Fahrenheit 451 Montag Quotes

Montag's desire to acquire knowledge through books is dealt with by the rulers is that Montag’s boss, Beatty, says it was normal for a fireman to go through these phases of fascination of what books have to offer. Beatty tells Montag,” What traitors books can be! You think they’re backing you up, and then they turn on you. Others can use them, too, and there you are, lost in the middle of the moor, in a great welter of nouns and verbs and adjectives.” But, Beatty is missing the point on how valuable books can be. So Beatty tells Montag to read through all of the books Montag has stashed to see if the books contain anything worthwhile, then the next day turn them in to be burned.

When the firemen were called to a house owned by a old lady, to burn the books she had. A book fell into Montag’s hands and without knowing it, he had stuffed in under his armpit in his coat.

Knowledge is what gives others authority over another. So when Montag gains knowledge he see an outside point of view. Power comes from knowledge and maybe that’s why Montag was so important. The government of Montag’s world was out to get him because he knew things, and it gave him

Another incident that stayed in Montag 's mind is the old women who set her self and her books on fire. However, Montag tried stopping her by telling her that the books were not worth her life. Before she burned herself, Montag took one of her books and kept it. At that time Montag did not think about what did the old lady burned herself with the books, he did not think about it might be the value and morals that books hold to teach is. The old lady knew the importance of these books and what do they have, so she preferred to burn herself with them, and not watch the firemen burn them, who do not even know the importance of books. But they do know that books are unreal and there is so importance of them, plus they are against the law!

(MIP-1 ) The hands symbolize a “life of their own” as the author contemplates the hands as if they had their own minds. (SIP-A) The hand’s demonstrate in an elaborative way, how they link symbolically, embracing Montag’s desires. (STEWE-1) Montag’s unwillingness is forcing his hands to convey the meaning of which he is unable to share. “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” (Bradbury 35). The hands seem to represent the desires of which Montag may want to overcome, but can’t. The hands symbolize the insights of what Montag doesn’t have the audacity to do. Montag has “a conscience and a curiosity…” that he isn’t willing to acknowledge, so he is able to portray them through his hands. (STEWE-2) Bradbury infuses Montag's hands with a life of their own, almost like they have their own mind. Symbolically representing Montag's true desires; they do what he does not have the courage, or even the insight to complete. For example, he steals a book from a home in which a woman was burned and Montag

For instance, Montag does stop one of the big, evil characters. However, afterwards he runs away and leaves his mess instead of confronting it and disappears into the woods. Similarly, he also lacks the big realization or transformation in the end. Although he does make a transition in the middle of the story, he is missing the big ‘aha’ moment that makes him a changed man. He even attempts to go through this change as he floats down the river when the author writes “he knew why he must never burn again in his life.” (Bradbury 134). Ultimately, however, he ends up joining Granger and the other traveling scholars who read books, retain their information, and then burn

"Montag 's hand closed like a mouth, crushed the book with wild devotion, with an insanity of mindlessness to his chest."

There are a variety of distractions within Montag’s society that take away the opportunity for everyone to unite as a community. Montag’s wife, Mildred, is among many of the people who distract herself. She distracts herself by listening to seashells and watching TV shows in her TV parlor to entertain herself and take her mind off of anything provocative or unpleasant. The TV shows create a fantasy for her and she would rather watch them than have a conversation with Montag.

Mildred constantly shows Montag that she doesn’t care about him or what he does. She has no real connections in life and only cares about herself no matter what it costs other people. Technology rips away any real connections that Mildred has ever had with Montag to a point where she doesn’t even care about him. Mildred has succumb to technology and it has corrupted her life in such a way that her own husband no longer holds any emotional meaning to her anymore. In a horrifically shallow conversation between Mildred and Montag, Mildred says to Montag, “It's really fun. It'll be even more fun when we can afford to have the fourth wall installed. How long you figure before we save up and get the fourth wall torn out and a wall-TV put in. It's only two thousand dollars.” (Bradbury 20). The conversation goes on and Montag replies with, “That’s one-third of my yearly pay. It’s only two thousand dollars, she replied. And I think you should consider me sometimes.” (Bradbury 20). Mildred talks about how she needs another parlour wall to improve her life. This conversation inspires the idea that Mildred only cares about herself and how she is oblivious she is to Montag’s emotions. The idea that Mildred, through technology, has become completely detached from her husband and that she doesn’t care about him. She only cares about the

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

He saw many hands held to its warmth, hands without arms, hidden in darkness” (Bradbury 139). Montag is seeing light in its true fundamental state. He is seeing people use it to warm their hands and have comfort

The constructs of Mildred’s society have led to her being socially distant from others, created a depressed state of mind she wishes to hide from herself and others. Mildred is an example of the type of citizen the government wishes to handle, essentially led by a leash directed by politicians. Mildred spends her days watching television, allowing her to engage in a whole new world which gives her the opportunity to escape the depressions she faces in reality. She has become more attached to the family she sees on the television than Guy and this is shown when she chooses to pay more attention to the show being displayed in the parlour than her sick husband. When Guy asks Mildred to turn the parlour off, she says that she will turn it down but the reader is told “She went out of the room and did nothing to the parlour and came back” (Bradbury 46), which clearly demonstrates that in Mildred’s opinion, the parlour outweighs the wishes of her husband. On the outside, Mildred seems content with her way of life but her suicide attempt clearly illustrates a more broken side to her that she does not want to show others. Mildred is not the only person facing this internal struggle as shown when the medical operator sent to revive Mildred says “We get these cases nine or ten a night. Got so many, starting a few years ago, we had the special machines built” (13). The society shown in the novel is dealing with an abundance of suicide attempts, leading the reader to consider the idea that oppression and lack of freedom create an environment where this sort of depression is possible. Mildred’s decision to overlook her suicide attempt shows ignorance for her feelings and this is directly related to her mindless watching of the television. The alternate world she chooses to engulf herself with allows her to neglect her own feelings and move on so

(Bradbury 7) This question causes Montag to truly begin to question his life. He realizes that he is empty and without purpose, like a match dipped in water. His attitude begins to change, and begins acting differently. His hands develop a mind of their own, acting

Bradbury uses Montag’s hands as a symbol of how his character is changing from the mindless fireman to the fully aware rebel. In the first scene of the novel, Montag and his crew are burning a woman’s house that contains forbidden book. During this, Bradbury uses Montag’s hands as a symbol by writing this; “his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning” (Bradbury 3). This shows Montag’s character at this point as a fireman that thinks he is doing good. Then, later in the story, he starts his transition. Montag looks back at himself stealing forbidden books from peoples’ houses and thinks, “His had 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” (Bradbury 37). From his symbolic hands, we can see how Montag is starting to question

Again Bradbury describes Montag’s hands as if they are not a part of Montag’s body. Montag characterizes his hands as a guilty reflex that he could not influence or take control of. Montag believes his guilt is so physically present that he washes his hands multiple time in an attempt to clean himself of the guilt Beatty has enforced upon him. Bradbury includes this passage to show that Montag’s rebellious behavior is like a reflex or a subconscious piece of him that Montag can not stop or encourage. In a way Montag’s careless reflex to steal books, is very similar to the way Mildred subconsciously overdosed. Both actions show that each character has buried feelings of malaise they don’t want to directly face. Montag’s actions show that