Change In Fahrenheit 451

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Fictional characters and real people must adapt to change when they face it in life. The way in which a character approaches and adapts to change usually defines his character. In the novels Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, the two protagonists of each respective story are faced with change and must adapt to it. Each character is defined through the way he adapts to the change or adversity that he is faced with. Guy Montag, of Fahrenheit 451, is faced with the change of losing someone important in his life, whereas Arthur Dent, of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, is faced with the destruction of his homeland and the relocation to a new place. The best way to respond to change is to embrace it and to adapt to a way that suits you the most. The protagonists of each story did not respond to change that well, with one being worse than the other. In the novel, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the protagonist, Guy Montag faces change when his younger friend, Clarisse McClellan, disappears for a couple days and it turns out she passed away. She was, in fact, hit by a car and killed, but Guy did not need to know that to feel the sense of emptiness he felt when he realized she was gone. Guy used to see Clarisse on the walk to and/or from work. When he did not see her for a couple of days, he knew something was up. “And, then, Clarisse was gone. He didn’t know what there was about the afternoon, but it was not seeing her somewhere in the world. The lawn was empty, the trees empty, the street empty, and while at first, he did not know he missed her or was even looking for her, the fact was that by the time he reached the subway, there were vague stirrings of dis-ease in him. Something was the matter; his routine had been disturbed. A simple routine, true, established in a short few days and yet…? He almost turned back to make the walk again, to give her time to appear. He was certain if her tried the same route, everything would work out fine.” The two characters created a meaningful connection in a small amount of time and when she died, Guy felt a sense of emptiness and unhappiness …show more content…
This major change in Arthur’s life happens in the span of a couple days and it is hard for him to adapt immediately. Before the destruction of the Earth, he was an ordinary Brit living on Earth. The transition from land to space had a large effect on Arthur’s life. “Arthur glanced around him once more, and then down at himself, at the sweaty disheveled clothes he had been lying in the mud in on Thursday morning. I seem to be having tremendous difficulty with my life-style,” he muttered to himself”. Considering that Arthur came from Earth to space, the two lifestyles are different. The author describes his clothes as sweaty and disheveled, or messy. The intergalactic lifestyle has put stress on this “Earthman”, which is what he is referred to by galactic figures, like Slartibartfast. This change is especially difficult for Arthur because he must deal with the fact that he can never return to the planet of the Earth again. His only option is to adapt to this new lifestyle and to embrace every aspect of

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