Fahrenheit 451: Montag’s Emergence as a Leader
The Greek philosopher, Heraclitus once said, “The only thing that is constant is change.” In everyone’s lifetimes, facing stepping-stones that will either make or break us is a constant. Whether it is originally a cause or an effect, change is almost always the outcome in every situation. Even in the simplest things such as buying clothes to interacting with people, every action has an endless amount of possibilities. In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag is one of the major sources to the novel’s outcome. Montag’s own leadership in the end of the novel could not have been possible without Clarisse, his mentor Faber, and the actions of Montag himself that took him by surprise.
Meeting …show more content…
When he was forced to burn his house by Captain Beatty, Montag felt a strange detachment. He was sorry to burn the books, sorry to burn his house itself in some ways because it still held happy memories for him from his old life. It was also getting rid of an empty life, it burned his entire past, including Mildred, whom he realized never truly loved him, “... everything that showed that he had lived here in this empty house with a strange woman who would forget him tomorrow...” (Bradbury 118). In burning his house, it gives him a fresh slate to start new with. Just like in the beginning of the novel, it felt good to burn, Montag “felt himself gush out in the fire, snatch, rend, rip in half with flame, and put away the senseless problem.” (Bradbury 118). The fire helped him find a solution to his problem. He returns, in a way, to the joy he took in burning the books in the beginning, but this time, for different reasons. The burning itself was liberating because everything that tied him to his old life is destroyed; it was joyous because he is finally able to escape the hold the society had on him. He is now free to rebuild his new life and start anew.
In meeting Clarisse, his mentor Faber and Montag burning his home down, Montag emerged as a leader to guide the intellectuals to the ruined city. The society Guy Montag lives in was based on instant satisfaction. The citizens were too caught up in having a fun, fast-paced life with lots of material goods and in that, they stopped caring about ideas and values. In an mindless society, Montag was lucky to have gotten out just in time before their society was destroyed by both the atomic bombs and the self-destructive artificial happiness they held on so desperately
The Greek philosopher, Heraclitus once said, “The only thing that is constant is change.” In everyone’s lifetimes, facing stepping-stones that will either make or break us is a constant. Whether it is originally a cause or an effect, change is almost always the outcome in every situation. Even in the simplest things such as buying clothes to interacting with people, every action has an endless amount of possibilities. In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag is one of the major sources to the novel’s outcome. Montag’s own leadership in the end of the novel could not have been possible without Clarisse, his mentor Faber, and the actions of Montag himself that took him by surprise.
Meeting …show more content…
When he was forced to burn his house by Captain Beatty, Montag felt a strange detachment. He was sorry to burn the books, sorry to burn his house itself in some ways because it still held happy memories for him from his old life. It was also getting rid of an empty life, it burned his entire past, including Mildred, whom he realized never truly loved him, “... everything that showed that he had lived here in this empty house with a strange woman who would forget him tomorrow...” (Bradbury 118). In burning his house, it gives him a fresh slate to start new with. Just like in the beginning of the novel, it felt good to burn, Montag “felt himself gush out in the fire, snatch, rend, rip in half with flame, and put away the senseless problem.” (Bradbury 118). The fire helped him find a solution to his problem. He returns, in a way, to the joy he took in burning the books in the beginning, but this time, for different reasons. The burning itself was liberating because everything that tied him to his old life is destroyed; it was joyous because he is finally able to escape the hold the society had on him. He is now free to rebuild his new life and start anew.
In meeting Clarisse, his mentor Faber and Montag burning his home down, Montag emerged as a leader to guide the intellectuals to the ruined city. The society Guy Montag lives in was based on instant satisfaction. The citizens were too caught up in having a fun, fast-paced life with lots of material goods and in that, they stopped caring about ideas and values. In an mindless society, Montag was lucky to have gotten out just in time before their society was destroyed by both the atomic bombs and the self-destructive artificial happiness they held on so desperately