In Ray Bradbury's novel “ relentlessly violent”, the river symbolizes rebirth, renewal, and escape from the oppressive society. The river serves as a metaphor for Montag's transformation and his journey towards self-discovery. Both fire and water are used as cleansing agents in the novel, representing destruction and renewal. The river was mild and leisurely, going away from the people who ate shadows for breakfast, steam for lunch, and vapors for supper, as Bradbury describes it (Bradburt, 83). This quote highlights the contrast between the river, which represents escape and rejuvenation, and the oppressive society. In the first daydream, Montag sees himself as a young boy learning about the value and beauty of books from his mentor, Faber. Montag's recognition of the emptiness in his existence and his need for knowledge are expressed in this daydream. In his second daydream, Montags sees himself reading aloud from literature to a group of interested students while working as a professor. Montag's desire to spread knowledge as well as his appreciation for the value of literature are both reflected in this daydream. According to Bradbury,”He felt his body divide itself into a hotness and a coldness, a softness and a hardness, a trembling and a not trembling, the two halves grinding one upon the other” (Bradbury, 120). This quote states Montag's wish for a deeper understanding of the world around him. …show more content…
As he escapes from the city, he submerges himself in the ocean and undergoes a transformation. The river becomes a catalyst for Montag's awakening, as he begins to question the oppressive society he served. As Bradbury writes, “He was a part of the sweater, and the dawn, and the sun, and the trees, and the distant music” (Bradbury, 149). This quote captures Montag's feelings with nature and his new connection to the world around
My breath was heavy as I was sprinting from them. I could hear them on my tail. But the only this that was racing through my mind was “I have the book.”
What do you believe? Would you sacrifice everything you’ve ever had to just read a book? Montag, the main character of Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451, learns to realize that there is more to living then staring at a screen. Guy Montag is initially a fireman who is tasked with burning books. However, he becomes disenchanted with the idea that books should be destroyed, flees his society, and joins a movement to preserve the content of books. Montag changes over a course of events, while finding his true self and helping others.
The first event that results in Montag becoming a dynamic character is his conversations with Clarisse McClellan. She is seventeen, and people consider her insane and anti-social. She is considered anti-social, because she is talkative and expressive. In Bradbury’s made up world, the meaning of social is staring at the parlor walls (large TV screens), and having no thought at all. Clarisse is very different from the rest: “I rarely watch the ‘parlor walls’ or go to races or Fun Parks. So I’ve lots of time for crazy thoughts, I guess. Have you seen the two-hundred-foot-long billboards in the country beyond town? Did you know that once the billboards were only twenty feet long? But cars started rushing by so quickly they even had to stretch the advertising out so it would last” (pg.7).Clarisse’s enthusiastic and cheerful disposition lightens Montag’s attitude, making him a more optimistic person. He is not so closed-minded anymore, and he learns to be himself, and sometimes care free. Montag learns to see the brighter side of things and believe in him...
At first Montag is unaware of the true nature of his surroundings and feelings. “‘Bet i know something else you don't. There's dew on the grass in the morning.’ Montag suddenly couldn't remember if he’d known that or not, and it made him quite irritable.” (Bradbury, 7). The conversation serves to highlight his willful ignorance, the amount of things he simply never thought to realize, that existed just under his radar.
Bradbury emphases nature and more simple, historical objects as positive, and a way for Montag to find what he believes is missing. This further highlights Bradbury’s use of the natural environment to show Montag’s defiance of society as a positive
The first of all, Montag loses his control over his own mind. At the beginning of the story, he meets a beautiful girl called Clarisse. She is a peculiar girl who wonders about the society and how people live in there. She tells Montag the beauty of the nature, and also questions him about his job and life. Though he has been proud of being a fireman, Clarisse says, “I think it’s so strange you’re a fireman, it just doesn’t seem right for you, somehow” (21). Montag feels “his body divide itself into a hotness and a coldness, a softness and a hardness, a trembling and a not trembling, the two halves grinding one upon the other” (21) by her words. Everything Clarisse says is something new to him and he gradually gets influenced a lot by this mysterious girl. Actually, the impact of the girl is too significant that his mind is taken over by her when he talks with Beatty, the captain of the firemen. “Suddenly it seemed a much younger voice was speaking for him. He opened his mouth and it was Clarisse McClellan saying, ‘Didn’t firemen prevent fires rather than stoke them up and get them going?’” (31). His mind is not controlled by himself in this part. He takes of Clarisse’s mind and it causes confusion within his mind. It can be said that this happening is an introduction of him losing his entire identity.
Montag then makes his escape from the city and finds the book people, who give him refuge from the firemen and Mechanical Hound that is searching for him. The burning of his house and his Captain as well as the fire trucks symbolizes Montag's transformation from a mechanical drone that follows orders, to a thinking, feeling, emotional person, who has now broken the law and will be hunted as a criminal. He is an enemy of the state; once he turns his back on the social order and burns his bridges, so to speak, he is set free, purified and must run for his life.... ... middle of paper ...
