Fahrenheit 451 Essay

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Fahrenheit 451
Over the course of the novel Guy Montag undertakes a personal journey and develops as a memorable character.

Throughout Ray Bradbury’s novel, the reader witnesses an emotional and deep change within Montag. He undertakes an eccentric personal journey for someone in that time and develops himself as a memorable protagonist. By the end of the book, he is a completely different person because he sees a different side to society. Bradbury uses the symbol of fire throughout the novel to describe much of what is happening to Montag. In the beginning, his journey of realisation starts with Clarisse. She is a very positive influence on him. Clarisse teaches Montag to look around him, look at the people for who they really are. Montag never did that before. She shows him that he isn't really in love with Mildred anymore. On the other hand Mildred is a negative influence on him, trying to push him away. Montag becomes kinder: he sees the self-destructing, depressed people and is affected by them, instead of merely moving on in his life and not caring. Montag decides to stand for a real purpose: he decides to rebel against this terribly corrupted government and changes into a better person aware of the real things in life.
At the beginning of the novel, Montag is a total conformist engaged in the drone-like dictatorial system in which he lives without thought or question. He is married to Mildred, an insipid woman who spends her days in front of three television parlours and forces herself to sleep at night with music and sleeping pills. Guy Montag’s life is a mess. This isolated absence of intimacy is a main factor to this. The first personal influence on Montag is Clarisse McClellan. She is a very positive influence on him and she changes his view on life with a simple question “Are you happy?” Clarisse is classified as an odd person, but she is a very friendly girl. She is very perceptive which is shown: "...I like to watch people. Sometimes I ride the subway all day and look at them and listen to them, I just want to figure out who they are and what they want and where they're going... People talk about nothing...” Clarisse teaches Montag to look around him, look at the people for who they really are. Montag never did that before. Clarisse helps him look around and see everything, from the smallest snowflake to the prettiest flower. He doesn't realize it then, but later he realizes that Mildred isn’t the one he loves. Montag never really thought about what was happening in his life, or why it seems he never shows much emotion towards anything. Clarisse teaches Montag to look around and to pay attention to what is really important in life, just not what his society tells him. After meeting Clarisse and how she had a different point of view on the world, he realized that he doesn't want to live in a society where it is forbidden to talk about his thoughts and learn about anything new. This is a turning point for Montag and changes his life forever.
During the course of Bradbury’s novel, the people around Montag grow increasingly alarmed at his behaviour and changes in personality. He is seen as an antagonist in the eyes of society. Guy Montag starts to think for himself and make his own individual judgements and decisions, exactly what the government and Beatty do not want. Montag’s thirst for knowledge and his growing mind make Beatty suspicious. Montag senses Beatty’s deceitful ways to try and make him confess to taking books which causes Montag to start avoid his boss. Mildred is extremely concerned about the risk that her husband has placed both of them in, not so much concerned about the feelings of her partner, more so of herself and her reputation.
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