Essay Montag´s Change in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

threaten me” (21). Clarisse helped Montag to start thinking and examining his life. The first time they met, Clarisse asked him if he was happy. Though Montag’s answer was “of course”, it gets him to think. He then realized that he was never happy, but “He wore his happiness like a mask and the girl had run off across the lawn with the mask and there was no way of going to knock on her door and ask for it back” (9). Another time, she questions his family, that he was not in love with anyone. Montag was upset, but soon he realized that that might be true -- neither Mildred (his wife) or himself remembered where they first met. Clarisse also asked why he chose the job and that she heard fireman puts out fire instead of starting them a long time ago. They all made Montag think and question about his life and the world, which led up to all his following actions to save the society. Without Clarisse, he might just be a fireman forever, and probably

When he is walking home, Montag chances upon Clarisse, who is taking a moonlight walk. She begins speaking to him, and he listens, though most others would “walk off and leave [her] talking...[because] no one has time anymore for anyone else” ( Bradbury 23). Montag took time out of his day to humor a girl who he did not know, though he could have gone home. It would have been much more convenient for him to ignore her, and taken less effort as well. It is evident that Clarisse has met many people who ignored her, considering her surprise and slight bemusement that Montag listened. Clarisse describes Montag as ‘peculiar’, and claims that he does not seem very much like a fireman. This indicates that firemen, who are leaders and representatives of society, would not stop to talk to someone else, preferring to rush home instead. Montag’s society, generally, cares much more for constant comfort, pleasure, and gratification than the effort of interacting with others. However, once Montag does put in the effort to hold a conversation with Clarisse, he quickly develops an intimate bond with her. This, to him, seems overwhelming and revolutionary because he has never has such a close connection with anyone before, not his wife, not his colleagues. He only spoke to her for a few minutes, “yet how large that time seemed...how immense a figure she was on the stage before him.” (11). It is natural that Montag feels like Clarisse is the biggest person in his life, because he has never had a mutual, intimate, relationship with anyone else. He cares about her so much that he becomes extremely upset when she later disappears and is presumably dead. Montag only knew Clarisse for a short period of time, yet she is arguably the

Clarisse makes Guy Montag open his mind up to new things. Clarisse asks Guy Montag a question that is very simple yet very deep. The question she asks him is simply “Are you happy?” This question inspires Guy to think about his life and how he can change it. Once Montag gets home he finds his wife Mildred looking lifeless, his wife had tried to commit suicide. It made him think more about Clarisse’s question of “Are you happy?” The next morning when Montag and Mildred had awoke, Mildred did not remember her attempted suicide. His wife’s attempted suicide made him think more about his life and the events of his life so far. Montag tries to understand why Clarisse questions the ways of their society and acts the way she does. Montag does not understand why Clarisse asks herself why. Montag begins to question the society he lives in because of Clarisse’s question. Montag ask a coworker about what firemen use to do in their job in the past. His fireman coworkers tell him to remember the rule book and that they were given the job they do now for a reason. The firehouse gets a call to go burn down another house that contains books, it is Mrs. Black’s house. When they arrive the light of the fire had already started from the burning of her house and books. Mrs. Black decided to stay in her house with her burning books and die. Montag wonders why

“We have everything we need to be happy, but we aren't happy. Something’s missing,” writes Ray Bradbury in his novel Fahrenheit 451 (82). Fahrenheit 451 is a book set in a dystopian society where people are restricted to thinking only a certain way. There aren't any two-sided political debates or controversies among media. This is because all media considered tendentious has been banned, and in order to maintain this rule, firemen have been given the duty of burning books. Among the firemen is Guy Montag, a man who would be considered as a society norm with a house and a wife. In the beginning of the book, Montag has no worries and he accepts his life as a nondescript fireman in this unmindful world. However, after encountering his “seventeen

He soon discovers the wonderful greatness of books. He changes in many stages throughout the book until he finds his passion. At the beging of the story, the main character Montag does not mind to burn the books. He loves his job and would not want any other job.”

Clarisse deeply questions Montag's behavior, and exposes his potential independence. She asks about why he chose the work that he did, followed by her interpretation of Montag. She notices that Montag listens to her, and that he does things that other firemen don't do. He respects Clarisse, and lets her speak her mind. Clarisse mentions that he is different from the others, and this is very important. He was independent, and didn't know it yet. He struck out from all of the firefighters, and was different from the rest of his fellow book burners.

