Fahrenheit 451 Hero's Journey Analysis

Throughout the novel, Montag tries to bring realization to the people around him and waits for the day that the civilization experiences a rebirth. This corresponds to the symbol of fire. It mirrors the transformation of Montag's choices from killing his boss to burning his house down. The fire was the solution to set Montag free from the bondage of his culture, and without it, a change would not have ensued (1). Once Montag escapes from the city, he discovers a group of men sitting around a fire. It is in this scene that the fire portrays comfort. The metamorphosis that occurs in Montag is symbolized by the fire due to the fact that he is surrounded by a group of men who share his same beliefs. The comfort Montag feels in the fire is similar to the way God is a constant comfort in a Christian's life. In John 14:16, it says "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever" (NIV). God sets the rules for his people, but He will never leave their side and will always love them unconditionally. A critical altercation becomes obvious when Montag views the fire for the first time in his life as

“There must be something in books, something we can imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.”(Pg. 51) Main character Guy Montag is a servant to a society that is controlled by censorship and the fear of knowledge; Montag has spent his life burning books, to prevent the spread knowledge. But a series of events cause Montag's mind to change, and result in him breaking free from his society. The internal struggle of dynamic character Guy Montag, as to whether he should go on believing the lies his society has told him, or risk his life for something as simple as words on a page, brings readers into the corrupt society of Fahrenheit 451. In the novel Fahrenheit 451 author Ray

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is a novel showing the “Hero’s Journey” archetype. This archetype shows the typical adventure of the hero, who goes out and achieves great deeds on behalf of the civilization. In this book, the protagonist and “hero”, Guy Montag, rebels against government laws set in the dystopian society. He goes on a journey to preserve literature from becoming obsolete and meaningless.

Have you ever binge watched a TV series? Many people usually do and even consider this a normal behavior in our society; however, the main character, Montag, from the novel Fahrenheit 451 written by Ray Bradbury is the only one in his society to be detached from the world of media. The civilians are brainwashed from the nonsense that they are watching and listening to. Television helps people to not interact with one another and trying to stop conversations. The people in the society are also getting into harm's way, when they are watching tv. In his novel, Ray Bradbury puts the focus on technology ruining the lives of innocent civilians.

In the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Guy Montag is a very interesting and unusual character. Not only is Montag a curious character, the story itself is also far from traditional. While the storyline of the novel does follow the typical Hero’s Journey path, Montag himself does not possess the qualities and characteristics of a hero. The contrast between the way the story is a monomyth, while Montag is not, can be seen throughout the book and makes for a captivating, sometimes confusing read.

Albert Camus once stated, "The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so free that your existence is an act of rebellion." If something is not how it ethically should be then it is acceptable to rebel within the limits of what is morally correct. In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, he presents a world where the government has restricted access to printed literature so they can gain increased control over their citizens. The main figure, Guy Montag, shows an incredible growth in his personality through his journey of enforcing and accepting the government restrictions to stop the flow of information to a realization that the sharing of knowledge leads to a stronger society.  Guy Montag's role comprises many qualities, including that he is a loyal and accepting government employee that works as a "fireman" whose job is to destroy all remaining books and to burn the personal property of those that he caught reading the outlawed books.  A depressing and lonely home life influences Montag's personality, including a drug-addicted and shallow wife, named Millie. While sadness and loss surround Montag, he is a strong individual that can overcome obstacles and the challenge of the government's policies. Montag struggles when he realizes the impact of his orders from his boss puts on others, and that he must take a stand for the betterment of the public. When the government is not doing their duties of protecting their citizens, either by limiting their knowledge, putting them in danger or destroying those who disagree with them these actions can prompt citizens to turn toward rebellion.

In this world what people often forget about that a human can do is cause mass destruction, things one should remember can be forgotten easily and just as fast as it came it leave, this can be seen in the books around us. Authors share their opinion through the words they write talking about society and how if we keep going the direction we are going we will find ourselves in deep trouble, the messages authors are trying to send can be seen through social commentary, many books have powerful messages behind them; especially in dystopian novels and movies. They show these messages through diction,syntax, imagery, and character development; for examples the books and movies; Fahrenheit 451, Incarceron, Wall-E, and Hunger games. The authors Ray Bradbury, Catherine Fisher, Andrew Stanton, and Suzanne Collins all convey a message through their works through syntax, diction, camera angles, and imagery; emphasizing their warnings of what they fear may happen.

Fahrenheit 451 is a novel based on a character amed Montag and the life he lives. Throughout the novel his belief will be challenged and he will begin to see the world he and the other characters live in differently. Overtime the man who he was will not be the man he becomes. His beliefs, the characters who have influenced him, and the ways that Montag changes will all be discussed in this essay.

