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Authority In Fahrenheit 451

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In a country on the verge of war, Guy Montag is just an average man with an average life. He works as a fireman whose job it is to incinerate books. In the beginning of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Montag is perfectly content with his life and the system which governs it, but as he begins to realize his bleak surroundings, he becomes resistant to this system. This transformation as a character highlights the book’s matching theme of authority creating resistance, because the control forced upon Montag causes him to be resistant. At the beginning of the story, Montag is a normal, happy member of society. When asked by his new neighbor, Clarisse McClellan, “Do you read any of the books you burn?" Montag laughs and exclaims, “That’s against …show more content…

Then they’ll feel they’re thinking, they’ll get a sense of motion without moving. And they’ll be happy because facts of that sort don’t change. Don’t give them any slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy. (Bradbury 61) This encapsulates the simultaneously Machiavellian and ethically hedonist philosophy of the government. Happiness is all that matters, the methods to reach this happiness do not. Moreover, it also demonstrates how the system is able to keep people like Montag from rebelling; it offers a precarious satisfaction with life that, so long as no one challenges it, will remain. Montag is not a static character; he develops and changes due to outside influences. Clarisse’s constant questioning of the outside world influences Montag and gradually pushes over into the rest of his life, as exemplified by this quote, “He opened his mouth and it was Clarisse McClellan saying, ‘Didn’t firemen prevent fires rather than stoke them up and get them going?’” (Bradbury 34). This quote demonstrates how Clarisse’s thoughts and questions have resulted in the change of Montag’s own thought processes. Later in the story, Montag turns completely on his old life as he burns Beatty, making him “...no longer human or known…” (Bradbury 119). Beatty’s prior defence of the government and its philosophies help to strengthen this link between Beatty and the authority. Thus, Montag’s burning of Beatty represents Montag’s rejection of the

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