Montag As A Hero In Fahrenheit 451

Why do people say that Montag is a hero? In the book Fahrenheit 451 the protagonist Montag finds that he is living in a brainwashed society where everyone lives for thrills, and never takes time to think about anything at all. When Montag realizes this he thinks about the life he thought he knew, where he finds that he in spite of everyone's pursuit of “fun” nobody is happy. This discovery sets him off on a journey to battle society, and to see who he is. This description of him does paint him in a heroic light, but lets look a little deeper. As defined by Dictionary.com, a hero is, “a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.” (Dictionary.com). So a hero is man who either has a heroic character,

There is some ground to that argument. When talking to Faber Montag says "Nobody listens any more. I can't talk to the walls because they're yelling at me. I can't talk to my wife; she listens to the walls” .. ”We have everything we need to be happy, but we aren't happy. Something's missing” (bradbury 39). Montag is concerned about his wife, and is trying to help her and the rest of his community. That is rather heroic, this is what Montag thinks he is doing, but lets look a little closer. Montag changes a lot during the book so let’s break down his motivation throughout the book. In part one, Montag is just another drone for society, “happily” burning things and living life. Then he meets Clarisse. This starts a Montag on a spiral of confusion where he realizes the nature of the world, transitioning into part two. Here is where the Montag they are talking about really takes form, Montag sees the evil nature of his community and wants to put an end to it. Here also is where a clue into Montag’s character hides. Look at Montag's plan is to fix the world. Its to burn the firemen, the people holding back knowledge by burning books. Faber tries to explain that his plan won’t work by saying "But that would just nibble the edges. The whole culture's shot through” … “Remember, the firemen are rarely necessary. The public itself stopped reading of its own accord” (Bradbury 32). When told this, to get his way any way, Montag threatens his friend by tearing the books apart, the ones he just confirmed were valuable to him, in front of him and, threatening to kill him. Montag isn’t heroically trying to save people from what they have become, he is angry at his old lifestyle for failing to make him happy, so he plans to burn every fireman he can in revenge... Lets finish what we started, in the third part