Ray Bradbury includes several allusions in his novel “Fahrenheit 451.” Captain Beatty says, “Well the crisis is the past and all is well, the sheep returns to the fold. We’re all the sheep and who have strayed at times” (Bradbury 102). That quote is very similar to the Old Testament in the Bible, “All we like sheep have gone astray” (Isaiah 53:6). That Bible verse means people have gone off on their own path. They have decided to venture away from the Lord’s path to choose their own. Beatty is inevitably telling Montag that everybody tries to take their own path venturing away from “herd,” referring to his possession of the books. Montag knows he shouldn’t have them, but he chooses his own path and ventures away from the herd. The "herd" is burning books while Montag is venturing away from the herd and is instead reading them, which is prohibited. Bradbury includes another allusion when Captain Beatty is talking to Montag, putting him in an awkward scenario. Beatty says, “But on the other hand: ‘Words are like leaves and where they are most abound, Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found.’ …show more content…
After Beatty recites the first quote from Pope, he then has Beatty recite another one. Beatty said, “Or this? ‘A little learning is a dangerous thing. Drink deep, or not taste the Pierian spring; There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again. Pope” (102). Beatty then goes on to explain, “Read a few lines and off you go over the cliff (102). Bradbury included this allusion to show how Beatty was trying to convince Montag that reading is menacing. By saying this, Beatty is implying how taking in or in this case, drinking, little information from books can make you crazed and, as a result, partake in idiotic things. Pope, however, was just saying how it is better to learn all the information, not just casual little fragments of
Everyone’s personality changes throughout their lives. But, for Guy Montag from Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, his personality changes drastically in a matter of a few weeks. Imagine a society with no books and only TV. That is exactly the place where the characters in Fahrenheit 451 are living. In their society, citizens do not read. All they do is watch TV and go to funparks. School is pretty much a joke. The students do not learn anything. One of the most important jobs is firemen. Their job is to burn books. Everyone goes along with it because they are completely brainwashed by the government and TV. One character, Guy Montag, dared to go against the norm. Although, at first, he was an average brainwashed citizen, he later rebelled. Throughout the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the main character, Guy, transforms from an average citizen into a literate rebel.
Although we cannot make people listen. They have to come around in their own time, wondering what happened and why the world blew up around them, it can’t last. A quote by Ray Bradbury. Meanwhile, in the book, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, tells a story on how montag changed by the influences of the positive people in his society. The next paragraph will show what happened from the beginning and how he changed. Although today’s technological advances haven’t caught up with Bradbury’s F451, there is a very real danger that society might end up overly relying on technology at the price of intellectual development.
In the novel, FAHRENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury, Guy Montag lives in an inverted society, where firemen make fires instead of put them out, and pedestrians are used as bowling pins for cars that are excessively speeding. The people on this society are hypnotized by giant wall size televisions and seashell radios that are attached to everyone’s ears. People in Montag’s society do not think for themselves or even generate their own opinions; everything is given to them by the television stations they watch. In this society, if someone is in possession of a book, their books are burned by the firemen, but not only their books, but their entire home. Montag begins realizing that the things in this society are not right. Montag is influenced and changes over the course of the novel. The strongest influences in Montag’s life are Clarisse, the burning on 11 Elm Street and Captain Beatty.
To begin, Bill and Bud are clever people, which many people would find likeable, owning a bookstore, “they had read everything ever written and were hellbent on reading everything new published each month” (Moehringer, 3). They didn’t have to read the books, Bill and Bud could have just stocked the books and ordered new reading material for customers to read. Even so, they decided that they wanted to read each book that was published every month, and ever written; concluding, that they are intelligent people, who like to learn new things. In addition, the pair also knew everything, from Yale’s famous graduates to the best teacher in Yale’s English department, “they were suddenly talking over each other, rhapsodizing about Yale, recounting its history, its roll call of famous graduates, from Noah Webster to Nathan Hale to Col Porter” (5).
Society was confronted during an era when it questioned change in itself. For example Beatty said “and the books say nothing! Nothing you can teach or believe” (Bradbury 62). This shows that persevering against society will attract others to miss lead people; however they must follow themselves and set the path that they wish to continue down. How this show that is that Montag thought differently about the suppression of books, and became aware how society saw it. In addition Mrs. Phelps Mildred’s friend said “Why don’t you just read us one of those poems from your little book” (Bradbury 98). This shows that Montag had persevered against censorship until others were in dismay, and until they were at a point where they had to use others to help them defend themselves. How this shows that is when people persevere against others and their beliefs they will be recognized and others will try to tear them down. If people persist against society it will push back.
In the novel Fahrenheit 451 by author Ray Bradbury we are taken into a place of the future where books have become outlawed, technology is at its prime, life is fast, and human interaction is scarce. The novel is seen through the eyes of middle aged man Guy Montag. A firefighter, Ray Bradbury portrays the common firefighter as a personal who creates the fire rather than extinguishing them in order to accomplish the complete annihilation of books. Throughout the book we get to understand that Montag is a fire hungry man that takes pleasure in the destruction of books. It’s not until interacting with three individuals that open Montag’s eyes helping him realize the errors of his ways. Leading Montag to change his opinion about books, and more over to a new direction in life with a mission to preserve and bring back the life once sought out in books. These three individual characters Clarisse McClellan, Faber, and Granger transformed Montag through the methods of questioning, revealing, and teaching.
