Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451: Change

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Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451: Change

What is change? Webster's Second Collegiate Dictionary, defines change

as to cause to become different; alter; transform; convert. Many things, people,

and world events are able to change. Peace may be present for years and

shattered by a disagreement over religion, or shift of political power.

Technology changes the lives of people and how the interact and work in the

world. People also change. Many do not see any wrongdoing internally, and remain

the way they are. However, there might be outside factors that help them realize

what is wrong with them or the lifestyle they choose to take part in. According

to Preston Bradley, "I don't care how much a man may consider himself a failure,

I believe in him, for he can change the thing that is wrong in his life any time

he is ready and prepared to do it. Whenever he develops the desire, he can take

away from his life the thing that is defeating it. The capacity for reformation

and change lies within." Throughout Fahrenheit 451, Montag, a dedicated fireman

and book burner, sees pleasure and titillation from burning books and destroying

lifetimes of important ideas. When outside influences put confusion in him, he

begins a series of changes, eventually becoming a revolutionary in a society

where books are valued.

Many factors contribute to the changes found in Montag. One of the first

influences during the story is the exquisitely observant Clarisse McClellan. She

is different from all of the others in society who like to head for a Fun Park

to bully people around," or "break windowpanes in the Car Wrecker." She likes to

observe people, and she observes Montag, diagnosing him as a

"strange...fireman." He is "not like the others" because when she talks, he

looks at her, and when she said something about the moon, he looks at it.

Clarisse tells Montag that he is different from the other people. He has

something inside of him that makes him "put up with" her. Clarisse makes Montag

look at himself for the first time when she asks him, "Are you happy?" Montag

thinks that she is talking nonsense, but he realizes that he truly is not happy.

Something is missing from his life. Looking at his lifestyle, he found that the

"only thing that I [Montag] positively knew was gone was the books I'd [he'd]

burned in ten or twelve years." Clarisse helped Montag to start to think for

himself, instead of letting the society take over and make the decisions for him.

He begins his transformation from a dedicated fireman into a newborn, a reader

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