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Guy Montag: Realization and Journey
Guy Montag, the protagonist of the novel Fahrenheit 451, radically changes throughout the novel. Over the course of the book, he transforms from an avid fireman, happy to accept his society’s rules and guidelines, to a radical dissenter who leaves everything he knows behind in order to search for the meaningful connections he finds in books. Most of this change is a result of Montag’s disillusionment with his society and what most people value. He realizes that his life consists of meaningless relationships and an absence of true morality. Many events and people throughout the novel help Montag to finally reach these conclusions.
The first and arguably most influential force of change in Montag’s life is his neighbor, a girl named Clarisse. Clarisse is the first to make Montag stop and actually look at the world around him. She asks him questions, forcing him to stop and actually think about his feelings. For the first time in his life, Montag actually connects with her and, especially after learning that the adults in Clarisse’s life have labeled her “anti-social”, he begins to question all of his other relationships. In this way, meeting and connecting with Clarisse is a catalyst in Montag’s development as a character.
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The second major turning point in Montag's life is when he tries to read to Mildred's friends.
After experiencing such an intense connection with books, Montag expects that everyone will have the same connection. Mildred's friends' reactions prove him terribly wrong. Contrary to his expectations, they revile him and books in general. This leads him to even further question his society and everything he has been taught. He becomes cognizant that the people he knows have never experienced a true connection to another real person – only to their fake television “families”. Montag realizes that the connection he has found with books is unique in his world, and begins to see the true value of
books. The final turning point in Montag’s life is at the end of the novel when he kills Captain Beatty rather than burn any more books. Until this point, Montag’s transformation has been purely one of attitude and mental state. However, when the firemen arrive at his house, Montag knows he cannot view fire the same way he did before. Then, when Beatty begins to verbally attack the entire notion of reading, Montag cannot continue to listen and kills him by setting him on fire. This completes his total transformation from happy fireman to silent malcontent to open dissenter. Over the course of the novel, Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag undergoes a thorough transformation. He realizes the evils of society and eventually tries to fight them. Through Guy Montag, Ray Bradbury, the author of the novel, is trying to warn readers to always keep their minds open and ask questions. He is trying to communicate the dangers of becoming too complacent and apathetic and not stopping to think and wonder about the world. Guy Montag’s transformation is a message that society should be careful about what it accepts as normal without really taking the time to process and tell right from wrong.
In every book, characters go through times where they challenge themselves. In Fahrenheit 451, a book written by Ray Bradbury in October 1953 Guy Montag faces several challenges throughout the book, just like any other character, but every event he faces changes him, his way of thinking, how he sees his surroundings, and even starts to doubt if the people closest to him are actually good people. Montag changes a lot, and his experiences and events faced lead to a new person.
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...
Firstly, Montag is influenced by Clarisse McClellan because she is the first person he has met that is not like the rest of the society. Clarisse is a young 17 year old girl that Montag quickly becomes very fond of. Clarisse influences Montag by the way she questioned Montag, the way she admires nature, and her death. Clarisse first influenced Montag by the way she began questioning him often. Her questions would make him think for himself unlike the rest of society. “Then she seemed to remember something and came back to look at him with wonder and curiosity. “Are you happy?” she said. “Am I what?” he cried. But she was gone- running in the moonlight” (Bradbury, 10). Clarisse was one of the only people that Montag had ever met that had ever asked him that. This question that she asked him influenced him because he thinks about, and Montag asks himself tha...
Guy Montag, the main character of "Fahrenheit 451," resembles Jon Anderton, a fictional character from "Minority Report." The two protagonists coincide with each other due to the vast roles they play as dichotomic symbols. A dichotomy is a division into two diverse groups. In the novel, Montag encounters a young girl named Clarisse, who invokes the change in him, setting up the transition for the entire novel. "Are you happy?" Clarisse asks Montag shortly after meeting him (Bradbury 7). This question allows him to think for himself and causes him to rebel and go
In the novel Fahrenheit 451 by author Ray Bradbury we are taken into a place of the future where books have become outlawed, technology is at its prime, life is fast, and human interaction is scarce. The novel is seen through the eyes of middle aged man Guy Montag. A firefighter, Ray Bradbury portrays the common firefighter as a personal who creates the fire rather than extinguishing them in order to accomplish the complete annihilation of books. Throughout the book we get to understand that Montag is a fire hungry man that takes pleasure in the destruction of books. It’s not until interacting with three individuals that open Montag’s eyes helping him realize the errors of his ways. Leading Montag to change his opinion about books, and more over to a new direction in life with a mission to preserve and bring back the life once sought out in books. These three individual characters Clarisse McClellan, Faber, and Granger transformed Montag through the methods of questioning, revealing, and teaching.
