Washington 3 Marlon Washington
Mr. Jake Spears
Honors English Language and Literature
19 October 2014
Burning Time
Imagine a world where…As individuals mature in intellect, it remains prevalent for them to undergo a string of transformations. Their bodies, interests, and understanding of the world shifts. Many individuals are eased through the alteration. However, in Ray Bradbury’s dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451, society is a conflagration set by masses of media, overpopulation, and censorship. The protagonist Guy Montag is characterized by a dynamic range throughout the novel. He begins as a quintessential fireman in a blaze of destruction and book-burning. As a salamander among flames, Montag ensues on his own journey of self-discovery
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The firemen fulfill their duties by visiting an old women’s house to destroy her plethora of books. Montag’s hands are described as book thieves of their own: “Montag had done nothing. His hand had done it all, his hand, with a brain of its own, with a conscience and a curiosity in each trembling finger, had turned thief.” (Bradbury 35). Montag’s hands perform bad actions as an involuntary bodily reflex; his hands seem to function as a subconscious-driven detachment. The purpose of consistently issuing the guilt to a body part of Montag other than his mind is to preserve the character’s innocence. Montag is not the perfect hero; he can easily be sympathized with along his journey. Montag’s maneuvers are comparable to Mildred’s unconventional overdose. After being asked to leave her home, the woman refuses and decides she rather burn with her books: “… Montag felt himself back away and away out the door, after Beatty, down the steps, across the lawn, where the path of kerosene lay like the track of some evil snail.” (Bradbury 37). This event affects Montag. He continues to want to learn the meanings behind the ink and paper: “There must be something in books, things we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.” (Bradbury 48). Montag does not understand why people will sacrifice their lives alongside