Born into a futuristic, technologically based society, Guy Montag never thinks to question anything. By blindly accepting the policies of his society, Montag lives his life in a state of serenity. He was a fireman, which in Montag’s world, is considered a highly respected profession. The role of firemen in this society was to destroy the existence of knowledge by igniting books and houses that contain them. Throughout the book, Montag begins to change after he meets Clarisse McClellan. Before their encounter Montag wears his happiness “like a mask” and claims that he is happy, even though he isn't. He also begins questioning his occupation. In the past, Montag had been proud of his work and had felt it was a pleasure to burn. He does not want …show more content…
Montag begins to discern that there are people and ideas behind every document that is written. He develops an awareness that the books may provide answers to missing elements in his life. He also begins to doubt his relationship with his wife. Montag and his wife lack communication and he sometimes refers to her as “the wife” instead of by her name. Mildred also seems equally disconnected, paying more attention to her virtual family on the wall-TV instead of her husband. Ultimately, after several life changing experiences, Guy Montag’s desire to uncover the hidden truth in books makes him take risks that he never would have considered in the past. Montag had been curious in the past about books and had hidden a stockpile of them in his house, but had never wanted to pursue the knowledge …show more content…
Clarisse McClellan was the person who ultimately changes Montag’s world view. He finds many flaws in the society after he starts to think differently. He no longer respects his career after he witnesses a woman sacrifice herself for knowledge by setting herself and her possessions on fire. After Montag starts to pay more attention to his life, he realizes that the very things that were forbidden in his society were what was needed for personal relationships. Realizing that the content in books was the result of real men with thought and emotion, made him see how disconnected individuals are from one another in his society. Families and relationships seems automated. Even married couples have imperceptible relationships with no apparent beginning or purpose. Montag, himself, becomes melancholy after realizing that his relationship with his own wife is not as it seems. He becomes disillusioned with his job when he realizes that he is part of the government plan to withhold truth and knowledge. Eventually his desire to uncover the hidden truths of society changes Montag. As he joins the resistance group known as “book covers,” Montag transforms from a compliant, proper citizen to a truth seeker on the
8-10). Clarisse completely changes Montag’s emotions as she leaves him saying “Are you happy?” making him further question his job and himself both emotionally and physically. This was the first time in the story when Montag actually asks himself if he is truly happy with his life and if he believes that his job is actually the right thing to do. Before he walked with Clarisse, Montag used to be a rule follower and nothing else, he got up, ate, went to his job, went home, ate, watched TV with his wife and went to bed as this continued every day. He was almost emotionless, but once he met Clarisse he changed forever. Montag had been working at the fire station for multiple years now and the day after meeting Clarisse he came in and asked about books and what a fireman’s job was like in the past. “Montag hesitated, “Was-was it always like this? The firehouse, our work? I mean, well once upon a time…” “Once upon a time!” Beatty said. “What kind of talk is that?” Fool, thought Montag to himself, you’ll give it away… “Didn’t firemen prevent fires rather than stoke them up and get them
Guy Montag struggles with his new thoughts about the world. Since talking with Clarisse, he has noticed that nobody ever thinks. They just desire happiness, but Montag has realized that the world has more than happiness in it. The world has pain and annoyances that make you think. Montag struggles as he tries to act normal after Clarisse opened his mind and made him think. Then, one dark night, he met Clarisse. She caused him to think. She caused him to question. She caused him to want. He wanted to think. He wanted to question. Most importantly, he wanted books. After stealing a book from a fire one night, Montag lay in bed, ill and fretful and thoughtful. After his Captain visited him, Montag displayed his hidden books to his ignorant wife. After his wife, Mildred, collapsed with fear and horror, Montag called a man he met one day at a park. Venturing out into the night, the distressed and confused fireman journeyed to a retired professor. There, the professor convinced him to concede a book to Beatty, the fireman captain.
When Guy Montag met Clarisse McClellan, she opened his eyes to the damaged society they lived in. Clarisse first made him question whether or not his profession made him happy. “Then she seemed to remember something and came back to look at him with wonder and curiosity. ‘Are you happy?’ she said” (10). When Montag heard this he thought of her as ridiculous. Then he thought about it more, and realized that he cannot think of himself as happy while he burns books. He registers that his profession takes down society, not helps it. The second character who shed light on Montag’s situation was Faber.
