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...
In part 1 of the novel Montag is a dedicated fireman, who enjoys burning books for a living. In Montags society, it's a normal event to have books burned. Montag states, "It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed." When he says that he's expressing his love and excitement for burning books. Montag did not think twice about his job, he had no remorse for his actions. He did not think at all, until he met Clarrise Meclellan.
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.
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.
Understandably, at the beginning of the novel, Montag is very proud to be a fireman. It is one of the few jobs in the society, and he takes a certain primal joy in doing it. However, there is a specific moment in the beginning of the book when Montag begins to realize that maybe there is something bad with burning down houses and killing people because they had books. On page 40 Ray Bradbury writes, “The woman on the porch reached out with contempt to them all and struck the kitchen match against the railing.” When any other fireman burns a house, they enjoy destroying it. Everyone else on the street also comes out to watch because they think of it as a carnival, a somewhat rare event that e...
One of the main reasons that Montag changed so drastically over the course of the book was his curiosity. Montag spent a lot of time thinking about his job and started questioning everything he was doing. He starts wondering why books need to be burned and why things are the way that they are. Montag takes up a special interest in book and why things are this way. “Was-was it always like this? The firehouse, our work?” Montag asks Beatty showing his curiosity. Montag’s curiosity is what drives him to find out everything he can about books, society and the way that things used to be. It is only natural for him to begin to question everything especially because his job involves burning hundreds of books a day yet he was never told why these books need to burned. Imagine destroying an object everyday, and being told how important your job is. Naturally you would want to know why you are destroying these objects. This is what happened to Montag and Beatty tried to explain it to him and tells him he shouldn’t be too curious about it “A natural error, curiosity alone,” Beatty also asks Montag “Listen to me, Montag. Once to each fireman, at least once in his career, he just itches to know what these books are all about. He just aches to know. Isn't that so?” Curiosity is a very natural emotion and even Beatty, who tries to explain things to Montag and discourages books, even admits to looking a few books but says “I've had to read a few in my time, to know what I was about, and the books say nothing!” I believe that this would make Montag even more curious.
He’s a fireman and takes care of what seems like their biggest concern; the burning of books. You can tell at the beginning of the book that Montag is dedicated to his job but that all changes. Near the end, Montag is at the bottom of the social ladder. He goes against the government and everything he is taught. I believe Montag is definitely attuned to the evil of others, somewhat between optimistic or pessimistic, and could be romantic if he wasn’t with someone like Mildred. He is also cynical because his own interests go against what most people think, yet he his realistic because he knows all of the possibilities. Montag becomes very aware with what’s going on around him and what needs to change. He has control over his emotions up until he shows Mildred the books and forces her and her friends to listen to a poem that his read aloud from
When Montag first appears in the book, he seems like a normal man, one who was glad to burn books; he is a fireman after all. At one point in the book, the firemen are called out to an elderly woman’s home; receiving an anonymous tip that she had books. Upon their arrival, the firemen marched in and to their surprise found the old woman still there. Montag urged the woman to leave her home, her books, but she refused. She even went as far to light the match that would end her life, changing Montag’s life forever.
“It was a special pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed”( Bradbury #1). In the novel Fahrenheit 451 written by Ray Bradbury, Guy Montag is a firefighter in a futuristic dystopian society. With the idea that books made the society unhappy, books were burnt for the “well-being” of people’s mental health. In Montag’s society, it is ethical for firefighters to start fires than put out. Montag starts to question whether he is happy, he then discovers that he has a big gap missing from his life. He then starts to incorporate books in his life, his attitude then changes from a man who thought it was “ a pleasure to burn” to a man who leads a group of intellectuals back to the burning city.
In Ray Bradbury's captivating novel, Fahrenheit 451, the troubled main character, Guy Montag, gets taken on a unique journey to discover himself and save the people in his dystopian society by reintroducing them to books. Along the way his struggles in certain situations and often makes destructive decisions. While Guy's intention to save society seem heroic, his conflicting actions portray him as an antihero; he does not think of his peers' feelings when he acts out, he ruins people's lives, and ends others.
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.
“One person’s craziness is another person’s reality”- Tim Burton. In the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the protagonist Guy Montag learns this as the book progresses. In the beginning of the book, he comes across situations that he finds preposterous, like the suggestion of reading books. In the end of the book, those unhinged ideas become his reality. As the book advances, we get glimpses of how Montag’s thoughts of society change. Guy Montag goes through a special character transformation throughout the book, starting as a loyal fireman and ending up as a book-reading rebel.
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?