Who Is Montag Told In Fahrenheit 451

Montag does not know if he should worry when all the firemen do is protect happiness. I think that he should worry, firstly because the firemen burn books and say that they are evil without having read them and seen what is in them. Secondly, they burn peoples homes down and the people become homeless. Thirdly, the firemen are told the books are evil because they tell lies, even though that is not true the firemen never find this out because they are not allowed to read the books. That’s why I think Montag should worry.

Fahrenheit 451 a novel written by Ray Bradbury shows a world of the future in which having free thoughts is considered antisocial and reading is illegal. Guy Montag is a fireman who loves doing his job, which is burning books. He's married and lives a "normal life". On his way home from work one day, he meets a lady that is named Clarisse, who eventually confesses that she really likes reading. Clarisse gave Montag an idea to change their society for the better, and then Montag begins to steal books. His wife calls the fire department, and then the find and destroy all of Montags' books. Montag knew this would happen, and then he fled for his life. At the end of the novel, Montag is rescued by a group of people that say their "name" which

“It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed. 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 tatter and charcoal ruins of history.”(page 3) This shows that Montag had embraced censorship with burning books because the civilization has kept him captive without him even knowing it. Clarisse is talking to Montag about what firemen really do in their job, and how she mentioned their initial jobs was to put out fires. Montag replied, “No. Houses have always been fireproof, take my word for it.”(page 8) This illustrates how being a fireman in this society manipulates the mind into a state of ignorance. Montag had adapted to his censored

Why does Beatty quote Montag from books that he has burned? Why would a well-educated, well-read man despise knowledge? (See p. 169-172 of Bradbury’s Afterword for more insight on this)

Within Fahrenheit 451 Montag experiences many encounters with people, both good and bad. Most of the important people he encounters alter his views on his society or change his thoughts about things like books and intellectuals in general. Others he comes across are merely just mindless people that are basically examples and reinforce the idea of how his society is in a horrible state.

And I thought maybe it would be best if the firemen themselves were burnt.” (67) Montag realizes that Clarisse was the only person he genuinely liked. He doesn’t like his wife, as Clarisse proved with a dandelion, he doesn’t like his fellow firemen, whom he worked with for years, and he doesn’t even like himself. Clarisse also makes him realize that the people who have books aren’t the bad guys, but rather the firemen themselves. Between noticing the small factors of his everyday life, realizing books aren’t bad, and being told that he doesn’t love his own wife, Montag starts to question his entire life

One day, on the job, he witnesses a woman who sets her herself and house on fire to die with her beliefs in books. Montag, shaken up by this, says, “There must be something in books, things we can’t imagine to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing” (48). He becomes sick at the thought of what he does for a living, seeing that is caused a woman to commit suicide. Montag decides to meet with an old man about information on books, whose number he had been saving for years.

Guy Montag works as a “fireman” who burns books and houses, but his faith to his job and his society quickly change. Montag starts to question his society when he takes a book to read, “we can’t burn these, i want to look at them, at least look at them once…” (66). The society in this novel values conformity and obedience, books are not allowed, so instead people watch television because it supports mindless conformity. The world they live in deems individuality as a sin, and different equals dangerous. When Clarisse, a girl who appreciates the world's beauty and has odd habits, asks Montag if he’s happy, he doesn’t quite know how to respond. He is married, but he isn’t in love, his wife Mildred is an airhead who conforms and watches tv all day. He realizes he isn’t the slightest bit happy, and seeks change, “ I thought about books, and for the first time I realized that a man was behind each one of the books” (49).

Mildred is another character that conveys the theme of censorship. Montag reads the books but her ignorance censors the information. She cannot find meaning in the books which results to her frustration. Bradbury uses the character Mildred as a symbol of the resulting factor of censorship. Mildred lives in a society where the ability to think for yourself is limited due to the lack of books, she’s ignorant and has no free-will. “Mildred kicked the book, “books aren’t people, you read and I look all around, but there isn’t anybody” (Bradbury,

Many do not realize, or are not sure of the world and people that are around them. Who is a friend, who is a foe? Is the information given to us really true? Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451, helps us learn why we should take these thoughts into consideration. The story takes place many years in the future, in a society that seems unimaginable. The plot centers around Guy Montag, who is a fireman. His job is to burn books, rather than putting the fires out. Citizens of the society are not allowed to read books, much less own them. Almost every single thing runs on technology, which causes the people to be brainwashed by the government. Early in the book, Montag meets a girl named Clarisse, who is his neighbor and guides him to knowing the

Fahrenheit 451 was written by Ray Bradbury first in 1950 and titled The Fireman, a shorter version of the novel we know today, published in 1953. It is a dystopian, science fiction novel focused around a future world that has banned reading and burns books. War is nonchalant and expected, government propaganda is being spouted through their ears, and no one is slowing down enough to live their life. Firemen are made to start fires at the houses of those people that have been reported as book owners and readers, reported by their neighbours, friends, or family. With a message of censorship, TV overtaking people’s lives, and asking critical questions, Fahrenheit 451 has been applied to many generations as the influence of media grows.

After Montag finished questioning her about their relationship Montag “...heard the water running and the swallowing sound she made.”(Bradbury 40). This highlights the fact that society only buries their problems, by drugs or fire, rather than solving them. Again this goes back to the idea of a society of children. This also represents the fact that life has no meaning without the right knowledge to live it. When Montag is contemplating the wall between him and Mildred he thinks, “...a little girl in a forest without trees…”(Bradbury 41). This thought refers to Mildred when she is with her “family”. It refers to how she is oblivious to the world when she is with her “family”. Again this is another representation of how childlike society actually

At one point, Montag is a firefighter who enjoys destruction, but as time passses he begins to change. In the book, the first line, is “It was a pleasure to burn.” (pg 1) Montag when burning books it gives him pleasure. Montag’s destruction is burning knowledge. Montag burns the truth. After meeting,Clarissa, he changes. Clarissa, the curious one, the one person who has guts to speak out against the “laws”.” As montag was walking home whistling as this young girl who was curious asked, “are you happy?” she said.” (pg 10) Clarisse asks montag a important question that changes his perspective on his life. He ponders over three simple words that change his life. As the world around montag is at a standstill, montag’s perspective changes over a period of time.

Montag lives in a society where no one thinks for themselves or knows the reasons for things and they don’t seem to care enough to question them. Montag was taught to love burning books. He never read a book and didn’t understand why the government thought books had to be burned. He thought he was happy and satisfied with his job, and outlook on life until he met his neighbor, Clarisse, who grew up discussing things and thinking about things with her family. Clarisse asked Montag if he was happy and instantaneously he answered “yes” but after thinking about the question for a while he thought, “He wore his happiness like a mask and the girl had run across the lawn with the mask and there was no way of going to knock on her door and ask for it back” (Bradbury 9). This is a major turning point in Montag’s life, where not only does he realize he is not happy with the way this society was, but also knows he will never be able

Ray Bradbury was a poet, novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, and playwright. He wrote science fiction and fantasy pieces that “…have sharply raised the public estimation of these three genres” (Sharp 219). In Ray Bradbury’s famous book, Fahrenheit 451, he strongly emphasizes a dystopian society surrounded by censorship and irony.