An American scholar, Joseph Campbell, once said, "Every challenge or change we face in life is a Journey; every 'falling in' or 'falling out', every birth or death...confronts us with something new”. Campbell once formed a guideline for heroic adventures, known as The Hero's Journey. This initial guideline is used in countless movies and books and consists of many stages, such as call to adventure and abyss. In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag, a fireman and the protagonist, embarks on a life-changing journey to uncover the forbidden wonders of knowledge in books. Montag changes his opinions toward fire, transforms into a leader, and reveals his true symbolic nature of a phoenix through calling to adventure, crossing the threshold, …show more content…
He has always been secretly hoarding books; however, when a book landed in his hands in Mrs. Blake’s attic, “Montag’s hand… crushed the book with wild devotion, with an insanity of mindlessness to his chest… 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. ” (37). His unconscious action drives Montag into his departure where he grows curious of the knowledge hidden within the text. By stealing these books, Montag prepares for his initiation into the unknown. Furthermore, Captain Beatty provides an invitation for him to take a peek at the text and cross the threshold. When Beatty paid Montag a visit due to Montag’s absence at work, he informs him that, “‘ At least once in his career, every fireman gets an itch. What do the books say, he wonders… A natural error. Curiosity alone… We let the fireman keep the book twenty-four hours” (62). Captain Beatty hopes for Montag to see the futility of books and give up on the pursuit of knowledge as Beatty has done so