Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury: Literary Analysis

Mildred Montag is an ordinary member of the society built in the novel Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. She sits at home everyday with her seashells plugged into her ears, staring at the wall, watching a pointlessly violent television show. But Mildred has also been cursed by being the wife of Guy Montag, someone who had just recently been struggling to grasp the true nature of the society. Because of Montag’s actions against society, Mildred has been left to make some complex decisions. Even though she is endangering Montag, the reader still feels sympathetic towards her because Bradbury has written her off to be the helpless wife who has been too brainwashed by her society to be saved.

In the book Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag faces many conflicts. The conflicts he’s faced with leaves him questioning his identity and just changes his life completely. All Montag ever knew was flipped upside down after he met a teenager in his neighborhood named Clarisse. After meeting Clarisse, and Faber later on in the text, and dealing with Captain Beatty, Montag goes through many challenges in his job, love life, beliefs, etc. Fahrenheit 451 informs the readers through an entertaining way about the dangers censorship can bring, it also informs people about the importance of books, persuading them to read books and see what lies between the pages.

, However, when Montag aims a flamethrower at his adversary, Beatty simply “just stood there, Finally really trying to save himself, just stood there, joking, needling” (122). Beatty gives up his life to Montag, bereft of pure passion and pleasure in

“And then he was a shrieking blaze, a jumping, sprawling gibbering manikin, no longer human or known, all writhing flame on the lawn as Montag shot one continuous pulse of liquid fire on him.” In the intriguing novel, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, it portrays a realistic, American society where books were prohibited and censorship from the government and society was acceptable and even approved by the people. Books are outlawed and firemen have to burn the books as a job, opposed to firemen put out fires in today’s modern society. Guy Montag, the main character, steals books and attempts to change society after he encounters Clarisse McClellan in the beginning of the book, who opens his eyes to the emptiness of his life with her innocently

But like with Millie, his relationship with Beatty drastically changed throughout the book. “Montag shut his eyes, shouted, shouted, and fought to get his hands and his ears to clamp and to cut away the sound. Beatty flopped over and over and over, and at last, twisted in on himself like a charred wax doll and lay silent” (Bradbury 113). Montag went from trusting Beatty to killing him in his own house. He felt betrayed that he burned his house and his books, depleting his overall trust.

When Beatty said this to Montag, it was as if he was telling Montag it would be ok with him for Montag to burn him. Beatty was fully aware that he was one of Montag’s main problems; for he was one of the few who knew he had been reading books. Then, later on in the story after Montag killed the Captain, he stated that “Beatty had wanted to die. He had just stood there, not really trying to save himself, just stood there, joking, needling...” (Bradbury 124).

Captain Beatty tries to explain to Montag that books are a danger to society and the reasoning behind why they are outlawed. His reasoning is that knowledge causes too many problems amongst different types of people. Whether it is political, religious, different views on things, they cause conflict and offend people. The fire alarm sounds in mid conversation, and the fire fighters are off to their next job. To Montag’s surprise, the firemen and himself pull up to his own house where he sees Mildred get in a cab and leave him, Montag was betrayed by his own wife!

In the novel, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, their are two significant characters called Montag and Mildred. Montag is the protagonist of the book and is a thirty-year-old in the twenty-fourth century. Montag’s responsibility as a fireman is to not save lives from burning buildings, but to burn the books he finds and burn the homes in which he finds them. Montag has a pleasure to burn anything he finds, too. He also has a wife name Mildred and Mildred is completely immersed to technology.

In Ray Bradbury’s dystopian Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag experiences a paradigm shift as he transforms from a disoriented fireman to a learner who wants to gain knowledge through literature. Montag struggles with his newfound fascination with what was once trivial items because of his inability to ask questions under the bonds of conformity. However, the society prohibits people from reading for fear that they would express individuality and perhaps even rebel once they gain knowledge. Through the use of characterization and diction, the Bradbury demonstrates Montag’s desire for individuality and the society’s command of conformity in order to build a suspenseful mood, which keeps the reader’s interest. First, through the use of characterization,

In this part of the book, all of the firemen including Montag received a call to burn a house with the books in there. Here became the turning point for Montag as he saw the woman, who already had made her decision to die rather than live in a world of oppression and restricted freedom of thought which books symbolize in this part, burns with the illegal books in the burning house, refusing to go out without the assurance of the safety of the books. We can suppose that his perception is gradually changing through the phrase showing that Montag felt a huge guilt over this, unlike the other firemen or Beatty. Furthermore, during the conversation with his wife, Mildred, Montag says, “We burn a thousand books. We burnt a woman.

Then Montag went and did the worst thing possible, he read a poem to Mildred’s friends, Mrs. Phelps and Mrs. Bowles. After he read the poem, he fled the house and went to turn in a book to Beatty. What he didn’t know is that the ladies have turn in an alarm and Mildred did too. The firemen, Montag, and Beatty made their way to Montag’s house. Beatty reveals that he knew all along that Montag was lying and made Montag burn down his own house.

Montag killed Beatty and was justified in this action, because he was protecting himself and Faber. Montag knew that he was going to jail and if he got caught he knew Faber would be too. He knew

Montag killed Beatty he thought what he was doing was right. Montag was justified for killing Beatty because he thought he was protecting himself and Faber, Beatty had to die for society to change, and Beatty wanted to die. Montags anger towards Beatty may have persuaded his decisions and made him do what he did to Beatty. In the event that Montag killed Beatty, he was justified because he was protecting Faber and himself.

He is justified in killing his fire chief and running from the law and hiding the books from his wife, because he had nothing to lose and he know what would happen if he was caught. Montag is justified in killing Beatty because he was protecting Faber who was a friend who was innocent. The only thing that Montag

(Bradbury 12). Consequently, he takes a flamethrower and starts burning Beatty all of his co-workers stare at him in a daze not wanting to believe what’s unfolding before their eyes. Montag is trying to make a point of taking out the head firefighter. He wants people to know that thinking outside the box isn't an atrocious act and it never was. As you can see, many people helped to change Montag's beliefs and actions.