Fahrenheit 451 Structure Essay

“Fahrenheit 451 Narrative Structure”

In the novel Fahrenheit 451, the author follows a narrative structure organization to develop the story. Bradbury was able to keep the reader intrigued by utilizing a basic structure of steps designed to develop the novel effectively. The exposition is where he set the tone of the story, as well as the setting. He then moves into a conflict and rising action. Finally, the story reaches a climax, which results in a falling action, and eventually a resolution.

Let’s begin with the exposition. The setting of this novel takes place in an imaginary society where firemen play a very different role than we are accustomed to. The firemen burn books rather than put out fires. The story begins to develop when the

main character Montag; a fireman, meets a young girl named Clarisse. Clarisse begins influencing Montag’s way of thinking, ultimately causing Montag to reevaluate his life. After a routine call, Montag witnesses a woman who commits suicide by burning to death with her books. His curiosity gets the best of him and he manages to smuggle the book home. In this society, it is illegal to own books. This was a prime example of how to write an effective exposition. It included a setting, introduced characters, as well as identified a conflict. The rising action is where tension in the novel begins to rise. This allows the reader to be drawn into the novel and wonder what might happen next. Bradbury’s novel developed flawlessly through a rising action. Shortly after Montag steals the book, his Captain begins to become suspicious of Montag. Captain Beatty eventually confronts Montag about books and the importance of destroying them. He allows Montag to study it for no longer than 24 hours in hopes that he will realize how pointless it is to read into literature.

The climax of the novel is actually pretty early on in this story.

I feel Bradbury did not want to keep the reader guessing too long in fear that some may grow bored. The climax in my opinion is the most vital part of any novel. This is where the author ultimately was leading up to. All of the questions the reader ask themselves about where the story is heading are for the most part answered during the climax. A strong climax can make or break the story. Montag makes a vast mistake when he makes the decision to read a poem to his wife and her friends. For whatever reason, he felt the need to spread the knowledge he had learned. This upset not only Montag’s wife, but also the friends as well. While they storm out of the house, Mildred expresses her disapproval of her husband’s action. She eventually reports him to the chief of his Fire department. The falling action is when the main character has not only reached the climax of the story, but also began to form a resolution. The falling action occurs in this story when Montag is told by his coworkers to burn his books. However, he refuses and ends up killing his Captain with a flamethrower. After feeling the scene, he makes his way out of the city. He travels down the river until he stumbles upon a group of hobos. These were no ordinary hobos. They were intellectual

hobos.

The resolution of this novel is very interesting. This group of intellectual hobos help Montag learn to read. He learns to recite books from memory with the idea that later in life he would be capable of reproducing written work that had been previously outlawed. The repressive society that Montag fled eventually becomes leveled by nuclear bombs. Montag at this point in time had found purpose again in his life. He sets out to rebuild a literate society alongside his fellow refugees. Montag’s life was completely changed. He went from hating where his life was heading, to finding a new role in society that he could be proud of. A great responsibility that would ultimately shape the new world.

The structure of this novel truly allowed the story to develop and keep the reader enticed. By using this simple structure in writing, the novel is able to progressively develop by slowly building on itself. As the tensions rise within the conflict, the reader begins forming opinions on what may or may not happen next. Fahrenheit 451 did an excellent job of this! It not only builds tensions, but also threw plot twists to keep the reader on the edge. Fahrenheit 451 is another prime example of how the structure of a novel can truly impact the way the story develops in the readers mind.