Clarisse is Montag’s first mentor in his journey; she is the one who first opens his eyes to the world around him, as well as asking the ultimate question “Are you happy?” (7) To which Montag cried “Am I what?” He never gave whether he was actually, truly happy a real, legitimate thought in his entire life. He just woke up, ate breakfast, went to work, ate lunch, went home, ate dinner, and went to sleep; and all with a big grin fixed on his face. But now, after a bit of consideration he came to the realization that “He was not happy…. He wore his happiness like a mask and the girl had run off across the lawn with the mask a...
In class we read the book Fahrenheit 451. The main character Montag has several qualities that change his views and decisions throughout the book. In the beginning of the story Montag was very confirmative and just went along with everything the government and didn’t really question anything but by the end of the book he was completely different. He had changed his views completely. One reason that motivated Montag to change so drastically was his curiosity. This caused him to question things and that led to some of his other qualities such as his open-mindedness. Questioning everything and talking to new people for information allowed Montag to become more open-minded and become open to more ideas. Another quality that Montag has that lead to his in change in the story was his change over time was his childhood memories.
Montag enjoys reading books but also he likes to destroy them. "It was a pleasure to burn" (Bradbury 1"). This evidence shows a contradiction in his interests. Ray Bradbury has pointed out how ironic this is. "Guy Montag joyously goes about his job of burning down a house found to contain books, and Bradbury describes Montag's hands with majestic irony" (Mcgiveron 1). Here we see his obvious conflict of interests. Montag does not realize what he is doing at first. Early in the story Montag does not yet recognize the true destruction of his profession. (Explicitor 1). It takes awhile for him to realize what he is doing. Montag has some major conflict of interests. In the 1950's Ray Bradbury the novel Fahrenheit 451 which pointed out his views about on censorship his views are still effectively received today. His story shows a society obsessed with technology, which is not all that different to present day's society. His choice to include a variety of literary techniques to help the reader grasp the novels true meanings. Bradbury used techniques such as situational irony, dynamic characterization, Character motivation, censorship, and symbolism to convey his story effectively. Next we see Bradbury challenges us to think critically about what everything
And everything she said made Montag start to think. While Montag and Clarisse were walking, Clarisse asked Montag “ How long is it since you were really bothered?” she said knowing he didn’t think enough to even be bothered by something. “About something important, about something real?” He heard this question and never thought about it, he reacted impulsively and thought she was crazy for asking such a question. Clarisse later asked him a very deep question and said “Are you happy?” Of course Montag said the first thing that he thought he felt, and said that yes, he was happy. but clarisse knew the truth, that he didnt know what happy was to be able to say that and thats why she asked. Even though Montag didnt think about the question then, once he enters his house he cant shake the question. When clarisse asks these questions she asks them seriously. However when Montag hears these questions he thinks they are obscure and laughs as if his answers are obvious. So clarisse asks him another brain teasing question and says “You laugh when i haven’t been funny, and you answer right off. you never stop to think what i have asked you.” This really gets into Montags head, weather he knows it, or not. And things Soon begin to change.
... ideas in books and understand them. Before this Montag never questioned the way he lives, he was blinded by all the distractions. The role that Clarisse plays in the book enables Montag to break free of the ignorance.
Montag finds himself starting to grow fascinated with Clarisse and her eccentric idea’s. He hopes that when he gets off work ...
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.
Montag is influenced by Clarisse a lot. And, her impact on him is tremendous. She questions his whole life, teaches him to appreciate the simple things, and to care about other people and their feelings. “You're peculiar, you're aggravating, yet you're easy to forgive..”(Bradbury 23) Through all Clarisse's questioning, Montag knows that she is trying to help him. Because of her help and impact on him, Montag is changed forever.