In the book Fahrenheit 451 there does not seem to be one definite heroic character throughout the book. In fact, most people are portrayed as bad people who do bad things or have to wrong motives in life. Guy Montag is a character that is usually viewed as the antagonist; however, he is actually the hero of the novel because the bad things he does are actually done for good.
People often view Guy as the antagonist because of the things he does. He works as a fireman, who burns books, and even people at times. He also turns out to be a murderer and a thief who has broken the law many times. Sounds like a pretty bad guy who doesn’t really care about anyone but himself.
In reality, Guy has many heroic qualities, such as courage and strength. He just wants to learn about books and teach the rest of society about them because he doesn’t think that they are worth banning. He is doing bad things and risking his own life for the good of everyone around him. However, people can not see this through the lies of the government that they have been taught since birth.
The government has got everyone brainwashed and completely controls everything. It controls the T.V., the radio, and even their hobbies and jobs. The government banned books so that people would not be
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That is where Montag and his job as a fireman come in. There is a lot of violence in this society and the fact that they live in a time after two atomic wars does not help the situation. Part of the violence problem is due to book burning, where firemen will get a call and they will have to go and burn the books that were found in any way necessary, even if that means burning people with them. Along, with firemen being brutal at times they also used mechanical hounds, which were basically killing machines that could track anyone and could sniff out books(Bradbury 22). Guy Montag eventually sees the brutality of his job and begins to question