Throughout the novel Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag goes from a relatively "typical" fireman to a man on the run. In the story, Guy meets his seventeen year old neighbor Clarisse McClellan, she questions Montag about his life now and the life he has always lived. Near the start of the book Clarisse asks Montag, "Are you happy?" Clarisse's question influenced Montag in many ways, causing him to wonder about his life. After speaking with Clarisse, Montag starts thinking about his wife, Mildred, and whether they really love each other or not. He leaves her to go home and find out for sure. Once he is inside he asks Mildred if she remembers where they met for the first time. Neither Mildred nor Montag remembers where they met at for the first time. He starts to realize that he is unhappy in his relationship with his wife, Millie, who is unwilling to deal with reality and instead chooses to immerse herself in an obsession to tranquilizers the virtual world provided by her television and radio. The fact that Montag actually thinks about Clarisse's question later on and starts admitting to himself that he is not happy is a big step for Montag. In fact it shows how he is no longer living as "one" with society which focuses a lot about "happiness". Therefore, Clarisse is the first person to encourage Montag on his way to self-awareness. Montag did not read books in the beginning of the story, but further in the book he starts to read the books instead of burning them. He still burns the houses and most of the books, but he also takes a few of them before burning the houses. In doing so, this changes his personality and his way of thinking about the society. One night when Montag starts reading a book he stole from a house that he had later ... ... middle of paper ... ...e he did something while feeling something else. Montag actually said to his self "I went around doing one thing and feeling another.“ Montag was astonished by his anatomize of himself and what he did in his life and is confused about how it all happened. Montag says "It was only the other night everything was fine and the next thing I know I'm drowning.“ He actually says to himself how fast he changed - from one day to another. Wondering about his work, Mildred, marriage and the society he lives in. Montag has now changed from being a "happy" man, to an aware, thinking, and analyzing human being totally different from the society his lives in. Although Montag have had his fights throughout the book, it appears to me, that the right place for Montag to be was the forest, where he ended after running, as Faber told him to do so. when the Mechanical Hound was after him.
Therefore, these three experiences or people help make Montag a dynamic character. These people or events all affect him in a different way. He learns a lot from them. Montag would have said that they made a huge impact on his life, because he feels different emotionally, spiritually, and mentally. Don’t forget, Montag went from burning books to preventing books being burned. It takes a lot of courage and inspiration for the Montag from the beginning of the novel, to become the Montag he was at the end of the novel.
He realizes that he is limited to his knowledge and freedom by his government and he doesn’t want that for himself anymore. Bradbury symbolizes this when Montag says to Mildred, “ ‘There must be something in books, things we can’t imagine, to make a woman stand in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.’ ” (48). During this quote Montag begins to question his society, and why he burns books. He becomes eager to know why they have certain rules and hopes to find the answers in books. Montag’s curiosity also is established when he says, “ ‘I’ve heard rumors; the world is starving, but we’re well fed. Is it true the world works hard and we play? Is that why we’re hated so much? I’ve heard rumors about hate, too, once in a long while, over the years. Do you know why? I don’t that’s sure. Maybe the books can get us half out of the cave. The just might stop us from making the same damn insane mistakes! I don’t hear those idiot bastards in your parlor talking about it. God, Millie, don’t you see? An hour a day, two hours, with these books and maybe…’” (70). This displays that Montag is starting to open his eyes to the truth about the world around him. Montag is starting to question authority and the “true facts” that his government gives his society. Montag is becoming empowered and beginning to think for
Books are the enemy, they are evil, they are outlawed, they are burned. At least, that is how Montag feels before meeting Clarisse. The first line of the book reads, “It was a pleasure to burn” continued with, “It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed” (1). Clearly Montag enjoys his work and seems to have no remorse for what he is doing and the damage he is
Faber,a english professor, has a very important part on Montag’s view throughout the book. “Again he found himself thinking of the green pask a year ago.”(70). Bradbury used the old man to be as Montag’s alter ego or conscience, the person that he was trying to get to help him understand how to understand the books. After the interaction with Faber Montag goes back home to see Mildred’s friends and he reads them a part in some poetry he learned “Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore….”(96). Bradbury put this in the 2nd part because at first Montag didn't understand the books at first and he didn’t have the bravery to read in front of people, but he read it in front of MIllie’s friends. In part 3 we meet Granger a hobo as they say in Montag's society, another man that wants to ask why and how. He also influences Montag to wait for the war to end so they can spread their knowledge of the books they memorized. He also made Montag realize that he wasn’t providing anything for his community “What did you give to the city, Montag?.... Ashes….” (149). It also surprised Montag when Granger knew how the system worked and he didn’t “See that?...it’ll be you; right up at the end….” (141). Granger and Faber played a significant role in Montag’s “new life” by teaching him new
