Montag's Awakening

Beginning Paragraph Imagine a world without books—well, not completely without books. Some books still exist, hidden and illegal. Firefighters hunt them down and burn them. That’s right, firefighters here don’t put out fires; they make them. This is the setting created by Ray Bradbury in his book Fahrenheit 451. Guy Montag lives in this future world. Thesis Statement As the story progresses, Montag changes from someone who mindlessly destroys books to someone thirsty to preserve and pass on the wisdom contained in them.

Topic Sentence Montag initially conforms to a vain and ignorant society. He’s thirty years old and married, but he can’t remember where or how he met his wife. The couple lives in a colorless house with a wall of televisions, which Montag's wife stares at so often that she calls the people on screen her “family.” As a firefighter, Montag burns books for a living. He likes the fancy uniform, the thrill of the burn, and the status the job affords him. When the firefighters are not on a burning call, they play cards and avoid conversations. Maintaining shallow relationships through mindless entertainment makes Montag a model citizen, but the lifestyle leaves him with little purpose or identity.

However, Montag shows signs of change early in the story. While walking home from work “thinking little at all about nothing in particular,” he crosses paths with his new neighbor, Clarisse. Clarisse is unlike anyone else he has met. She’s curious about nature and loves conversations. Source Quotation She strikes one up with Montag, which makes him uneasy. “You think too many things,” he tells her (6). Yet, Clarisse opens Montag’s eyes to an alternative way of life and makes him realize he’s unhappy.

Middle Paragraphs Montag’s identity crisis deepens during a book-burning. While dowsing books in kerosene, he sneaks one into his pocket. Then, as the burn begins, the woman who owns the books steps in the fire. Montag is mortified and wonders what could be in books worth dying for. He wants to talk to Clarisse about it, but she has gone missing. He tries to tell his wife about it, but she’s too distracted by TV. He finally gets Captain Beatty to hear him out, but Montag leaves the conversation confused and frustrated. He says, “I just want someone to hear what I have to say. And maybe if I talk long enough, it’ll make sense” (78). Though Montag feels unsettled by these events, they suggest he is starting to think and act more independently.

Transitions Later, Montag determines books hold the power to challenge the status quo. He says, “We have everything we need to be happy, but we aren’t happy. Something’s missing. I looked around. The only thing I positively knew was gone was the books I’d burned in ten or twelve years” (78). He frantically tries to read the books he's stolen but has trouble understanding what they mean, so he tracks down an old English professor for help. The two hatch a plan to dismantle the fire stations and reclaim books for all of society. The plan goes awry, though, when Montag’s wife reports him for hiding books in the house. Captain Beatty forces Montag to burn the books, and Montag responds by killing Beatty. This course of action exemplifies Montag's character evolution. Analysis He changes from someone who robotically follows the norms of a mindless society to a man of action and reflection, even if many of those actions are rash and thoughts are short-sighted.

Montag completes his transformation by escaping the city and joining a group of drifters along an abandoned railway. The drifters are a part of a network that memorizes books. They teach him physical books are not as important as the wisdom inside them. Soon after, war breaks out, and the city is reduced to rubble. The story ends with Montag determined to preserve and pass on the language and ideas in books for future generations. He says, “I want to see everything now. And while none of it will be me when it goes in, after awhile it’ll all gather together inside and it’ll be me” (154). Once accepting of ignorance, Montag now thirsts for knowledge.

Ending Paragraph Montag is clearly a flawed character. In the process of changing, he makes many foolish and immoral decisions, including the murder of Captain Beatty. However, his poor moral judgment is not surprising when you consider he never thought carefully about anything in the past. Even still, he arises from the ashes with a heroic purpose—to rebuild society by preserving and passing along wisdom about the world. Thematic Details His awakening in Fahrenheit 451 serves as both a lesson and a warning. The lesson is to seek and protect the free flow of ideas. The warning is to never take books or knowledge for granted.