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Fahrenheit 451 literary analysis
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Literary analysis of fahrenheit 451
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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. Montag never appreciated the simple things in life. He would never walk or drive slow enough to see the colors of things. This bothered Clarisse McClellan very much. She loved to catch raindrops on her tongue, and she always left little presents for Montag to make sure he appreciated these simple things. Through her spirit and her small simple presents, Montag finds the strength to also appreciate these things.“And then very slowly as he walked, he tilted his head back in the rain for just a few moments and opened his mouth..”(Bradbury 24). Montag begins to see that no matter how hard life gets, he will always have these smaller things that he can enjoy. In the beginning of the novel, Montag thinks he cares about everyone and their feelings. Once Clarisse steps into his life, this changes right away. She shows him that the world he lives in ignores people's feelings .They make games out of kill... ... middle of paper ... ... chin. She tells Montag that this means she is in love. When she rubs the dandelion underneath Montag's chin she has a very different result. There is no powder. “'What a shame,' she said. 'You're not in love with anyone' 'I am very much in love!' He tried to conjure up a face to fit the words, but there was no face 'I am!'” Montag goes home, and thinks about this. He later realizes that he isn't in love, and would not care if Mildred died. Montag is influenced by Clarisse a lot. And, her impact on him is tremendous. She questions his whole life, teaches him to appreciate the simple things, and to care about other people and their feelings. “You're peculiar, you're aggravating, yet you're easy to forgive..”(Bradbury 23) Through all Clarisse's questioning, Montag knows that she is trying to help him. Because of her help and impact on him, Montag is changed forever.
Clarisse McClellan shows a great example of individuality in the novel. She “liked to smell things and look at things, and sometimes stay up all night, walking and watching the sun rise” (Bradbury 5). Clarisse’s question and curiosity showed how different she was than the others. She was a great thinker and Montag thought this made her strange. While she was talking to Montag, she tells him “You 're not like the others. I 've seen a few; I know. When I talk, you look at me. When I said something about the moon, you looked at the moon, last night. The others would never do that. The others would walk off and leave me talking. Or threaten me”, she saw something in Montag that showed how he was willing to be like her, different (Bradbury
Firstly, Montag is influenced by Clarisse McClellan because she is the first person he has met that is not like the rest of the society. Clarisse is a young 17 year old girl that Montag quickly becomes very fond of. Clarisse influences Montag by the way she questioned Montag, the way she admires nature, and her death. Clarisse first influenced Montag by the way she began questioning him often. Her questions would make him think for himself unlike the rest of society. “Then she seemed to remember something and came back to look at him with wonder and curiosity. “Are you happy?” she said. “Am I what?” he cried. But she was gone- running in the moonlight” (Bradbury, 10). Clarisse was one of the only people that Montag had ever met that had ever asked him that. This question that she asked him influenced him because he thinks about, and Montag asks himself tha...
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.
Clarisse said she found it strange that Montag is a fireman and is nice to her she saw it weird for a fireman to be like that. This statement is when Montag has a journey of development in the story. Then there is also the fact that Montag begins to ask questions more or even think about things he normally wouldn't think about. (Bradbury pg19) It is when Montag begins questioning things that he begins to get suspicious about what are really in books that the government doesn't want them to
Ray Bradbury's novel, Fahrenheit 451, is based in a futuristic time where technology rules our everyday lives and books are viewed as a bad thing because it brews free thought. Although today’s technological advances haven’t caught up with Bradbury’s F451, there is a very real danger that society might end up relying on technology at the price of intellectual development. Fahrenheit 451 is based in a futuristic time period and takes place in a large American City on the Eastern Coast. The futuristic world in which Bradbury describes is chilling, a future where all known books are burned by so called "firemen." Our main character in Fahrenheit 451 is a fireman known as Guy Montag, he has the visual characteristics of the average fireman, he is tall and dark-haired, but there is one thing which separates him from the rest of his colleagues. He secretly loves books.
Montag throughout the novel faces situations and meets people who opens his eyes about society Montag is a fireman in the society; however, the job fireman takes on an entirely different meaning. Instead of stopping fires, Montag starts them. In the society literature is outlawed and it’s his job to burn the book along with the houses that held them.
When society has individuality there is a say in what they feel about certain aspects of life, whether it is good or bad. Clarisse McClellan is a great example of individuality she shows in the novel. She “liked to smell things and look at things, and sometimes stay up all night, walking and watching the sun rise” (Bradbury 5). Her curiosity and questioning made her different than the others, thinking was her specialty and Montag saw her as strange. While she talks to Montag she tells him “You're not like the others. I've seen a few; I know. When I talk, you look at me. When I said something about the moon, you looked at the moon, last night. The others would never do that. The others would walk off and leave me talking. Or threaten me”, she saw something in Montag that showed how he was willing to be like her, different (Bradbury 21). Her character is peaceful; she doesn’t like violence or TV like the others. She’s able to ask questions to Montag about his job, “How long’ve you worked at being a fireman?” (Bradbury 5). Montag then develops a sense of individuality and curiosity of what she has to say. She does not try to convince Montag to think the way she thinks, instead Clarisse shows him that thinking out side the box can be an option for him to chose, not knowing that she has pushed him towards a new decision. Clarisse is a great influence towards Montag’s
Ray Bradbury introduces in his novel, Fahrenheit 451 (1953), a dystopian society manipulated by the government through the use of censored television and the outlaw of books. During the opening paragraph, Bradbury presents protagonist Guy Montag, a fireman whose job is to burn books, and the society he lives in; an indifferent population with a extreme dependence on technology. In Bradbury’s novel, the government has relied on their society’s ignorance to gain political control. Throughout the novel, Bradbury uses characters such as Mildred, Clarisse, and Captain Beatty to show the relationships Montag has, as well as, the types of people in the society he lives in. Through symbolism and imagery, the audience is able to see how utterly unhappy Clarisse, as well as Faber and Granger, represent the more thoughtful minority population.
