Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, is a classic novel that challenges authority through self-discovery and growth. The main character Guy Montag is a dedicated fireman. He enjoys his job, watching pages of books become nothing more than burnt ash. He has never questioned anything before, nor has he had a reason to. That is, until he encounters three important individuals that seem to influence a change in Montag and ultimately change his world. His contact with a 17 year old girl named Clarisse McClellan, an elderly woman who was willing to die for her books, and an old professor named Faber, help Montag start to question things and begin a transformation that takes him from the rule following, book burner; to an idea challenging, book reader …show more content…
She is the first person who challenges Montag and gets him to truly think. She triggers Montag’s questioning of life, what he is doing, and his relationship with his wife Mildred. Upon their first encounter Clarisse begins asking Montag questions, questions about a time when firefighters put out flames not started them, a time when life was a bit slower. She asks, “Are you happy?” once Clarisse is home Montag responds, “Of course I’m happy. What does she think? I’m not” (pg 10). This quote supports my claim that she is challenging him to think. You can sense his uncertainty in his defensive response, it is as if he is almost infuriated at the thought. He has begun questioning his life. Is he happy burning books instead of reading them? Is he happy speeding through life? Is he happy with his wife? On their next encounter, she tells him that he isn’t like the other firefighters. That he looks at her when she speaks, that he puts up with her when the others don’t. She tells him that firefighting doesn’t seem right for him. This comment causes a reaction in Montag, “He felt 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” (pg 24). His reaction shows a conflict, that is causing emotion and thought. He begins to wonder why he isn’t happy. …show more content…
The two have a short visit on a bench where it was evident to Montag that Faber was obstructing his view of a book with his coat. Yet for some reason, Faber gave Montag his contact information that day. Years later, after Clarisse and the old woman have planted the ember of curiosity for books and life in Montag, his intuition sent him to Faber for help. He decided to seek out Faber. Montag needs answers, help and direction. He pleads with Faber to help him, “You’re the only one I knew might help me. To see. To see…I want you to teach me to understand what I read” (pg 81-82). Faber agrees to help Montag, he becomes Montag’s mentor, and has a large effect on him. He also gives Montag an earpiece, to continue to educate him when they are not together. It also helps him interact with Beatty as well as others. This plays a crucial part in Montag’s change. Montag at times felt dismal, and very alone, but the voice in his ear, which was Faber was comforting. He was elated when he realized that with Faber, “He would be Montag-plus-Faber, fire plus water, and then, one day after everything had mixed and simmered and worked away in silence, there would be neither fire nor water, but wine” (pg 103). This shows that Montag knew that one day with the help of Faber he would emerge as an improved, educated, and
In addition, another person who changed Montags feelings towards his society was Captain Beatty. Montag's fire captain, Beatty, pushed Montag too far and Montag in turn set him on fire. When Montag stole a book and started reading, Beatty, became suspicious and started making fun of books and poetry. Then when Montag was forced to burn his own books and Beatty was hitting and yelling at him, Montag snapped and set him on fire. Beatty also was a character in the book who Montag changed greatly from.
When Montag meets Clarisse he thinks that he is happy with the perfect job and wife, but then she asks him “Are you happy” (7). At first, he thought that she was crazy for asking him such a question. He couldn’t stop thinking about it and realized that he wasn’t happy. he wanted to know what would make him happy. He started collecting books even though he knew that it was wrong and against the law.
Montag realizes then that he must have a teacher who would educate him about books. An old professor by the name of Faber comes into Montag's
Beatty leaves and Montag begins to read. As he is reading he begins to realize that he is going to need help to understand what the books are saying. He then goes and visits an old English professor in hopes that he will help him to understand. He talks with Faber for a while and Faber eventually agrees to help him. After talking to Faber Montag goes home to get a book to bring to his boss.
Likewise, Montag, a fire fighter who consumes books professionally, feels delight when he consumes a book and furthermore feels unusual when he is looked with a circumstance where he would need to interface with someone else and doesn't know how to react. In the end, Montag understands that books may be imperative in the wake of seeing an old lady consumed to death with her books. After, he meets with Faber, an old resigned school educator, whom he requests help to help his comprehension of understanding books: "No one listens any longer, I can't converse with the dividers since they're hollering at me. I can't converse with my significant other; she tunes in to the
Firemen are different than we know them today, they don't put out fires but start them in homes that have contraband in them. After a good days burn, Montag leaves the station, but Montag gets an uncanny feeling that
In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, Montag, the protagonist and book burner, battles between the light and dark sides of society, first with Beatty, his boss, and the government and then with Clarisse, a neighbor girl and Faber, an English professor. Montag is stuck in the dark burning books and is ignorant to the world around him. He moves towards greater awareness when he meets Clarisse and is awakened to the wonders of deep thought and books. Finally, he risks his life by trying to save the books.
The novel, Fahrenheit 451, presents a future society where books are prohibited and the firemen burn any that are. The title is the temperature at which books burn. It was written by Ray Bradbury and first published in October 1953. In this novel, protagonist Montag changes his understanding in various aspects such as love or his human relationship throughout the book. However, among all of these, fire – the main theme of this novel – has the most significance as it also changes his understanding of knowledge from books.
As a firefighter, he is expected to put out fires. But in the novel, he is the one who starts the fires. As it states in the novel, “it was a pleasure to burn.” (#1). When it declares this in the novel, Ray Bradbury is talking about Montag and the other firefighters.
One effect Clarisse has on Montag is that he changes the way he thinks about his career. Montag would go to work and would be told what to do and he did not give it a second thought. But one day when Montag was on a walk he meets Clarisse, and she asks him multiple questions that he struggles to answer. Clarisse tells Montag that she heard that firemen use to put out fire
“I need you to teach me” Montag wanted Faber to teach him about books, so he could teach others about the importance of reading to make wise choices. (Bradbury 88) When he went to Faber for help that’s when he started taking leadership. Montag wanted to know more than what he was told all his life. He wasn’t taking control of his own thoughts and believes.”
The two of them decided to come up with a plan to show people that books are not worthless. c. Montag and Faber are living in a world where everyone believes that books have no value to them and should just be burned. However, these two characters think differently about them. Montag has been stealing books, and Faber has been teaching him about them. He learns that books reveal the bad parts of life, which is why many people hate them and decide not to read.
If Faber agrees to take the books and learn from them so than he will teach Montag to understand them. The books help let a way into what’s going
(MIP-2) From certain experiences, Montag comes to realize that he’s not actually happy with his life because he discovers that it lacks genuine, valuable, or humane relationships, eventually driving him to find the truth about his society by making him think about and question it. (SIP-A) Montag realizes from his experiences with Clarisse that his relationships in his life lack genuity, value, or humanity. (STEWE-1)
Montag stole a book; the Book of Ecclesiastes. He explains this to Faber because he wants Faber to understand how passionate he has become for wanting to learn and use books. Montag’s love for reading gradually grows more and more because he is beginning to actually read them. That is another reason why the book of Ecclesiastes is so important because it is the first one he actually begins to read. Montag feels a power source from the books he is reading that energizes his feeling of gaining more knowledge from them.