Fahrenheit 451 Quote Analysis

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.

In the first section, titled The Hearth and the Salamander, Montag shows perseverance. In this section he meets a teenage girl named Clarisse McClellan. She teaches him that it’s okay to think freely he questions if burning books is the right thing to do. When Montag returns home after meeting Clarisse he finds his wife, Mildred, had overdosed on pills, but she survived. Daily Montag met Clarisse and he got used to seeing her, until she went missing. Later on the firemen have to burn down a book-filled house of an old woman. The old woman cherishes her

Mildred is seen to be immensely emotionless and does not have an ounce of remorse in her body. When Montag brought up the topic of deaths, she would talk very nonchalant and was loose over the matter. Mildred is deemed to be empty inside. Her mind, emotions, and life all show to consist of nothing. This issue makes Montag question their relationship. He begins to wonder if the woman who he has been married to for ten years was truly the woman who he thought she was. For instance, Mildred did not even know where they met for the first time.

The trigger of his awareness towards censorship occurs on his first meeting with Clarisse who asks “’Do you ever read any of the books you burn?’ He laughed. ‘That's against the law!’ ‘Oh. Of course.’" (5). He is unaware of any content actually in the books, but is forced down by the conformity within the government to actually read one which shows “If they give you ruled paper.” Ruled paper is metaphorically related to the conformity this society faces. “They” is indicating or hinting at the government which enforces strong consequences upon those who do not “write” in the same way as everyone else. Found later in the story, the spark that lights Montag’s curiosity begins when a woman refuses to leave her books, "’come on, woman!’ The woman knelt among the books, touching the drenched leather and cardboard, reading the gilt titles with her fingers while her eyes accused Montag. ‘You can't ever have my books,’ she said (35). Before the house is erupted in flames by the ladies kitchen match, Montag steals a book portraying the quote by “writing the other

The first time Montag and Clarisse meet, Clarisse shows that she is very curious by questioning everything. Many of these questions insult Montag or make him angry. Some make him wonder and question things that he has always known. In the very first conversation Montag and Clarisse have, Clarisse asks “'Are you happy?'she said.” (Bradbury 10). At first, Montag thinks this is a stupid question. Then after he goes home and ponders this question, he realizes that he isn't happy at all. Clarisse also tells Montag of a time when

Montag soon begins to enter the bonfire stage. Clarisse, is an observant, curious, open-minded and unique 17 year old girl. Montag, after meeting a couple times with Clarisse, is when his eyes truly open that his society is full of fake realities. He becomes observant and starts asking questions about his society. While being with Clarisse, Montag would smell the leaves and notice the small details; therefore, he was having a shift from being a prisoner to going up to the bonfire. On page #48 it says, “ You’re not sick,” said Mildred. Montag fell back in bed. He reached under the pillow. The hidden book was still there. “Mildred, how would it be if, well, maybe I quit my job awhile?” “You want to give up everything? After all these years of working, because, one night, some woman and her books-” “You should have seen her, Millie!”…. “You weren’t there, you didn’t see ,” he said. “ There must be something in the 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.” This is the event that changed Montags viewpoint on books

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!

In the world we live in, there are many secrets that the government hides from us. The novel Fahrenheit 451 by author Ray Bradbury shows the bad that the government has done to the society. An oppressed society represents a systematic mistreatment which can ruin the way the government works. Government control can lead to an oppressed society because they are censoring things from citizens. In the readings from this year, there are many examples of how an oppressed society can come from government control.

James Madison once said that “Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”James Madison quote relates to Fahrenheit 451 because when Montag finally had realized how good books are, he didn’t let the government tell him what to do or what he cannot learn. Knowledge is a powerful factor that empowers people

    In Fahrenheit 451, Montag believed in something everyone in the city did not believe in and he was judged and treated badly by others around him because of his own beliefs and opinions. Throughout the beginning of the book, Montag had always followed the code and conduct of the firemen by burning books because I was apparently a crime to read or have any books in the house. After he talked to a girl named Clarisse, she completing change his opinion of books and encourages him to start reading it. Mildred his wife, starts to treat him badly and starts to lose her love for him because of his views and beliefs toward books after someone helped him understand how books could give you knowledge and wisdom. When Montag got caught for reading books, he was hunted, chased by the

In Fahrenheit 151, a book written by Ray Bradbury, one of the major points of the plot is censorship. In the beginning of Fahrenheit 451, Montag, the protagonist, begins to steal books from the fires he’s responded to and hides them inside his air vent. Beatty, his chief, explains how books used to be and how citizens were horrified and offended by them. Authors began to edit their books, trying not to offend anyone, and as a result, began to create dull and boring books. Society then decided to burn all the books then have more people offended by them. Montag then decides to talk to Faber, a retired professor who team up to start planting reprinted books in houses for firemen to find. After trying to show his wife about the books and how useful they are, his wife betrays Montag by burning his house down. This was society’s way of censorship, by banning books that promote free thinking.

In Ray Bradbury’s novel, “Fahrenheit 451”, he creates a futuristic society impacted by censorship, where citizens are forced to conform to the government’s manipulation. In this society, all forms of literature became a dangerous gateway to knowledge and are regarded as signs of controversy. Books have been outlawed, and thus the human mind, individuality and thought have all become a blurred existence. Society has become senseless. Merely a place where a fireman’s profession is burning books and any houses found with books kept inside. The novel’s protagonist, Montage, also a fireman, is the narrator of the given quote above. Through the repetitive word “burning”, Bradbury emphasizes Montage’s sense of revelation. Montage realizes he must

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

This change is dangerous for Montag, because being a fireman got him closer to books. Books were illegal, possessing them, reading them, even remembering them made other people think they were crazy. The closer he got to books, the more curious he became of them. Two things pushed him over the edge, deaths, the death of Clarisse and a random old woman who burned in her home with her books. This strengthened his curiosity and he started to steal books from the houses he burned.

They throw the books down the stairs, pile them up, and pour kerosene everywhere. Not only were they willing to burn the books, but the woman as well, and the government doesn't care because they set the rules, and they think the ends justify the means. The means being burning everyone and everything, and the ends being that there are no books left, so they think it’s okay to have unjust control. Another example is on page 117, they make Montag burn his own house down and then tell him he’s under arrest. All of that just for owning some books? That’s ridiculous, cruel, and overly controlling. Page 33, another example, Montag asks Beatty “I-I've been thinking. About the fire last week. About the man whose library we fixed. What happened to him?” Beatty then says “They took him screaming off to the asylum,” this really is a good example of oppression, a man owned books, so they sent him to the mental ward of a hospital, and sometimes they send them to jail. It shows how the government has cruel treatment just because they are in control, and that’s how some things are today. At school, for a small scale example, we aren't allowed to use our phones between classes, it wouldn't hurt anything if we were allowed to, it wouldn't make it easier to cheat, or break any other rules, yet we aren't allowed to do it just because they say so, and the government, which has way more power, can, and does, do things just like this except on a much larger scale.