Character Development In Ray Bradbury's 'Fahrenheit 451'

Montag would still realize that the firemen that are burning books are bad, while those who preserve books are good. If Clarisse had not been in the book, Montag would change his views on books and would start to read and hide them from the other firemen. This is due to how Montag was asking the other firemen a question, “Was it always like this? …

The professor showed Montag that books have details, significance, and are valuable. Through Montag’s encounters with Clarisse, the old woman and Faber, he realizes that the time he had spent burning books was wrong. This persuaded him to change his life.

Montag soon begins to enter the bonfire stage. Clarisse, is an observant, curious, open-minded and unique 17 year old girl. Montag, after meeting a couple times with Clarisse, is when his eyes truly open that his society is full of fake realities. He becomes observant and starts asking questions about his society. While being with Clarisse, Montag would smell the leaves and notice the small details; therefore, he was having a shift from being a prisoner to going up to the bonfire. On page #48 it says, “ You’re not sick,” said Mildred. Montag fell back in bed. He reached under the pillow. The hidden book was still there. “Mildred, how would it be if, well, maybe I quit my job awhile?” “You want to give up everything? After all these years of working, because, one night, some woman and her books-” “You should have seen her, Millie!”…. “You weren’t there, you didn’t see ,” he said. “ There must be something in the books, things we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.” This is the event that changed Montags viewpoint on books

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!

Firstly, Montag faces the conflict of having to burn down a house with a woman in it, which led him to thinking that something important may be hidden within the books that could be different from what he has learning in this new version of society; Montag becomes more curious through this event and starts to wonder. Eventually, the protagonist is so deeply engrossed in his curiosity that “his hand closed like a mouth, crushed the book with wild devotion, with an insanity of mindlessness to his chest” (Bradbury 34). This quote illustrates

This study examines the issue of freedom of information in the story of literary oppression found in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Bradbury presents the oppression of an authoritarian state that does not allow its citizens to reads books. Guy Montag is initially a servant of the state that requires him to locate and persecute members of the community that still collect books. In various cases, Bradbury defines the rights of certain citizens to rebel against Guy and the other “book burners”, which suggest liberation from tyranny and the freedom of information. Guy also becomes convenient that the policy to destroy books is a threat to civilization, and the rebellion allows him to change his views and to rebel against the government. More importantly, Clarisse’s role in inspiring Guy to revolt becomes a major catalyst for freeing the society from banning books that are deemed a threat to the social order. In essence, an analysis of freedom of information will be examined in this study of literary oppression found in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.

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.

The average person in our society spends 7-8 hours a day(The Washington Post) using technology; that is stuff like television, video games, surfing the web, etc. Let that set in; that’s a long time. Our society procrastinates also is constantly distracted by technology like no other. We are practically glued to technology; before we become slaves of technology we must change that. The theme of technology in Fahrenheit 451 informs us that the overuse of technology makes people lazy/procrastinate, that technology will overpower people’s lives, and technology takes away from people’s education.

Before meeting Clarisse, Montag was a strong adherent of the societal function of book burning. He was rather oblivious to the ignorant and critically dull society he lived in. His meeting with Clarisse was the beginning of his Metamorphosis into a critically aware and enlightened individual, one who could see the errors of society in forming a bubble around them. This “bubble” forming that Clarisse leads Montag away from is a serious issue, and even affects our real modern day world.

Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is a display of how humans are relying more and more on technology for entertainment at the price of their ability for intellectual development. It is a novel about technological dystopia, often compared to other novels such as, George Orwell’s 1984 and Asimov Ender’s Game. Although today’s technology has not quite caught up with Bradbury’s expectations, the threat of having his vision of a dystrophic society is very realistic. He sees a futuristic society in which this submission of thought is highly valued. In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury displays a futuristic utopian society where "the people did not read books, enjoy nature, spend time by themselves, think independently, or have meaningful conversations" (Mogen, Pg. 111).

Montag grows consistently dissatisfied with his life and work the more he talks with Clarisse. He starts to ponder if perhaps books aren’t so bad, and even snatches one from one of his book burning missions. Meanwhile Clarisse disappears, which I assumed she was dead and his boss, Captain Beatty, is growing suspicious. He lectures Montag on the potential hazards of books and explains the origin and history of their profession. Far from rejuvenated, Montag feels blazing anger and becomes more dangerously rebellious than ever. He spends one afternoon with his wife reading his secret stash of books he’s been storing behind his ventilator grill and decides he needs a teacher. He takes a Christian Bible and tries to memorize some of it on his trip.

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.

This change is dangerous for Montag, because being a fireman got him closer to books. Books were illegal, possessing them, reading them, even remembering them made other people think they were crazy. The closer he got to books, the more curious he became of them. Two things pushed him over the edge, deaths, the death of Clarisse and a random old woman who burned in her home with her books. This strengthened his curiosity and he started to steal books from the houses he burned.

Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is a book established on a disordered culture in which the government gets along with the people via traditionalism. Conformity is the method of matching beliefs and attitudes. Characters such as Beatty, Mildred, and others obey the government since that is how their culture exists. The government destroys any type of individuality a person has and does not tolerate any type of education since they will come up with a way to reprimand an individual. As it is shown at the beginning of the story, individuality outlines the dissimilarities of an individual by creating an exceptional personality of a person such as the one Clarisse McClellan disclosed to Montag.

In Ray Bradbury’s ‘Fahrenheit 451’ (1953), media has overrun the population, and television has replaced spending time with friends, family and time away from the screen. The “firemen” instead of putting out fires, they go around the town, and light people 's’ books on fire. Books aren’t relevant because they make people use their brains and think. People who sit in front of the television all day are sponges who absorb all the information they are getting, while reading causes people to create their own “version” of the story. Guy Montag, the protagonist is a firefighter, and this essay will state how Montag developed and changed throughout the book, such as finding a mind of his own, to