Theme Of Ignorance In Fahrenheit 451

“Our Civilization is flinging itself to pieces. Stand back from the centrifuge” (Bradbury, 84). The novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is a comment on the habit of mankind to destroy itself, only to pop right back up from the ashes. The main character, Guy Montag, represents the parts of mankind that are becoming aware of this, through awareness, change through tragedy and obligation to spread both the former.
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.

There are a myriad of tragedies that begin to change Montag, to make him realize the horrible state of reality.

“I saw the damndest snake in the world the other night… you want to see that snake? It’s at Emergency Hospital where they filed the report on all the junk the snake got out of you!... would you like to go to that house that burnt last night? And rake the ashes for the bones of the woman who set fire to her own house! What about Clarisse McClellan, where do we look for her? The morgue!” (Bradbury, 69). All these tragedies serve to anger Montag, to motivate him to break through the surgery, rhinestone cage of his previously worldly

perception.
By the end of the book, Montag has fully escaped. He is witness to the crumbling of his old life. First the burning of his house, next the destruction of the city. “But we got one damn thing the Phoenix never had. We know the damn silly thing we just did. We know all the damn silly things we've done for a thousand years and as long as we know that and always have it around where we can see it, someday we’ll stop making the goddamn funeral pyers and jumping in the middle of them.” (Bradbury, 156). Montag is now fully aware of that state of humankind, and is helping keep the cycle going in hope that one day it will stop, and that we’ll stop burning ourselves over our own existence.
In conclusion, Guy Montag of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 started by being entirely unaware of the true nature of himself and his surroundings, but slowly changed through tragedy, and became obligated to spread or at least keep safe his own realizations and knowledge. Montag's development is a parallel to Faber’s recount of the missing aspects of the bookless society, the quality of information relating to the truths about one’s self and surroundings. The leisure to digest the information connects to Montag's continued realizations. And finally, the ability to carry out actions based on the former is directly related to Montag’s final direct stand against the firemen and the society that created them.