Textual Analysis People take some things for granted, such as the roofs over their heads or the people they know. However, books are a valuable asset of everyday life. Books teach you, allow you to have a vast imagination, and most of all, they are a tool that you can use to fight against ignorance. Montag, the main character of Fahrenheit 451, realizes that his whole life was a lie. In the dystopian society of Fahrenheit 451, books are banned and anyone caught with a book is branded as a traitor. He sees that books are not evil and are an essential part of everyday life and will save people. Although Montag has everything he needs to be happy(a wife, a house, a job, etc.), Montag knows that he is missing something in his life: books. On page 82, while with Faber, Montag says, “‘I don’t know. We have everything we need to be happy, but we aren’t happy. Something’s missing. I looked around. The only thing I positively knew was gone was the books I’d burned in ten or twelve years. So I thought books might help.’” After telling Faber that, Faber sees Montag’s true desires. Even after Montag has destroyed countless books in the past, he is now intrigued by them and wishes to learn more about what books have to offer. Montag must learn or else his life will have meant nothing, forever being ignorant and unaware of the evils happening in the world. …show more content…
Montag is willing to die in order to accomplish what he wants because he has nothing to lose. Montag comes to the conclusion that he has nothing to lose, so he is willing to fight for his cause. “‘That’s the good part of dying; when you’ve nothing to lose, you run any risk you want.’”(85). Montag “doesn’t care” about anything else other than books. He doesn’t care about Mildred, his job as a fireman, about Beatty’s threats, etc. As long as he achieves his own person goal, then he will push aside everything