First, Montag appears empathetic towards his fellow citizens, while the Captain is bent on burning literature and expects the same characteristic from his cohorts. Before the firemen could burn a woman’s collection of publications, she instead set himself - and her whole house - on fire rather than relinquish her literature. The incident sank deep into Montag’s heart and he questions the tactics of his peers. Over a game of cards, Montag confided to Beatty, “‘I’ve tried to imagine .... just how it would feel. I mean, to have firemen burn our houses and our books.’ .... ‘Was─was it always like this? The
Guy Montag, usually referred to as “Montag,” is a third generation fireman in the world of Fahrenheit 451 (Bradbury 42). His world is a place where firemen start fires rather than putting them out; until the start of the book he does not question anything he is told (Bradbury 15). Montag goes through a series of events that cause him to doubt what he has always known. He learns that not all people are what his society finds normal, and when a woman is burned alive he feels that he needs to know more about what these books are all about (Bradbury 16, 35). As these events unfold before him, Guy becomes more and more intrigued with the books. He becomes so intrigued that he steals a book from the woman’s house before they burn it, which is later revealed that he has been doing for a while (Bradbury 34, 53). Throughout all this Montag finds that he is quite unhappy with his life, but he does not kn...
Montag somehow smuggles a great deal of books into his home and hides them since he and all other people are banned from having books in their possession. Eventually, Mildred Montag, Guy’s wife, locates her husband’s stash of books in their home and becomes frantic. Montag promises that he will not get caught. However his boss at the fire station, Beatty, discovers his books also. Beatty tells Montag to get rid of the books in a certain amount of time but when Montag does not follow order, Beatty attempts to make Montag burn down his own home. Montag then turns on Beatty and burns him instead.
Guy Montag is a fireman in charge of burning books. In the town he lives in the people are forbidden to read books. Whenever a person was caught with books that made them question anything the books were burned and sometimes even the people. A young girl named Clarisse McClellan opened his eyes to the emptiness of his life with her innocently penetrating questions. She makes him start to think about the things he used to do such as his job (Bradbury 12). When he continues to talk to her, he begins to change.
“It was a pleasure to burn” (1). Montag never thought much of his job, to him, it was merely his duty. Meeting Clarisse starts Montag's revision of life. Her interest and questioning is so unique that Montag is intrigued by her. He had never met someone who asks "why" instead of "how." Soon, Clarisse disappears, and is then presumably dead for the rest of the book. Shortly after his disappearance, Montag to begin smuggling books during work, hoping to learn more by himself. From the old woman’s house, Montag steals a book and hides it. At first thought, Montag believes this act of defiance to the law is wrong, and that he should end such rebellious thoughts. Soon after, however, he thinks that it is possible that taking the book isn’t such a bad thing. The ability for Montag to find the courage to break the law, after 10 years of obedience shows significant development in Montag as a whole. This is because he knows he is doing something wrong, but he does it anyway. By doing this and not burning the book, he inadvertently is changing his opinion on fire. Although he doesn’t know it, he is starting to change his opinion towards fire being destructive rather than cleansing.
He didn't quite understand why he did it though. Montag says, " So it was the hand that started it all." He believes that this his brain had nothing to do with the decisions, but that his hands with free will,grabbed the book. Montag is now transforming into a new person. He reveals himself and his wrong doings to Mildred, his wife, and she doesn't know how to react or accept the news. Montag becomes distant to her and the rest of the people in his society. Now, Montag is free of the society's
“With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world, the blood pounded in his head and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history.” – Page 4 of 431 iPhone eBook (177 Pages Left)
As he walks home, he meets a 17-year old girl named Clarisse McClellan. She talks to him about his job and they talk for a while. He finds out that this girl lives upstairs from him. He returns to his home after talking to Clarisse, and finds his wife lying on the bed with an empty bottle of sleeping pills next to her. He calls the emergency hospital and an ambulance comes, pumps her stomach, and replaces her blood with clean blood. The next day Mildred remembers nothing about overdosing on the sleeping pills. After breakfast, Montag goes to work at the fire station. Over the next seven days, Montag talks to Clarisse more and more. On the eighth day, Montag doesn’t see Clarisse. He goes to work that day, and the alarm sound for them to go to a decayed old house. Montag finds hundreds of books in the old lady’s attic, and one falls onto his hand. He unthinkingly hides the book under his coat and begins to spray kerosene over the house. The old woman that owns the books refuses to leave the house. Beatty begins to light the fire, but Montag stops him. Then, suddenly, the woman strikes a match and lights the house. The spectators watch in horror as the old woman burns up along side her books. Montag goes home and hides his stolen b...
At the beginning of the novel, Montag, like everyone else, strays from the unknown and what he does not understand, and by burning books he pleases the ignorant. He has a position of authority and never questioned his job. Until Montag meets a peculiar girl who is not afraid of him named Clarisse McClellan. Clarisse irritates Montag at first because she asks deep questions to the way the world is and makes statements about his life. Clarisse’s love of nature, people, and the way the world used to be is strange. Forced to go to a psychiatrist for strange behaviors she does, such as
Guy Montag was a fireman, and in the beginning of the story loved his job.On a night unlike any other Montag met a young girl named Clarisse. Although she was young, only seventeen, Clarisse opened his eyes to a world he didn't even realize he longed for, a world where people talked about things with meaning, and lived thier life with appreciation and intelligence. Montag begun a stash of books from his jobs, wanting to understand what he was destroying. Feeling an immense guilt, he told his captain, Beatty, and his wife his secret. Mildred turned on Montag and sounded the alarm to Montag's house. Beatty was going to kill Montag, but the tables turned and Montag murdered his own captain. With the whole city looking for Guy, he desperately fled. Montag had escaped, and the city needed a scape goat, they cornered an innocent man they claimed was Guy Montag. Outside the city walls, he encountered other renegades that still had hope that time for books would come back. War had ensued in the city, and the skyline...
Montag tells Mildred about reading the books, but Mildred did not want to read the books because she thinks that if Captain Beatty find the books, he will burn the house and the “family” down (pg 73). Montag starts to read the books himself and he realizes that every book he reads, the words are somehow co...
Guy Montag, a fireman that burn books. In the world he lives in believes that it’s better to burn books then to read them. Montag met a young girl named Clarisse McClellan, which ended up opening his eyes and saw his world and life in a dissatisfaction. Montag started hiding books that he collected from his a fires and hiding them in the fire stations. As he gain the knowledge form reading books, he view the world, nature and the people around him. First it was his wife Mildred, who sit in front of the TV all day, tried to attempts suicide by swallowing a whole bottle of sleeping pills. Second things was responding to an alarm that had an old women that was stashing books. The old women stocked him because she said she wanted to be burned alive with her books. Lastly, hearing about Clarisse McClellan getting hit and dying by a speeding car.
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.
One night on Montag’s usual walk home from work, he meets a young unusual girl named Clarisse McClellan. She is different from most people, she is idealistic and hates what being social has turned into. She tells Montag of a society where firemen once use to put out accidental fires, and not start them as they do now. Montag thinks this is nonsense the Chief has reassured him that firemen have always started fires, it’s even in rule book. Clarisse continues to tell him about her uncle, who remembers such things from the past. She tells Montag about her family and how they stay up all night talking about a variety of different things. Montag thinks this is very odd, why would anyone want to waste their time just staying up and talking?
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.