As Montag continues his journey to enlightenment, similar to the prisoner, he progresses to the stage of belief, embodied by Clarisse. Montag initially meets Clarisse, a social outcast, while walking home from work one day. From their first encounter, he notices that she constantly questions society and the ways of the world. They begin to develop a friendship but it is abruptly cut short when she suddenly disappears. One day, about a week after her disappearance, “[h]e didn’t know what there was about the afternoon, but it was not seeing her somewhere in the world. [....] [A]t first he did not even know he missed her or was even looking for her, [...] there were vague stirrings of dis-ease in him. Something was the matter, his routine had
The novel first introduces Guy Montag who is a fireman. He is not the average fireman though because instead of putting out fires he starts fires to burn books and the homes they are being hidden in. The novel introduces Montag as a happy man who loves his wife and his job. In Fahrenheit 451, Montag comes to the realization that he is not happy in his marriage or life in general after meeting Clarisse. Bradbury uses his words to describe Montag’s questions about life and his happiness. Bradbury has Montag questioning his beliefs about books and if they really are so hurtful. Montag said, “And I thought about books. And for the first time I realized that a man was behind each one of the books” (Bradbury 49). In the previous quote, Bradbury uses
... ideas in books and understand them. Before this Montag never questioned the way he lives, he was blinded by all the distractions. The role that Clarisse plays in the book enables Montag to break free of the ignorance.
When Montag meets Clarisse, his neighbor, he starts to notice that there is more to life than burning books. Montag states, “Last night I thought about all the kerosene I have used in the past ten years. And I thought about books. And for the first time I realized that a man was behind each one of those books” (Bradbury 49). It begins to bother Montag that all he has done for the past years is burn books. He starts to rethink his whole life, and how he has been living it. Montag goes on to say, “It took some men a lifetime maybe to put some of his thoughts down, looking around at the world and life and then I come along in two minutes and boom! It is all over” (Bradbury 49) Before, Montag never cares about what he has been doing to the books, but when he begins to ignore the distractions and really think about life he starts to notice that he has been destroying some other mans work. Montag begins to think more of the world
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.
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...
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
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.
Montag loves his job and what he does, there is nothing that can compare to it and he thinks that he has the perfect life. Montag feels that it is a special thing to burn and that it is amazing to see things changed. “It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed”(Bradbury 1). He loves that he can make things change and he doesn't think otherwise because that is against the law. Montag doesn't think or question anything that he is doing because he is part of the society and he “helps” the people that are “crazy” and try to break the rules by reading literature. Montag doesn't understand why Clarisse would ask if he is happy if she can just answer it by herself by looking at him.. “‘Happy! Of all the nonsense’... Of course I'm happy. What does she think? I'm not?”(Bradbury 8). He doesn't even think about what she is asking but answers quickly and believes what his society wants him to think. He answers without thinking of what Clarisse is saying because he thinks that his society is great and that he can't possibly be unhappy when he is in such a great world. When Montag is working, he pictures himself as great figure that helps people in need and he is a mighty person because he saves lives from literature. Montag loved the way that things would burn, and that they made
...radbury the protagonist Guy Montag had three mentors that helped him along his journey; Clarisse, Faber and Granger. Clarisse is the one who first opens his eyes to the world around him, Faber teaches him how he should approach this new way of thinking, and Granger establishes him as an intellectual who can help society rebuild after the destruction from the war. A line from the Book of Ecclesiastes Montag remembers very well sums up his transformation: “And on either side of the river was there a tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” (158) Now Montag is finally learning who he is and what he should do with his life; through his three mentors he has found his identity.
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.