Within the many layers of Montag lay several opposite sides. For example, Montag is a fireman who burns books for a living but at home, spends time reading novels, poetry, and other written material. Although Montag could be called a hypocrite, he does not enjoy both the reading and the burning at the same time; he goes through a change that causes him to love books. Humans have the power to change and grow from one extreme to another, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. In addition, when Mildred is with Montag, Montag does not have feelings for her but thinks of her as she is killed by the bombs. He possesses both the knowledge that Mildred does not love him and the heart that truly cares, but he knows not how to deal with this. His feelings are oppressed; it takes a major event (the bomb) to jolt them from hibernation.
The first event that results in Montag becoming a dynamic character is his conversations with Clarisse McClellan. She is seventeen, and people consider her insane and anti-social. She is considered anti-social, because she is talkative and expressive. In Bradbury’s made up world, the meaning of social is staring at the parlor walls (large TV screens), and having no thought at all. Clarisse is very different from the rest: “I rarely watch the ‘parlor walls’ or go to races or Fun Parks. So I’ve lots of time for crazy thoughts, I guess. Have you seen the two-hundred-foot-long billboards in the country beyond town? Did you know that once the billboards were only twenty feet long? But cars started rushing by so quickly they even had to stretch the advertising out so it would last” (pg.7).Clarisse’s enthusiastic and cheerful disposition lightens Montag’s attitude, making him a more optimistic person. He is not so closed-minded anymore, and he learns to be himself, and sometimes care free. Montag learns to see the brighter side of things and believe in him...
During Clarisse and Montag’s first encountering, Clarisse asks, “Are you happy?” (Bradbury 10). The question Clarisse asked Montag motivates him to doubt about the meaning of his life and what he does as a firefighter. Clarisse’s interrogation revealed the absence of love, pleasure, and contentment in his life. Walking home after meeting Clarisse, Montag could not stop the inquiry of what he has done in the last ten years of being a fireman and why he does it. It encourages Montag to start his journey to find explanations of why the government wants their people to conform and the reasons behind burning books. This novel would not be able to function without the motivations of Clarisse towards
Early on in the book Montag meets a neighbor, by the name of Clarisse McClellan, a kindhearted teenager who likes conversations and is a very smart girl. Up to this point, Montag is content to continue living the way he has always lived. However, in a conversation with Clarisse, she asks him, “Are you happy?”. This sparks in Montag a question that he has never before felt. He has never asked questions or had thoughts of his own. Clarisse sees herself in a way that is different from society. She tells Montag what people think of her, “I'm antisocial, they say. I don't mix. It's so strange. I'm very social indeed”. Clarisse understands that there is more than one way to perceive something, she tells Montag that “It all depends on what you mean by social, doesn't it? Social to me means talking to you about things like this”.Clarisse has found that people only want to talk about what society wants them to. Clarisse speaks to Montag of his personal life, about being a fireman, to awaken Montag to think on his own and see the world for what it is. Clarisse sparks a huge change in Montag's life for the better. After Montag's meeting with Clarisse, he comes home to his wife unconscious on the floor.
Clarisse acts as the catalyst that compels Montag to examine himself and reveals to him the lack of love, pleasure and contentment in his life. For young readers it might prove difficult to imagine a world without books as one which is dull, unimaginative and full of dissatisfaction, especially when the hours of the day could be occupied with nothing but television. Their emotional immaturity prevents them from comprehending the real motive behind Montag’s inner turmoil and so they fail to appreciate one of the most powerful abilities of classic literature, that is, to evoke empathy in its reader. His feelings of guilt, resentment and discontent, which are foregrounded throughout the novel, are thus clearly more relatable to and intended for older readers, who not only identify them as mere emotions but subconsciously questions their own ideals and
The first of all, Montag loses his control over his own mind. At the beginning of the story, he meets a beautiful girl called Clarisse. She is a peculiar girl who wonders about the society and how people live in there. She tells Montag the beauty of the nature, and also questions him about his job and life. Though he has been proud of being a fireman, Clarisse says, “I think it’s so strange you’re a fireman, it just doesn’t seem right for you, somehow” (21). Montag feels “his body divide itself into a hotness and a coldness, a softness and a hardness, a trembling and a not trembling, the two halves grinding one upon the other” (21) by her words. Everything Clarisse says is something new to him and he gradually gets influenced a lot by this mysterious girl. Actually, the impact of the girl is too significant that his mind is taken over by her when he talks with Beatty, the captain of the firemen. “Suddenly it seemed a much younger voice was speaking for him. He opened his mouth and it was Clarisse McClellan saying, ‘Didn’t firemen prevent fires rather than stoke them up and get them going?’” (31). His mind is not controlled by himself in this part. He takes of Clarisse’s mind and it causes confusion within his mind. It can be said that this happening is an introduction of him losing his entire identity.
Clarisse is Montag’s first mentor in his journey; she is the one who first opens his eyes to the world around him, as well as asking the ultimate question “Are you happy?” (7) To which Montag cried “Am I what?” He never gave whether he was actually, truly happy a real, legitimate thought in his entire life. He just woke up, ate breakfast, went to work, ate lunch, went home, ate dinner, and went to sleep; and all with a big grin fixed on his face. But now, after a bit of consideration he came to the realization that “He was not happy…. He wore his happiness like a mask and the girl had run off across the lawn with the mask a...