Character Analysis Of Montag In Fahrenheit 451

Throughout the Star Wars saga, Anakin Skywalker undergoes a major personality change. He transforms from an aspiring youth into the Padawan of Obi-Wan Kenobi, finally becoming a Sith Lord. He accomplished all of this in three movies. Obi-Wan inspired the young Anakin to become a Jedi Knight and Darth Sidious convinced him to transfer loyalties to the Dark Side of the Force. Skywalker also shows how a single idea can change all of a character’s life. One of Ray Bradbury’s classics, from three-fifths of a century ago, contains a character who changes in reverse of that of Anakin. Guy Montag, from Fahrenheit 451, a dystopian novel by Ray Bradbury, undergoes an alteration from bad to good in his book. Montag experiences a character change from

evil to rebellious and bon vivant. At the beginning, Montag is a saturnine antihero; at the middle, he learns to support deeper thinking in conversations with Clarisse, Faber, and Beatty, and he ultimately wages a battle at the end to prove his support for rhetorical thinking.
At the start of the book, Montag boasts the personality of a saturnine, antiheroic protagonist who only cares about pleasure and work. Montag is a “fireman” that incinerates works of literature as a profession at the start of the book and has been working such a profession for a decade. He states that it is an extensive opportunity “to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed” (3), for he thoroughly enjoys his work as a fireman. Bradbury, an accomplished profound ponderer, demonstrates that Montag is a saturnine antihero because he incinerates the expression of thoughts found in literature. Bradbury expands his thoughts by mentioning that Montag has been undergoing his profession for an entire decade. As he has been incinerating the expressions of others’ thoughts for an extensive period of time and enjoys such a profession, he is demonstrating his negative qualities as a fireman. To further extend his negative personality, Montag is scornful of the actions of the characters by whom he is surrounded because he detests the the general public’s thoughts and Clarisse’s more vivid ones. Therefore, he says that Clarisse, an adolescent female, is “an odd one” (8) and has thoughts regarding “too many things” (9). Interacting with Clarisse is a relatively unusual encounter in his dimension compared to the majority of the general public who cherish antisociality, about which he is offensively scornful. Upon viewing a variety of other residents of his district, he ponders, “there are billions of us and that’s too many. Nobody knows anyone. Strangers come and violate you. Strangers come and cut your heart out. Strangers come and take your blood” (16). He is scornful of these actions because he notices the inactivity of his society and believes it to be overly extreme. Bradbury later proves the personality of Montag as a saturnine antihero by showing his scornful thoughts towards both extremes of thinkers. Montag detests his society and the methods of other people, for Clarisse is a high extreme of thinkers in his society and the rest are relaxed thinkers. As Montag detests both heavy ponderers and relaxed ponderers, he is an antihero because he believes that it is wrong to think and to relax, leaving no “right”. Therefore, Montag is a thorough, saturnine antihero at the start.
Montag had made poor choices at the start of the book prior to becoming a full rebel. After he has lectures with Beatty and Faber, he is convinced to learn to think rhetorically. Fifty pages after he first encounters Clarisse, Montag had a lecture with Beatty, who taught him the reasons why all works of literature are incinerated in their society. He said that all books must appeal to the entirety of society, for “colored people don’t like Little Black Sambo” (59) and “white people don’t feel good about Uncle Tom’s Cabin” (59). Beatty believes that incineration is the correct solution to these problems and Montag simply disagrees with the captain’s claim by hiding books. Here Bradbury demonstrates that since Montag disagrees with his boss that all books should be incinerated due to their inherent imperfections, Montag develops a rebellious personality because he knows that all humans should be able to express thought and that no literature appeals to every person regardless of personal details. He also discovers that taking action is compulsory for his society. As Montag disagrees with his authoritative boss, he is inspired to create a difference in his homeland and create a character change from his former saturnine personality. Shortly after his lecture with Beatty, he encounters Faber, a former university professor, who states that books are important because “they have quality” (83), which is texture to Faber. He also cherishes these, for his opinion states that “the more pores, the more ‘literary’ you are” (83). Upon Montag’s acquaintance of Faber, Bradbury demonstrates that all individuals can create a difference and that books are important in all society. Montag later shows his affinity for books by molding in his brain that deep thoughts are essential and later leads a rebellion. He steals a piece of sacred literature, analyzes it deeply, and later has a seminar with Faber that books are important due to their flaws. As he is then willing to rebel against his society for the sake of flawed expressions of thoughts, his character change alters both him and the rest of the story. Montag creates numerous changes to himself in order to transform into a rebel.
Montag discovered two different viewpoints and had a miniature debate in his mind regarding literature.

He finally transforms into a rebellious character that is willing to take all chances for the preservation of literature by waging a battle. Montag hijacks numerous books and flees towards a forest, commencing a high-speed police chase. Montag escapes in plain sight with another rebel, Granger, who philosophizes “becoming” a book, therefore telling Montag, “you are the Book of Ecclesiastes” (151). Bradbury includes an exemplary use of metaphor to prove that Montag is a true supporter of profound thinking. Bradbury presents Montag as a forbidden book and that 130-mile-per-hour police cruisers and the Hound were assaulting the expediting Montag. As Montag flees towards a forest after he is spotted, he demonstrates his pleasure for books and massive character change. Bradbury expresses that Montag undergoes a character change once more while the novel progresses because the former saturnine, antiheroic fireman, hears, “Guy Montag. Still running. Police helicopters are up. A new Mechanical Hound has been sent from another district” (133). He sacrifices Mildred and flees into an unknown forest where Granger, another supporter of literature, is residing. As major police forces chase Montag down and he sacrifices Mildred for the sake of his society, his saturnine qualities are superseded by heroic and bon vivant ones, transforming him completely. Therefore, Montag is a different character at the end of 163

pages.
To conclude, Guy Montag, from Ray Bradbury’s dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451, undergoes a personality change throughout the text from a saturnine antihero to a literary apprentice to a thorough rebel supporting literature and deep thinking. He realizes what is correct and evil in a brisk 163 pages. Similar to Montag, Anakin Skywalker experiences a major character change throughout his pair of trilogies of blockbuster films. Obi-Wan Kenobi serves as his “Faber”, Qui-Gon Jinn as his “Clarisse”, Darth Sidious his “Beatty”, and Luke as his “Granger”. In six movies, Anakin transforms from an aspiring Podracer to a Jedi Padawan to a Sith Lord back to a Jedi. Maybe Montag is strong in the Force because of the way he changes as a character from Sith equivalent to Jedi equivalent!