The first major change in Montag came when he met Clarisse. Clarisse read books which put Montag in a tricky position because every book that she had read, he had had to burn. She questions him by saying, “Are you happy?” which then leads Montag to examine his life and what he has done for the past 20 years. After thinking about Clarisse’s question, he then begins to view his life differently.

Montag in the book shows that there is a lot of censorship in the society he lives in. The society that he lives in burns books instead of saving burning houses. At the beginning of the novel Guy Montag enjoyed being a firemen and going to work everyday, but slowly Montag starts to realize that he does not like the job he is doing right now and that he feels like a robot going to work everyday, doing the same thing everyday just for his ungrateful wife. " It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and charged with the brass nozzle in his fists, with the great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world.

The firemen in this novel have the opposite job of modern day firemen. Instead of preventing and stopping fires, they create fires to burn books. Montag enjoys this and is confident in his job.

Montag gives many examples of how he was very depressed about the situation. “Mildred, how would it be if, well, maybe I quit my job awhile” (48). After Clarisse died it was the turning point of Montag’s view on society and his beliefs and actions started to change proving my thesis. Another example would be the night where he finds out she died and the women was burned alive, and the situation with Mildred creating a huge hole for him to be against what he was being told as a fireman. “Are they husband and wife, are they divorced, engaged, what? Good God, nothing’s connecting up”

Though he is no longer in uniform, Clarisse makes a point to let Montag know, she knows his line of work, and she is not afraid of him. She discusses the firemen once extinguished fires, instead of starting them, which made Montag begin questioning why things changed and why he does what he does. Montag then goes home to find his wife pale and nearly dead and realizes he is not happy at all. The narrator makes the note that, his house is dim, dark, and cold, in comparison to another home, which is bright, and filled with light. This is symbolism that the fire can be joyful, and warm - not only destructive, and Montag begins to understand this, thinking back to his conversation with Clarisse earlier.

When Montag tries to speak to Mildred about what happened, she kinda ignores him and goes back to her 3 wall tv room and watches tv. Montag runs into Clarisse on his way to work later that day, and she questions him about his wife. Later on at the fire station, Montag walks by the Mechanical Hound(a robot dog). Montag being scared of the dog asks captain Beatty about it, but Beatty just puts the question aside and talks about something else. After a couple days Montag hasn't seen Clarisse on his way and way back from work. But with news of a possible war on tv, Montag starts to think about the human beings whose books and homes he destroys almost like a guilt trip. When Montag is at the fire station the fire alarm goes off, calling the firemen to an old house in which the owner, a old lady, doesn't want to leave her home. The lady sets off a match and throws it on the floor which is covered with kerosene, causing her and her house to burn down. During all that Montag steals one of the old ladies books and takes it home with him. When Montag gets back home, he tries hard to not recall what just happen.As he gets ready for, Montag forgets where Mildred and him met. He asks Mildred if she remembers, and she doesn't,she seems

Montag begins his hero’s journey by meeting Clarisse. Meeting her makes him start to question his society. He meets her after coming back from burning a house filled with books as he is a fireman, a man responsible for burning books, which is what the law calls for. While they are talking, Montag finds the girl peculiar; she is filled with ideas and thinks about so many things. For example, she tells Montag that

Montag first expresses heroic emotions towards Clarisse. She causes him to not only question himself but question the world they live in. Clarisse is a girl that everyone thinks of as an outcast simply because of her immense curiosity. Before crossing paths with Clarisse, Guy Montag was in a complete illusion of the lack of freedom surrounding him in his society. His caring emotions towards any other character is a result of his mutual friendship with Clarisse McClellan. She serves as Montag’s initial push which makes him consider what is happening in the life around him such as government and societal issues. Montag begins questioning the purpose of his job as a fireman who burns books, and it makes him wonder why life has become this way as opposed to a past fireman that put out fires. From this relationship, a new Guy Montag branches out to learn the truth and begins making a difference in his society.

As the story continues, Montag’s secrets and his actual personality become too slowly reveal itself with his first encounter with Clarisse McClellan. This encounter happened one night when he was walking home from the fire station and noticed Clarisse standing in the moonlight. As they both walk together, he notices and brightly lit house.