Montag is an humble character that has to deal with people with suicidal problems, and self-righteous people preventing others from receiving the knowledge from books. The dynamic character is stuck in a life that was chosen by ignorance, and is determined to find a new life through books. In addition, the phoenix that appears often in the novel signifies that Montag's life is finally purified and reborn by the very fire he has been spewing for years. During the course of the plot, Montag evolves from an apathetic, conformist fireman, the very essence of socially acceptable stagnancy, to a new man filled with strong ideals and beliefs. He has a new purpose in life, to preserve books and the knowledge they contain.
He felt very conflicted while he was burning the books because he was thinking about what Clarisse had said. His hands were destroying the books, “crushing them with wild devotion with an insanity of mindlessness in his chest” (41), but his mind was thinking differently than his hands. Bradbury uses personification on Montag’s hand to make it its own person with a mind of its own and doesn’t need Montag to do its thinking. Montag is kind of in the in-between stage. He doesn’t know if he wants to break the law or not.
Fahrenheit 451 Fahrenheit 451 is a futuristic novel where the main character is Montag, a fireman living in a world where firefighters don’t work putting off fires but provoking them. The purpose of the fire is to burn books, because they impede society from being happy. One day he met Clarisse McClellan, the second main character of the book story, a girl who had a different vision of the world; she knew something wasn’t right with the rest of the people hence they thought she was a little crazy somehow. Montag also found her strange, no one had ever asked him so many questions that made him think about something else than his routine life and burning books, she seemed to know so many things. Gradually, with Clarisse’s help, Montag began to
He reveals that he has stolen around twenty books, which he hides behind the air conditioning grill. Even the dull Millie understands the seriousness of her husband’s offense and immediately moves to burn his books. He, however, is able to stop her. He also tries to explain to her how his job is wrong, but his thinking is right; Millie cannot understand his explanation. The suspense that Bradbury has created in the novel about the unknown is now replaced with suspense about the consequences of Montag’s actions.
He readily admits that the current state of society is due to the cowardice of people like himself, who would not speak out against book burning when they still could have stopped it. He berates himself for being a coward, but he shows himself capable of acts that require great courage and place him in considerable danger.Clarisse McClellan,a beautiful seventeen-year-old who introduces Montag to the world’s potential for beauty and meaning with her gentle innocence and curiosity. She is an outcast from society because of her odd habits, which include hiking, playing with flowers, and asking questions, but she and her (equally odd) family seem genuinely happy with themselves and each other. Last but not least... Granger The leader of the “Book People,” the group of hobo intellectuals Montag finds in the country. Granger is intelligent, patient, and confident in the strength of the human spirit.
In one review the author states, “In an important scene in Ray Bradbury's novella Fahrenheit 451, Captain Beatty (the leader of the firemen tasked with burning books in a futuristic, dystopian society) articulates for Montag (the protagonist) the fundamental idea underpinning the laws and norms of this oppressive and ignorant society” (Brown). Literature or words in general are forbidden and against the law. This loss of literacy and knowledge hurts society, yet they believe that this is for the
Stradlater, Holden’s roommate, shows phoniness by how he is a “secret slob” also how it annoys Holden to where he gets into a fight with Stradlater over his sloppiness with Jane, which leads Holden to alienating him. Stradlater is a secret slob because as Holden says, “Stradlater was more of a secret slob. He always looked all right, Stradlater, but for instance, you should have seen the razor he shaved himself with. It was always rusty as hell and full of lather and hairs and crap” (35). This is showing Stradlater is a secret slob because he appears all right on the outside, but once someone gets to know him, they know he is slob.
Country of author: For American authors be sure to include the state or region of the country. 4. Characters (label as major or minor) with brief descriptions of each; include at least two adjectives for each and brief commentary. 5. Major settings, with a description of each and its effect on the reader: If there are too many settings, select 1-3 representative settings.
Some themes in this novel are alienation and isolation, coming of age, and the great journey. From the moment his mom says the words “I’ll be right back”(Burch 4) to the moment he is left standing in the playroom, Jennings experiences true loneliness. This is why the theme alienation and isolation fits this novel. Even though physically children are all around him, Jennings still feels alone and abandoned by the people he loves dearly. He is left to deal with hateful and abusive nuns all by himself.
Farenheight 451 Set in the 24th century, Farenhieght 451 tells the story of the protagonist, Guy Montag. At first Montag takes pleasure in his profession as a fireman, burning illegally owned books and the homes of their owners. However, Montag quickly starts questioning the value of his profession and in turn, his life. Throughout the novel Montag struggles with his existence, turning to books for answers. This leads to Montag leaving his censored society and joining an underground group of intellectuals known as the “book people”.