Authority In Fahrenheit 451

In the book Montag is a fireman who burns books and makes sure there are no books in society to read or use as reference. Montag begins to realize that there are a lot of things wrong with the government and how it runs the society. Ray Bradbury has many predictions of the future which makes the reader realize that the author is quite anxious about some of those things happening in today's society. The author talks about social, government, lack of intellectual stimulation and war. In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury showcases his anxiety of

    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

Montag at the beginning of the book is a person that you could love and hate. Montag was a person who loved his job as a firefighter. To Montag he got pleasure out of burning the books. One of Montag's favorite things from burning the books was he would put a marshmallow and put it on a stick and roast it.When Montag's done and goes home he goes to bed with a smile on his face. Then everything changes once he meets Clarisse.

In the novel Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, there are many different characters and each one plays a different role. One of the main characters, Guy Montag, is a fireman who takes pride in his work and enjoys burning books as a part of his job. His outlook about burning books changes after he meets Clarisse McClellan and Professor Faber. It’s very interesting how Montag’s way of thinking transforms overtime. He becomes very courageous about hiding books and is also curious about reading them. Throughout the novel his actions, ideas, and his feelings change as he starts to think for himself.

“ It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed”(Bradbury, 1). Montag was untroubled by burning other’s houses to the ground. In fact he enjoyed burning houses and always felt a smile creep up on his face after a burning. One night when coming home from a burning, Montag runs into a seventeen year old, Clarisse McClellan.

Does the government have too much power over the people? That's the question I ask myself when I read Fahrenheit 451. Some examples of this is the also a main part of the book, burning books. They do this to show power and authority by making people think that books offend people.

Montag job is to burn books and by burning these knowledgeable books, he takes away knowledge from the society therefore ignoring all the knowledge that can be given to the society. Montag's first sense of knowledge came from McClellan when she asked, "Do you ever read the books that you burn?" When Montag got home he thought about the question. Montag ignored the fact of what could be in books, he was just doing his job until he realized that books have power. Montag finally realized when he burned a library with a woman inside protecting her books. For the first time Montag actually thought of what he was doing. Montag had a curiosity of why the woman would stay in a burning library to protect her books. This is what sparked Montag to quit his job as a firefighter.

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.

Juan Ramon Jimenez once said, “If they give you ruled paper, write the other way”. This quote shows the challenge of authority, like Montag and his society. Just like challenging the normal, or doing the opposite of what seems to be right by “writing the other way” on a lined piece of paper, Montag chooses to challenge authority by reading, remembering, and comprehending books, instead of burning them. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury takes place in a dystopian society in the twenty-fourth century and the main character is Guy Montag. He is a fireman whose job is to burn books and start fires instead of putting them out. Moreover, he lives in a society which just listens to government propaganda and follows whatever they are told; the citizens do not think deeply about aspects in life but rather focus on mind-numbing activities, that does not take any deep thought process. Books are banned but Montag takes the risk to start to read books, hoping they will bring him happiness in the dark world he lives in. In his journey he has three mentors who help him, Clarisse, Faber, and Granger. The protagonist, Guy Montag, changes as a result of the conflict within his dystopian society and this change connects to the novel’s theme of government censorship over its citizens.

Montag is a part of authority as a fireman, but he rebels. Books are banned, and if someone were to be found with a book it was a crime. Also, they burnt all the books in that person’s possession, and once they were found with books, they never had the same reputation. In one instance, Montag asks Beatty what happened to the man whose library they burnt down. Beatty replied to that by saying, “They took him screaming off to the asylum.

In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury follows Guy Montag, a fireman whos occupation consists not of putting fires out, but of starting them in order to eradicate all works of literature from his futuristic American community. Montag has a realization of the emptiness in his life and of the power of literature through the help of Clarisse, Montag’s young and inspirational neighbor, and Faber, Montag’s partner in their plan to reintroduce literature to society. The novel becomes an instrument for the emphasis of the power of literature and how its serves as a tool for information, pleasure, and protection of society’s future by remembering the past. Through a destructive society and the symbol of fire, Bradbury highlights literature’s

On page 7 Bradbury writes “But I know something else you don’t. There’s dew on the grass in the morning.” He suddenly couldn’t remember if he had known this or not, and it made him quite irritable. “And if you look”---she nodded at the sky---”there’s a man in the moon” (Bradburry 7). He hadn’t looked for a long time.” Montag has been brainwashed by the government to think that TV and electronics are everything. This makes Montag start to understand what has been forgotten in life. He is starting to understand that he doesn’t want to do what the government is making him do. Later in the novel Montag gets stuck in predicament. Page 48 notes, “You weren’t there, you didn’t see,” he said. “There must be something in books, things we can’t imagine, to make a women stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing” (Bradburry 48). Montag is forced to kill the innocent women because she is in possession of the books. He is starting to have rebellious thoughts. When Montag finally starts understanding that the government is being unlawful, he acts on the situation. On page 115, Bradbury types, “You always said, don’t face a problem, burn it. Well, now I’ve done both. Goodbye, Captain. And he stumbled along the alley in the dark” (Bradburry 115). Beatty and the government have been forcing Montag to burn books, houses, even people to show power. But Montag realizes it

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 Fahrenheit 451’s dystopian society, the possession of books is considered criminal. A once proud fireman who regularly burned books turned a new leaf and began to understand and value the importance of literature. Multiple characters in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 impact the ex-firemans, Montag, life in a way that changed him forever. Throughout the novel Montag discovers a different outlook and perspective on the society in which he lives and how he perceives books. From a fireman to an outlaw, a few specific characters greatly impact Montag. Montag meets a young woman who perceives the world in a different way which affects Montag’s outlook on society. Also, a retired English professor gave Montag confidence and the comprehension of books. A character close to Montag, his wife, shows him how the loss of importance of books would affect his life . When Montag goes outside, he comes across a young woman who does not seem like the others in the city. Montag begins to talk to her and his life changes in a major way.

Montag encountered a kind seventeen-year-old girl named Clarisse McClellan, who opened his eyes to the purposelessness of his life with her innocently clever questions and her odd love of people and nature. As Montag's dissatisfaction with his life increased, he began to search for a solution in a stash of books that he had stolen from his own fires and hidden inside an air-conditioning vent.