"It was a pleasure to burn” (Bradbury 1). This quote represents the protagonist, Montag’s initial perspective of fire. Montag was content with his life and his job in this scene. However, all of this was to change. In Ray Bradbury’s dystopian fiction Fahrenheit 451, Montag lives in a society where reading books is illegal. Montag’s job as a fireman is to burn books and anyone who owns them. After an interesting encounter with Clarisse, Montag realizes that he has been fooled all his life. He realizes that books hold an infinite amount of knowledge. This novel follows Montag’s journey and crusade to learn the wonders books hold. From the call to

The Hero’s Journey is a fundamental model by which most significant stories follow. However, the focus is actually on the emotional journey the characters go through, how they change as a person, and their psychological development. Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is a great example of one of these stories, where the author makes excellent use of this template in order to further develop the emotional depth of the protagonist: Guy Montag. He starts in the ordinary world, content with his life and unaware of the trials to come, but he soon crosses the threshold and is disturbed by what he finds. By the end of the book, Montag has a revelation and is transformed into a man with greater wisdom. Throughout The Hero’s Journey, Montag will adapt and grow, and by the conclusion, he will be a different person entirely, changed by his experiences.

“It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed” (Bradbury 3). If Montag felt the slightest amount of emotion, he would display sympathy towards the authors’ whose work was being disintegrated into thin air. He begins his journey without emotion, but he is reminded of feelings such as love by a call to adventure from the magically depicted girl, Clarisse. While speaking with her, he is reminded of an event that depicts light as a creative, peaceful symbol: “One time, as a child, in a power failure, his mother had found and lit a last candle and there had been a brief hour of rediscovery, of such illumination that space lost its vast dimensions and drew comfortably around them, and they, mother and son, alone, transformed, hoping that the power might not come on again too soon…” (Bradbury 7). Clarisse makes Montag question his perspective and reminds him ever so slightly of the feeling of love; however, despite her insight, Montag continues to follow the status quo of disregarding books as nonsense. Only when Montag experiences the love and passion the Unidentified Old Woman had for her books does he have a spark of curiosity. “The woman’s hand twitched on the single

Montag is now at the point where his views are being tested and new beliefs of life are being created. “Montag had done nothing. His hand had done it all, his hand, with a brain of its own, with a conscience and a curiosity in each trembling finger, had turned thief” (35). Here Montag sees a plethora of books inside of Mrs. Blake’s house and seemingly of its own accord Montag’s hand takes a book. He has now broken a rule that everyone in Montag’s society knows, never to take or read books. Mrs. Blakes, instead of coming with the firemen out of the house decides to burn with the books. This confuses Montag and piques his curiosity to figure out what inside the book could drive someone to die with

The hero’s journey is a general template of many stories of a hero, that goes on an adventure, and comes back with clear vision, or transformed. In the dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the main character, Guy Montag, goes on his own hero’s journey to learn of literature that has been long outlawed and burned by firemen, including him. In his oppressive society, reading and owning books is illegal. Montag goes through a series of transformations in each stage of his journey, from the dissonance he experiences when he realizes he is not content with his life, to the trials of the wilderness, and down to the abyss. He eventually becomes a master of both worlds with sharper vision, and gains a new perspective of the fire that he

“Then, moaning, she ran forward, seized a book and ran toward the kitchen incinerator. He caught her, shrieking. He held her and she tried to fight away from him scratching,” (63). In the novel Fahrenheit 451 follows the protagonist, Guy Montag, and his interactions with society discouraging and encouraging his discovery of the illegal books. Along the way he understands who are the poisonous people in his dystopian world and who are not; changing his perspective to lose trust in his wife Mildred, from previous quote, and finding safety with Faber, a retired professor he came by one day in a park. In the novel Fahrenheit 451 the author demonstrates the idea that when there is censorship in the world, ignorance will follow because when a subject is hidden from one anything they do regarding it is under the impression of their lack of knowledge surrounding the topic, this becomes more relevant when Ray Bradbury acknowledges the emotions of people who have read books and whom haven't and their general opinions of them.

After escaping the city and following the railroad tracks, Montag stumbles upon the “book people” huddling around a fire, noticing that “there was a foolish and yet delicious sense of knowing himself as an animal coming from the forest, drawn by the fire [...] warm crackle of the flames,” (Bradbury 146). He experiences a new discrete meaning of fire in part three; rather than being powerful and consuming, it is controlled and comforting- a hearth. The campfire reveals to Montag his discovery of knowledge, truth, and awareness, as he notices, “[h]e hadn’t known fire could look this way. He had never thought in his life that it could give as well as take. Even its smell was different,” (Bradbury 146). To him, fire is no longer a tyrannical force that reigns destruction, but is also an opportunity for rebirth through cleansing. When the city is bombed in the morning by the jets and set ablaze, Montag and the rest introspect on society’s tendency to interminably fall back to the cycle of creation and destruction- an unceasing series of revolutions. Granger references to fire’s purpose in the symbol of the phoenix and Montag concludes that fire can retaliate against itself because it lights up its own darkness and can create. Fire is heavy, more personal, and immersively gorgeous to Montag in the end of the