In Montag 's case, he understands that he is unhappy with the way he is living, and he begins to rethink his ways of destruction. In like manner, a literary criticist, Rafeeq McGiveron, gives a good analysis of the character of Montag when he says that Montag has a “blithely clear and pathetically blank conscience” towards burning books until he relives his childhood through walks with Clarisse (p.6). Clearly, Clarisse tugged and Montag 's heart and helped him understand the heartlessness of burning books. Most definitely, it was Montag 's hand and not his brain or mind that was the true monster. In another example, the reader sees Montag 's private life during a conversation between he and Mildred, his wife, when she says, “when can we have a fourth wall television put in? It 's only two thousand dollars” and Montag responds by saying that two thousand dollars is one-third of his yearly pay (Bradbury 33). The example presented adds more depth to the grim life of the main character because Montag is married to a woman that is selfish and has no interest for any part of Montag 's life. Similarly, because Montag is faced with unhappiness in both his professional and private life, he is quick to accept the words of Clarisse that there is a better and brighter life possible for him. Overall, Bradbury successfully acomplishes a sense of sympathy for Guy Montag by revealing the
Guy Montag is a fireman who is greatly influenced in Ray Bradbury's novel, Fahrenheit 451. The job of a fireman in this futuristic society is to burn down houses with books in them. Montag has always enjoyed his job, that is until Clarisse McClellan comes along. Clarisse is seventeen and crazy. At least, this is what her uncle, whom she gets many of her ideas about the world from, describes her as. Clarisse and Montag befriend each other quickly, and Clarisse's impact on Montag is enormous. Clarisse comes into Montag's life, and immediately begins to question his relationship with his wife, his career, and his happiness. Also, Clarisse shows Montag how to appreciate the simple things in life. She teaches him to care about other people and
However, throughout this novel Montag there are many people that come and are already in his life that make him change who he really is. First person being a seventeen-year-old girl named Clarisse McClellan. Clarisse is the type of person in this society who is naturally cheerful, and is really outgoing since most of the time Guy Montag sees Clarisse on the streets at night. She is like fresh air to Montag, the white pale face of hers representing pureness in literature. Guy Montag wouldn’t be who he is at the end of the novel if it wasn’t really for Clarisse. The question that sparked Montag’s mind was when Clarisse asked him “are you happy”(Bradbury)? At that instant Montag should have said yes; however, he took a moment to really think about his answer, which in this case was a sign of that Mildred and Guy Montag were not in a good relationship. This embarrassed Montag and he tries to deny it, but inside, he knows it is true. Only a short time after meeting Montag Clarisse disappears without any explanation, although Mildred and Captain Beatty claim she was killed in a car accident. This really moves Montag because for the first time in his life he was actually sad. In the end Clarisse is responsible for making Montag realize that he wasn’t happy in the life that he was
Montag’s Wife, Mildred, is a negative influence on him, trying to push him away emotionally and physically. She does not know who she really is and lives in an illusionary world with her obsession of television shows and believing they are real. He is so confused because she tries to ignore it ever happened thinking about all the bad things; “fire, sleeping tablets, men disposable tissue, coattails, blow, wad, flush...Rain. The storm. The uncle laughing...The whole world pouring down..." (19). After this incident he looks at Mildred in a different light and is someone who he can’t relate to. Another way she separates herself from Montag is through her "family", which is a television show. Montag constantly asks Millie “[if that] family loves [her]… love [her] with all their heart and soul" (83). Her world isn’t based in reality; they are clearly on different paths. Hers is one of illusion and his is becoming that of a totally self-aware person. She blocks everything and everyone out that is around her and lives within the show. Mildred opens Montag 's eyes to the real world and shows him that most people are uncaring and narcissistic.
Guy Montag, the main character in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, goes through a huge change in his life. He changes from a typical fireman who follows the laws, into a person who challenges the law. Montag wakes up from being numbed and realizes that he is unhappy. Montag 's wife, "Mildred", who is addicted to Television and radio, did not care about Montag 's feelings. However; Clarisse and Faber played a big role in Montag 's life. Montag is a metaphor for a numbed society and his courage is demonstrated as he wakes up and evolves into his real human self throughout the book.
