Fahrenheit 451 In a world where society is turned upside down, fireman Guy Montag, whose sole job is to burn books, suddenly feels guilt and curiosity about his unusual job. The dystopian fiction novel, Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, explores a future where books are banned and burned by the government. In our present day, the idea of firefighters burning things instead of putting them out is implausible and hard to imagine. However, the concept of banning books is our reality. Ray Bradbury takes this reality to an intense, dystopian level. Throughout Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury uses the main character, Montag, to show the development of control and the realization of that. After talking to his new neighbor, Clarisse, Montag realizes that her …show more content…
This is the point where Montag starts rethinking everything constantly in his life. He realizes that the portrayed “perfect life” he and everyone else seem to be living is all a lie, a fact that was just hidden under all the layers of lies that he had been living. Overall, this is one of 3 points in Montag's life where he starts changing and rethinking his morality. Montag’s views on society and the government changes on page 43. Montag heads to work as normal. On the job, his coworker and himself burn down a house, as he's done every day for years and years. However, on this day, the woman whose house they were burning refused to leave. Montag tries to get her to leave, but with no progress, they burn down the house with the woman in it. Before the woman's demise, she tells Montag to “go on” (43) stating she would rather die than be without books. This shows the theme that knowledge can be easily corrupted by the fact that besides Montag, no one cared that they had just burned a woman alive because she had books. The people in this society believe books hold some evil and false facts that are dangerous and the knowledge they