In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury uses the life of Guy Montag, a fireman in a near future dystopia, to make an argument against mindless conformity and blissful ignorance. In Bradbury’s world, the firemen that Montag is a part of create fires to burn books instead of putting out fires. By burning books, the firemen eliminate anything that might be controversial and make people think, thus creating a conforming population that never live a full life. Montag is part of this population for nearly 30 years of his life, until he meets a young girl, Clarisse, who makes him think. And the more he thinks, the more he realizes how no one thinks. Upon making this realization, Montag does the opposite of what he is supposed to; he begins to read. The more he reads and the more he thinks, the more he sees how the utopia he thought he lived in, is anything but. Montag then makes an escape from this society that has banished him because he has tried to gain true happiness through knowledge. This is the main point that Bradbury is trying to make through the book; the only solution to conformity and ignorance is knowledge because it provides things that the society can not offer: perspective on life, the difference between good and evil, and how the world works.
Captain Beatty believes society is filled with nothing more than non-thinkers. He says people who are infatuated with books are insane. He believes that there is no need for school because no one needs to think. The only priority in life is to have fun and stay busy. To keep from having controversy, everyone has to be alike and the same. You do not have the right to be yourself. Captain Beatty says the society makes you and all the population be the same. No one can be unique. He says the firemen are custodians. They are to clean up the things (books) that make people feel inferior or that go against the Government. lastly , Captain Beatty says the only purpose in life is to stay active and to stay contempt. He basically sees society as one
In the novel Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury creates a world resembling our current world. This novel is about Montag, a fireman who burns books instead of preventing fires, because it is against the law to have books. Without the use of books, people are dumb, and they don’t know what they are talking about. Montag hates the idea of books, but throughout the novel he learns why they are necessary, resulting in him becoming a dynamic character. A definition of a dynamic character is a character that grows and changes throughout a story. At the end of the story, Montag changes emotionally and mentally. Three major events result in a dynamic change in Montag’s perspective.
In class we read the book Fahrenheit 451. The main character Montag has several qualities that change his views and decisions throughout the book. In the beginning of the story Montag was very confirmative and just went along with everything the government and didn’t really question anything but by the end of the book he was completely different. He had changed his views completely. One reason that motivated Montag to change so drastically was his curiosity. This caused him to question things and that led to some of his other qualities such as his open-mindedness. Questioning everything and talking to new people for information allowed Montag to become more open-minded and become open to more ideas. Another quality that Montag has that lead to his in change in the story was his change over time was his childhood memories.
Guy Montag is a fireman who is greatly influenced in Ray Bradbury's novel, Fahrenheit 451. The job of a fireman in this futuristic society is to burn down houses with books in them. Montag has always enjoyed his job, that is until Clarisse McClellan comes along. Clarisse is seventeen and crazy. At least, this is what her uncle, whom she gets many of her ideas about the world from, describes her as. Clarisse and Montag befriend each other quickly, and Clarisse's impact on Montag is enormous. Clarisse comes into Montag's life, and immediately begins to question his relationship with his wife, his career, and his happiness. Also, Clarisse shows Montag how to appreciate the simple things in life. She teaches him to care about other people and their feelings. By the end of the novel, we can see that Montag is forever changed by Clarisse.
People can change due to the influence of other people. Guy Montag changes from being a book burning monster to an independent knowledge seeker due to the influences of Clarisse McClellan. Montag in Fahrenheit 451 by: Ray Bradbury shows how he acted before he changed, after meeting Clarisse, and after meeting Faber.
The three words I've chosen as effective diction are 'Me?', 'sizzling,' and 'Yes.' I chose these words because they seemed either to reflect Beatty's blunt and definitive manner, or the author's use of personification and imagery. The first one ('Me?'), is in the 14th line, Beatty uses this as a rebuttal to himself, when referring to a well-read man. He tells Montag that he won't stomach it for a minute. This helps the reader see his objective manner and further understand Beatty as a character and as a person. The next term ('sizzling'), refers to the fireworks seen on the screen in Montag's home. This helps give the reader imagine the scene and helps us understand how realistic the image is, as well as how far technology has come. The final
Apathy is defined as a lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern. This generation is lacking apathy, as we do not care about others. Our society is obsessed with, and utterly focused on ourselves. We just use people for information, and then we keep moving forward. In Fahrenheit 451, the people are shown as only seeking this individual pleasure in the forms of technology like televisions and radios. Citizens are unconcerned about war and important information. They are too caught up in their own personal lives to be busy with things that affect everyone else. This book is all about what could happen to a completely apathetic society. Only some people like Montag, truly understand and realize that in order to break this constant state of lacking emotion, you need to walk and ask questions, and think deeply about things around you. One of the reasons Montag started to realize that this society was becoming apathetic was because of Beatty. Beatty was using reverse psychology to help, and make Montag aware of the fact
Some characters like Montag did not succumb to the ignorance of society. Unlike Mildred characters like Montag believed in the power books and knowledge. Montag was once like Mildred until he met Clarisse; his neighbor. Clarisse was different from anyone Montag had ever met. She made him question his career, his happiness and even his marriage. After talking to Clarisse, Montag realizes he’s been ignorant for his whole life and begins a dangerous search for knowledge. After eventually stealing a book and reading it Montag realized that knowledge is really important. Books symbol knowledge because they provide their readers with information they did not know prior to opening the book. Montag no longer believed that ignorance was bliss “”. Through Montag’s fight for knowledge Bradbury is able to help the readers to understand that people are afraid of knowledge because they fear making mistakes. “You’re afraid of making mistakes. Don’t be. Mistakes can be profited by” says Faber (Bradbury 104). Knowledge is gained from experience. The best and worst sides of Montag were revealed during his journey because he made mistakes and learned from them. At the end of the novel Montag like readers comes to the realization that knowledge and experiences is the true meaning of life.