Clarisse represents a part from Montag, she represents his deepest thoughts that the society made him forget about. She is the light for his darkness that made him realize that burning books is wrong and he wasn’t happy with his life. She is his younger self that was buried deep down inside him. Because he seems to know her very well even though he has known her for a short time. Because for him she is young Montag that used to enjoy life and loves books. An example that shows Clarisse is part of Montag is when he is talking with Beatty and “Suddenly it seemes a much younger voice was speaking for him. He opened his mouth and it was Clarisse McClellan” (31) Montag is mentally attached to Clarisse, so he started talking like her, started talking like he used to when he was young. The other part of Montag is represented by the firemen: “these men were all mirror images of himself!” (30). His job is the other half of Montag that is dominant and that buried young Montag deep down, and Captain Beatty is exactly like Montag. Beatty also used to read books before and he used to question the system just like Montag is now. When Montag kills Beatty he feels as if he has
Montag, brought up to burn books, is confused at his actions. As his mind unravels he begins to think for himself after meeting Faber, he constantly questions how he “could have been so blind” and “how it got to this.” He thinks back to burning books and thinks “my hands did the actions, mindlessly” montag feels anger toward his ignorance, maybe he could have done things different. Guy pity’s himself and his wife, mildred, not because he is sad, because he wish things could have been different for them. Mostly, is enraged by the ignorance and helplessness of the people around himself, and is the cause of most of his confusion.
Guy Montag is a fireman whose job is to burn the books that are illegally kept in the society of Fahrenheit 451. At first, he loves his job, and he is just like all the other people in his society. He finds difference weird and strange, and he rejects the idea of being unique. When he firsts meets his neighbor, Clarisse, he finds her strange and is sceptical in his conversation with her. However, over time, Clarisse’s words and ideas that are untraditional to Montag’s society slowly change him and his way of thinking. He is changed by other events that take place after meeting Clarisse, like when his wife Millicent is overdosed with sleeping pills. Montag sees how unfeeling and uncaring the paramedics are, and he feels turmoil on the
He begins reading the books that he has secretively concealed in his house, and his new found interest in reading starts to consume him. The curiosity that Montag shows, and the many questions that he has asks Fire Captain Beatty makes Beatty conscious of Montag’s sudden change and he begins to watch him intently. Montag’s ambition to learn how to understand books and to preserve them not only puts his house at risk, but also his life. Montag's wife Mildred doesn't want to put herself in harm's way; she takes off and sounds the alarm indicating that Montag has broken the rules of society. Montag teams up with other rebels who value books, outside of the city, and a war begins that will change everything.
When he came home from this first unplanned meeting he found his wife laying on her bed, unconscious, because of she overdosed on sleeping pills. But, emergency responders come to their house and performed an operation to bring Montag’s wife, Mildred back to perfect health. They get her back to perfect health by pumping new blood into her system, but this new blood makes Mildred forget everything that happened the night before. After this event he has more and more meetings with Clarisse and she starts to influence his personality by making him more and more dissatisfied with how society is run. Clarisse makes him realize that books are not a real problem in society and the government portrays this problem for a reason unknown by Montag. This belief becomes so influenced upon him by Clarisse that he even starts stealing books from houses he helps burn down. Clarisse suddenly disappears making the reader infer she died. This combined with his very little knowledge and curiosity of books caused him to have psychological illnesses that refrained him from going to work and let him stay home and read the books that have been banned for the entirety of his life. But, Montag’s change of behavior and his constant missing of work causes his boss, captain beatty, to become
Guy Montag works as a firefighter, however, he learns to go against his jobs duty in the end. In Montag's society, firefighters burned books since they were banned, as a society had moved on from them and switched fully to television, radio, and other technologies to entertain people. The reason behind the ban came because of this trend and people didn’t want to deal with people who still felt the need to read. Montag's captain explains the views of the dystopia when he says, “You always dread the unfamiliar… We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal. Each man the image of every other, then
books. Being a fireman he came to a house that a women had stored all her books in. The lady who'd rather die than to not have her books made Montag think.Guy Montag was so curious to of why she was willing to die over books. Montag began to think more, and began being the odd one out in society.