His choice of becoming into an individual himself changes him into a completely different person. As the book gets closer to ending, Montag ends up meeting up with professor Faber. Professor Faber is one of the outcasts because of everything he knows. Montag asked him for help because he started to become interested in reading books. Montag explains to Faber “Nobody listens any more. I can’t talk to the walls because they’re yelling at me. I can’t talk to my wife; she listens to the walls”, Montag started to feel different from the others because society started to move him away from his old actions (Bradbury 78). Also in the beginning, Clarisse asks Montag about the smell of kerosine. This part started to foreshadow Montag as an individual and thinking for himself. Montag would be characterized as the protagonist of this novel. Clarisse’s way of thinking was the reason that mostly influenced Montag to change into an individualist. Her personality made him want to be like Clarisse.
Within the many layers of Montag lay several opposite sides. For example, Montag is a fireman who burns books for a living but at home, spends time reading novels, poetry, and other written material. Although Montag could be called a hypocrite, he does not enjoy both the reading and the burning at the same time; he goes through a change that causes him to love books. Humans have the power to change and grow from one extreme to another, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. In addition, when Mildred is with Montag, Montag does not have feelings for her but thinks of her as she is killed by the bombs. He possesses both the knowledge that Mildred does not love him and the heart that truly cares, but he knows not how to deal with this. His feelings are oppressed; it takes a major event (the bomb) to jolt them from hibernation.
In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, there is a dystopian society that censors books by burning them. Eventually causing a fireman named Montag to question his identity as a conformer, ultimately leading to Montag rebelling against the censorship. Montag, in the beginning, had power that came from ignorance. This theme was seen when Montag said it was against the law to Clarisse, when Montag threatened Faber when ripping the bible, and when Betty threatened Montag and Faber for being conformists. The first example of power coming from ignorance was when Montag told Clarisse that it was illegal to read a book.
The novel investigates different conceivable outcomes in regards to an elective reality without Clarisse. Montag begins to question the norms of his society and embarks on a quest to determine what he truly desires in life. One generally excellent model is when Clarisse inquires as to whether he's blissful "Are you Cheerful"- Clarisse states and Montag says "Am I what"- pg 21, it makes him begin contemplating his life in an unexpected way. He understands he's disturbed, which makes him question everything.
Enforced conformity often compels an individual to abandon their station in life at one point or another. Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 illustrates the ostracization of a young girl, Clarisse, and her impact on the novel’s protagonist, Montag. The mindful and observant Clarisse differs from her peers greatly, being viewed as eccentric and anti-social. However, her thought-provoking conversations with the loyal citizen Montag induce a major epiphany regarding his views on life.
In regards to this repetition, “downstream” refers to the pollution in the town’s river, “bloodstream” refers to the toxins released in the air that make its way into people’s bodies, and “stream of consciousness” refers to the acknowledgement of the government’s wrongdoings. Beyond this passage, Arsenault continually references various instances of streams, primarily in terms of the river, which reveals a certain fixation on the contamination of the stream that Arsenault highlights as a substantial piece of evidence that the government is sacrificing the health of the town’s ecology while reaping the benefits. Arsenault fails to recall a time where the river, nor the peoples’ bloodstreams, were ‘clean’ and explores the possibility of the dioxin inducing epigenetic changes that are passed down for generations. Thus the “stream” becomes figuratively associated with the motif of pollution as these toxins are “streaming” through the environment. Arsenault’s repeated mention of the topic illustrates her frustration in not knowing how to fix it, especially with peoples’ lives on the
In the beginning of the novel Montag is unaware of the flaws in his society, but because of Clarisse and the “Spoiled Fire” he begins to question his society. Montag even grew so curious he said to his boss “Didn’t firemen prevent fires rather than stoke them up and get them going” (31). Clarisse early in the book told him this about the past, now leading him to question his peers and what’s right in the society. He is gaining more knowledge because of Clarisse and questioning society more. Early in the book Montag believed he was the happiest man there with an amazing wife and job, but now “He was not happy.
Some characters like Montag did not succumb to the ignorance of society. Unlike Mildred characters like Montag believed in the power books and knowledge. Montag was once like Mildred until he met Clarisse; his neighbor. Clarisse was different from anyone Montag had ever met. She made him question his career, his happiness and even his marriage. After talking to Clarisse, Montag realizes he’s been ignorant for his whole life and begins a dangerous search for knowledge. After eventually stealing a book and reading it Montag realized that knowledge is really important. Books symbol knowledge because they provide their readers with information they did not know prior to opening the book. Montag no longer believed that ignorance was bliss “”. Through Montag’s fight for knowledge Bradbury is able to help the readers to understand that people are afraid of knowledge because they fear making mistakes. “You’re afraid of making mistakes. Don’t be. Mistakes can be profited by” says Faber (Bradbury 104). Knowledge is gained from experience. The best and worst sides of Montag were revealed during his journey because he made mistakes and learned from them. At the end of the novel Montag like readers comes to the realization that knowledge and experiences is the true meaning of life.