“Sometimes it’s not the people who change, it’s the mask that falls off?” Guy Montag is the main character in Fahrenheit 451 who not only gets older in age but progress in a whole new person as the story advances. He changes his point of view on the society as well as his interests and normal day activities. Thought the course of the novel Montag's transformation plays a big role in the development of the story. The transformation begins early on in the novel but it all starts with Montag being the stereotypical fireman, but with the smallest difference to the society Guy Montag’s head can change as quickly as paper would go up in flames. Guy Montag beings the novel as a stereotypical average man in his society. Working long days as a fireman burning books and homes of criminals. Montag believes and seems to be happy watching the flame spread and catch fire watching everything gets destroyed until nothing remains but a small pile of ashes. This is the way that Montag has grown up and is what he has been educated to do. Montag wakes up every morning with a smile of happiness on his face excited to serve his society burning books “Monday burn Millay, Wednesday Whitman, Friday Faulkner, burn em’ to ashes. That’s our official slogan.” The value of books do not yet apply to Montag. Not only does Montag believe all those with books should be punished dramatically, but those who believe in joy of reading are crazy. The novel begins with a woman who yells “You can never have my books” Montag automatically believes the lady is crazy and as he watches her burn with her books he is so confused on why the books meant so much to her in the first place. When this occurs Montag has not yet transformed into complex man he becomes. As the book progresses Montag begins to question his everyday events and decisions making. On a walk he encountered a young girl, named Clarisse. Clarisse helps Montag realize just how happy he would be if he read a book and if he is currently happy. At first, Montag thinks that Clarisse isn't thinking straight and couldn't believe that thought had ever popped into the girl's brain. Until he begins to process the tough of reading one of the books that he burns "Do you remember what you
Guy montag, a future fireman who sets fires, and enjoys it. This society cant read books, it's illegal, all books are burned seemingly to everyone’s enjoyment, including guy. Largely defining his character as finding a fire-fueled smile that never leaves his face. Clarisse, a girl living next to guy, changes his mind with simple questions he’s never heard, “are you in love?’’ No one asks him a personal question, he doesn't know the answer. With books being burned for their knowledge, authenticity is scarce and people are feed what they “need” to hear, substance-less information no one cares to change or question because they don't know how, just hop in the truck and hit 90 mph for an hour if something bothers
But, books were illegal in this day and age, so he must keep the city protected. While watching the senior burn with her books, he learned that these books are so important to some people- there has to be something special about these books. As a result of this, he stole some of her books and took them to his home to read. This example proves that the old lady develops Guy Montag’s character considering he went from being fearful and weary about owning books, to becoming curious and wanting to learn the importance and significance of books. He begins to become intrigued, going against the law and putting his job- and life- at risk.
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
Guy Montag, on the other hand, is a fireman who starts fires, rather than stops them, in order to burn books, which are banned. Anyone caught with books are reported and their house and sometimes the people themselves are burned to the ground. People in his society don’t read books, enjoy nature, spend time by themselves, think independently, or have meaningful conversations. Guy is struggling with the meaninglessness of his life. His wife doesn’t seem to care and when he meets a seventeen year old girl named, Clarisse McClellan it opens up his eyes to the emptiness in his life. After this Montag becomes overwhelmed because of the stash of books in his house that he stole while on the job. Beatty, the fire chief, says that it’s normal for every fireman to go through a stage of wondering what books have to offer. Beatty gives Montag the night to see if the books have anything valuable in them, and to return them in the morning to be burned.
Writing this novel Bradbury has let other readers feel close to him allowing them to feel like they can relate to him through his stories as well as Montag. Bradbury and Montag relate because they know what is expected of them to succeed and satisfy themselves. Montag holds the responsibility as being a fireman and burning books instead he keeps them other characters in the story can relate who have escaped the society and they will also help him to do the same. They both feel they need to catch up on their past and make the most of their life while they have it. “ Montag opines on several occasions throughout the novel that he needs to catch up with the memories of the past.” They both love books and would
People can change due to the influence of other people. Guy Montag changes from being a book burning monster to an independent knowledge seeker due to the influences of Clarisse McClellan. Montag in Fahrenheit 451 by: Ray Bradbury shows how he acted before he changed, after meeting Clarisse, and after meeting Faber.
