Alex Rioux
Ms. Staples
English 9H, Block B
13 January 2023
Title
In a society where one’s rights are diminished, there is no clear morality for citizens to follow, and they have to blindly discover their own ideas with no guidance from books or common forms of media seen today. Montag, the protagonist of the novel Fahrenheit 451, is shown to be an anti-hero through his actions in the book. These actions include gruesome murder, rebelling against the government, and fighting for good in an unanticipated way. Guy Montag’s actions in the novel all fit into the traits of an anti-hero; actions like murder, rebelling against the government, or fighting for good in an unexpected way all prove to be qualities that portray Montag to be an anti-hero.
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Montag clashes with the government constantly throughout the first two parts of the novel, the main figure representing the government throughout the novel is his boss, Beatty. Montag has been indirectly battling Beatty for the majority of the book, his clear opponent has been Beatty, they finally establish a clear rivalry when Montag describes his “dream” about Montag. Shortly after Montag’s argument with Mildred's friends, he headed to work where Beatty described his rivalry with Montag when he subtly told Montag. “‘in this dream, you and I, Montag, got into a furious debate on books. You towered with rage, yelled quotes at me. I calmly parried every thrust. “Power,” I said, And you, quoting Dr. Johnson, said, “Knowledge is more than equivalent to force!” (Bradbury 103). The conversation clearly conveys Montag’s battle with Beatty. Beatty describes a “dream” he had to subtly tell Montag that he knew about Montag’s rebellion and he would always be superior by describing his “furious debate on books”. Montag battling it with Beatty is Montag fighting against the government. One last action of an anti-hero that Montag takes is challenging a large body like the government. Montag battles Beatty who represents the government in the novel, this action is the last detail that portrays Montag as an