caught on to what he was doing and their first thought is stopping Montag. In his scheme to escape, he ended up floating down a river to safety, which by first glance doesn't have that great of an impact. He touched it, just to be sure it was real. He waded in and stripped in darkness to the skin, splashed his body, arms, legs, and head with raw liquor; drank it and snuffed some up his nose. Then he dressed in Faber's old clothes and shoes. He tossed his own clothing into the river and watched it swept away. Then, holding the suitcase, he walked out in the river until there was no bottom and he was swept away in the dark” (Bradbury 225). Notably Montag is obviously cleansing his dirty body, but he also in a sense is cleansing his