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.
The novel Fahrenheit 451 is an acclaimed depiction of a dystopian world that employs firemen to destroy literature and the printed word. The protagonist, Guy Montag, faces internal as well as external conflicts during the novel. His character is constantly evolving throughout the course of the text. Fahrenheit 451 is essentially a bildungsroman due to the fact that the protagonist is so dynamic in character and continually changing.
Guy Montag, a local ‘firemen’ lives in a despairing dreary world where instead of firemen extinguishing fires they create them, they burn and banish books. They believe that books are a sin and trouble to society. Although Montag is one of the main sources of the books being burned he meets a bright young girl that changes his ways of thinking and
Guy Montag is the protagonist and central character of the book, Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury that transforms from a conformist in a totalitarian society to rebuilding a society that reads books. Montag fits the cliché description of a good-looking male with “black hair, black brows…fiery face, and…blue-steel shaved but unshaved look.” (Bradbury, 33) For the past eight years he has burned books. He is a 3rd generation firefighter, who in the beginning of the story, loves his job, which consists of burning the homes of people who perform criminal acts of reading and keeping books in their homes. By understanding Montag’s relationships, discontentment, and future, one can begin to understand the complexities of Guy Montag.
Ray Bradbury begins his introduction of Guy Montag as an average unenlightened citizen in the novel Fahrenheit 451, however throughout the novel Bradbury develops, and transforms, Montag into a new man. Montag begins to question his life, intelligence, and morals after meeting a young woman named Clarisse, she thinks about why things happen as opposed to how things happen, her mentality begins to rub off on Montag out setting his transformation. As Montag realizes he is living a false life, he begins to test the law, involving himself in crime making him a criminal. Luckily he is able to escape the punishment of the crimes committed, allowing the rebirth of Montag into an intellectual rebel. Bradbury expresses the demolishing intelligence of current and future generations throughout the novel by giving a glimpse into Montag’s world.
This novel is set in the twenty-fourth century, where firemen no longer fight fires, but instead ignite them. Their job is to burn books as knowledge is unwelcomed. Books are outlawed in this society and are replaced with parlor walls, an interactive media family which eliminates human interaction with the viewer’s real family. In the beginning, Guy Montag takes pleasure in his job as society expected. He sees no wrong in burning books. “it was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see
While reading a book, there is no doubt that one of the characters goes through some changes - whether they are positive or negative. Have you noticed a character go through some transformations before finishing the book? Guy Montag, the protagonist of the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (published in 1953), goes through an enormous transformation from the beginning of the book to the end. Characters such as Clarisse McClellan, Faber, Captain Beatty, and the environment has helped transform Montag into who he is at the end of the novel. The examples from the book will help explain how the characters and the environment affect Montag in the upcoming four body paragraphs.
The character Guy Montag changes tremendously during Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451. There are many reasons for this change. Two of the major ones being: The fellow characters in the book, and the void in his life that he couldn't figure out how to fill. These play a big role in the change of Montag. In this essay I will be discussing who Montag is at the start of the novel, the characters that most shaped his transformation, and finally, how his beliefs and actions have changed at the end of the novel.
Guy Montag, the main character in Bradbury’s novel, is a fireman. He works daily to start fires in order to destroy books and limit society’s intellectual thought. “It’s fine work.” He says in the beginning, “Monday burn Millay, Wednesday Whitman, Friday Faulkner, burn ‘em to ashes, then burn the ashes.” His one job is to do anything in his power to censor what goes through the people's heads and he had never questioned the destructive tendencies. Soon, however, he meets Clarisse McClellan, who is “seventeen and crazy”, and she challenges him to think for himself and identify the lostness inside of himself. After his wife, Mildred, attempts suicide with no memory, he witnesses a martyr’s death, watching a woman willingly burn with her books, and Clarisse goes missing, he begins to search for answers in the very books he is supposedly destroying. Such topics are brought up as history, education, and morality, forcing the reader to think for themselves, much like Montag did. In the end, he finds that without knowledge, love, and ambition, there is