Identity Crisis Fahrenheit 451

Identity Crisis In the book Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag is a dutiful member to society. He burns books day and night, rain and shine. But, when he meets charming girl Clarisse McClellan, he starts to have an identity crisis. Although he wants to be a dutiful member to society, Clarisse makes Montag realize that books have a value that no other object has. Throughout Fahrenheit 451, identity is a constant theme that runs throughout, with each decision that Montag makes a statement to his identity as a whole. When the book first starts, readers witness Guy Montag, a dutiful, hardworking member of society. He works hard to bring happiness to himself and his wife, Mildred, and wants to ensure the United States will never have to read another book again. But, when Clarisse McClellan told him that, “It's so strange you're a fireman, it just doesn't seem right for you, somehow” (Bradbury 21), he felt his body “…divide itself into a hotness and a coldness, a softness and a hardness, a trembling and a not trembling, the two halves grinding one upon the other” (Bradbury 21). During this time, he felt an internal conflict. He wanted to be a useful member to society, yet he felt that something did not add up with burning books.

A lady, who has a stockpile of books, is making her last stand with the firemen and will not leave her house. She will die with the books. As they are burning her books, Montag’s identity crisis worsens. He picks up a book and reads a line, which is forever engraved in his mind. He suddenly acts against his duty and his hand “…closed like a mouth, crushed the book with wild devotion, with an insanity of mindlessness to his chest” (Bradbury 34). Although Montag is burning a house down, his internal crisis causes him to grab the book without thought and save it from the burning doom. This later serves him to cherish books with a