How Did Montag Change In Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 Essay Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, is a science fiction piece about a dystopian society in which books are treated as enemies and burned by so-called firefighters. The main character, Guy Montag, is one of these firefighters who meets a girl named Clarisse McClellan who changes his life by teaching him to think about life from a different standpoint. This novel has three parts, and each one relates to fire in a way. In the first one, “The Hearth and the Salamander”, the reader is introduced to Mildred, Montag’s wife who never questions life, and Captain Beatty, Montag’s fire captain who is somehow incredibly knowledgeable. As Montag learns about earlier life from Clarisse, he starts to steal books from criminals’ houses,

To start with, Faber gives the idea to Montag to burn the firemen's houses- “Now, if you suggest that we print extra books and arrange to have them hidden in firemen's houses all over the country...”(Bradbury, pg.85). Together, they are trying to find out ways to change the society and let books make a reappearance as something good, not evil. By burning firemen’s houses, they could at least abolish the ones who burn the books, from the world. Afterward, Faber says another notable thing on pg.86 about the salamander devouring his own tail. Since the salamander, or fireman, is considered fireproof, and if this duo is burning their houses, then technically they are burning the one who is supposed to be protected from the fire, causing a problem in society. This is what they want to happen, but the mission will be dangerous. Lastly, Faber says “Those who don’t build must burn. It’s as old as history and juvenile delinquents.” He’s saying that the people who don’t create or invent are destined to burn or destroy. Since this society is cut off from the power to think and invent, they destroy and burn the things, which little do they know, but are actually the source of that power: books. Faber is a man of wisdom, who gives many messages through the symbols and hints at what is coming in the near future in his talks with Montag. This

The purpose of fire according to Beatty on pg.115 is “that it destroys responsibility and consequences”, meaning that it takes away man’s problems and mistakes. And if people start ruining the ways of the government, they burn them! Wow, you would think, what a solution! But that is what leads the government to its damnation. A little later in the book, Montag sees a great sight--“That small motion, the white and red color, a strange fire because it meant a different thing to him. It was not burning. It was warming.”(pg.145). As the title conveys, he sees a fire calling to him, like an invitation, a brightness, rather than the governmental view of causing fear and ruin. In the end, Granger, one of the educated tramps, talks about a phoenix(pg.163), which in myth burned himself in the pyre and right before he died reborn himself. He does this again and again, just like human beings which are ruining themselves, but the one difference is that we know what we are doing. We know that we are wrecking ourselves, while the bird doesn’t. This is an important lesson to learn from this book, that the government in it, was just ruining itself by not giving society access to books and sabotaging