Montag As A Hero In Fahrenheit 451

Why do people say that Montag is a hero? In the book Fahrenheit 451 the protagonist Montag finds that he is living in a brainwashed society where everyone lives for thrills, and never takes time to think about anything at all. When Montag realizes this he thinks about the life he thought he knew, where he finds that he in spite of everyone's pursuit of “fun” nobody is happy. This discovery sets him off on a journey to battle society, and to see who he is. This description of him does paint him in a heroic light, but lets look a little deeper. As defined by Dictionary.com, a hero is, “a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.” (Dictionary.com). So a hero is man who either has a heroic character,

or does something heroic. Think back now, at the end of the book what “noble qualities” does Montag have? While Montag may have acted heroically, he is no hero because he has no firm character, and he failed to do any real good.

It’s weird to say, but Montag’s character isn’t defined enough to be a hero. One of the last lines in the: “Montag felt the slow stir of words, the slow simmer. And when it came to his turn, what could he say, what could he offer on a day like this, to make the trip a little easier? To everything there is a season. Yes. A time to break down, and a time to build up. Yes. A time to keep silence and a time to speak. Yes, all that. But what else. What else? Something, something . . . And on either side of the river was there a tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month; And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Yes, thought Montag, that's the one I'll save for noon. For noon...” (Bradbury 159). This is a very different Montag we’re dealing with now from the one in the beginning, proud and self assured, to the one in the middle panicked and passionate, to the one in the end, broken and, mild. Montag’s personality is too volatile to say he is anything. We can assume that a more calm life will let Montag calm down enough to figure out who he is, but during the book there is hardly anything that remains constant. Montag doesn’t have the necessary noble qualities necessary to be a hero, because he is too emotionally unstable.
To be a hero you need to either have noble qualities or to do something heroic. We know that Montag isn’t a hero because of his ideals, but he also isn’t a hero because of his actions.In shock of what he had done Montag says “He hadn't wanted to kill anyone” (bradbury 114). Montag has done some things he isn’t proud of. Killing his boss, stealing books, burning his house, but throughout the book there isn’t really a time when he actually helps anyone. The closest time is when he is almost done talking to Faber in person after he discovers books, where Faber says “I knew that some day you might drop by, with fire or friendship, it was hard to guess. I've had this little item ready for months” (Bradbury 119). Montag’s most heroic act is being a friend to a paranoid old man, a friend mind you, that Montag needed more than Faber did. Even if we were to dismiss Montag’s definitely not heroic acts because they are partially justified, he has barely done anything to help anyone during the entire book. Montag's actions just aren’t enough to call him a hero
This argument against a protagonist of the story, has will its fair share of people disagreeing, saying “Montag may be confused, but at heart he is trying to help people”.

There is some ground to that argument. When talking to Faber Montag says "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” .. ”We have everything we need to be happy, but we aren't happy. Something's missing” (bradbury 39). Montag is concerned about his wife, and is trying to help her and the rest of his community. That is rather heroic, this is what Montag thinks he is doing, but lets look a little closer. Montag changes a lot during the book so let’s break down his motivation throughout the book. In part one, Montag is just another drone for society, “happily” burning things and living life. Then he meets Clarisse. This starts a Montag on a spiral of confusion where he realizes the nature of the world, transitioning into part two. Here is where the Montag they are talking about really takes form, Montag sees the evil nature of his community and wants to put an end to it. Here also is where a clue into Montag’s character hides. Look at Montag's plan is to fix the world. Its to burn the firemen, the people holding back knowledge by burning books. Faber tries to explain that his plan won’t work by saying "But that would just nibble the edges. The whole culture's shot through” … “Remember, the firemen are rarely necessary. The public itself stopped reading of its own accord” (Bradbury 32). When told this, to get his way any way, Montag threatens his friend by tearing the books apart, the ones he just confirmed were valuable to him, in front of him and, threatening to kill him. Montag isn’t heroically trying to save people from what they have become, he is angry at his old lifestyle for failing to make him happy, so he plans to burn every fireman he can in revenge... Lets finish what we started, in the third part

Montag’s world is again flipped on its head after he kills Beatty. He manages to escape telling himself excuses that Beatty wanted to die, and gets lost in the forest. His dreams of revenge are crushed, and he is left floating away to the next part of his life. Now he meets some old men in the forest who have given up on society, and wait to restore their knowledge once everything has torn itself apart. Montag gladly joins them and wanders off with them, leaving his life and dreams behind. Montag is not a hero. He tells himself that he is trying to help people, but he is so confused it’s hard to tell if he means what he says, even what he says to himself.
In the end we have a much better idea of who Guy Montag really is, and that is not a hero. He does not have the necessary good attributes or intentions to be a hero, and Guy hasn’t done anything heroic enough to excuse his actions.You know, it's funny, just because he was a protagonist everyone was convinced he was a good guy.