Fahrenheit 451 Fire

574 Words3 Pages

Throughout this story we watch Montag’s perception of fire mirror his development. We watch Montag evolve from a very ordinary man in his society to the complete opposite. Montag’s job as a fireman shows that he is obviously for book burning. In the beginning of the book Montag expresses his love for his job, he says “It was a great pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed”. This quote shows how Montag feels about fire and burning of books. In the beginning of the book Montag has a passion for fire and burning, fire is used to mirror this. After Clarisse questions Montag if he is truly happy he ponders if he actually is or not. Shortly after their conversation, they get a firecall …show more content…

He tells his wife, Mildred, “We burn a thousand books. We burnt a woman.” He then says, “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”. Fire reflects this because as Montag begins to question this he starts to question his profession. The text states, “He pressed at the pain in his eyes and suddenly the odor of kerosene made him vomit”. By Montag saying this it shows that he is starting to reject the idea of fire and this mirrors him questioning the burning of books. Towards the middle and end of the book we watch Montag start to realize some of the things wrong with the world. When Mildred’s friends are over he says to them, “Go home and think of your first husband divorced and your second husband killed in a jet and your third husband blowing his brains out, go home and think of the dozens of abortions you’ve had, go home and think of that and your damn caesarian sections too, and your children who hate your guts…” This is when Montag is beginning to rebel against his job and the burning of books. Montag shows us that he has had books hidden the entire time, this shows us that he has always been kind of