Theme Of Individual In Fahrenheit 451

Bradbury deploys the conflict of individual versus individual within his novel, Fahrenheit 451, which accurately demonstrates the lack of cooperation between people in society. This conflict emanates from the novel’s protagonist, Guy Montag, and chief of his department, Captain Beatty. Captain Beatty constantly provokes Montag because he can sense something different about him. Montag enjoys books. As soon as Montag returns to the firehouse from his phony sickness, Beatty immediately begins attacking him with quotes such as “sweet food of sweetly uttered knowledge” by Sir Philip Sidney or “ words are like leaves and where they most abound, much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found” by Alexander Pope (Bradbury 102). Since Beatty happens to know so many quotes, the audience can infer that he possesses knowledge and that he once appreciated

Montag’s inner struggles appear the night the firemen go to burn the house of the old woman. At first, he cannot believe that the woman would willingly burn herself with all of her books considering he has only ever known the impression that books exist as wicked items of society. Later that night as Montag talks to his wife, Mildred, he has a revelation that “there must be something in books, things [he] can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house” because he knows “[one would not] stay for nothing” (Bradbury 48). Later on that night Montag asks Mildred: how long had it been since she had felt disturbed? Disturbed by something that mattered? (Bradbury 49). Since this talk, one can visually see Montag’s mental state slowly declining. As the story goes on, he feels that burden dragging him down and it takes his wife and fire department down with him because he cannot come to terms with his new impression on