Fahrenheit 451
By Justin Sweeney
Course: ENG 4UE
Date: Friday, October 17, 2008
This intriguing novel, Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury, is played out in a futuristic city that is plagued by a nuclear war. The main character is a tall, dark-haired man named Guy Montag. Montag’s occupation is firefighting and unlike nowadays, firemen in this futuristic city burn books rather then put out fires. The reason for this, is to hide what lies inside of them. The city where all of this is taking place is run by a totalitarian government, which has chosen to use censorship as a reason to destroy anything they do not feel is right. Throughout this book, Bradbury paints us a picture of pure irony throughout the life of the main character. Guy Montag lives in a futuristic world where happiness is the central importance of every living person. What the people of this city do not realize, is that by destroying books they are actually destroying valuable knowledge. “Happiness is important. Fun is everything"(Bradbury, 58). Through killing knowledge, Montag ultimately kills what makes life worth living, which renders his life meaningless, but ironically he goes on to save his own life through his career choice and lifestyle, fight against censorship, and his battle to bring back books to the world.
"What do we want in this country, above all? People want to be happy, isn't that right? Haven't you heard about it all your life? I want to be happy, people say. Well, aren't they? Don't we keep them moving, don't we give them fun? That's all we live for, isn't it? For pleasure, for titillation? And you must admit our culture provides plenty of these” (Bradbury, 59).
This quote sums up Montag’s job. Montag is an average man who enjoys what he does for a living. Bradbury describes the pleasure Montag gets in doing his job and what it means to him through quotes such as "It was a pleasure to burn" (Bradbury, 3) or “He would feel the fiery smile still gripped by his face muscles, in the dark” (Bradbury, 4) . In this novel Montag’s helmet bears the number 451 on the front of it which signifies the temperature at which books burn. As the novel starts off, Montag is portrayed as a reliable worker who never looks at what is inside of the books that he burns. This lack of interest in reading books eventually changes, when he happens to meet Clarisse on his way home from work. The pair begin talking and, when Clarisse discovers that Montag is a fireman, she raises the point that firemen, once upon a time, would put out fires rather then start them. Montag believes that reading makes people unhappy and unsociable. When asked “Are you happy?" (Bradbury, 10). Montag, thinking that this question is completely absurd, answers quickly stating that of course he is. Montag later asks himself if he really is happy and to that he answers "Happy! Of all this nonsense. Of course I'm happy. What does she think?, I'm not? …” (Bradbury, 10). The one single question that Clarisse had asked Montag only a few hours earlier would eventually change the course of Montag’s life greatly.
After a sleepless night, Montag finally decides to continue his discussion with Clarisse. Once together, they get into a long discussion about her belief in books and what life used to be like for people. All this sense of mystery begins to draw Montag in, but knowing it’s not the right thing to do; tries to steer himself clear of it all. Days pass by and both Montag and Clarisse go on with their normal lives. Later in the novel Bradbury reveals that Montag has taken a few books and has hidden them around the house, and from time to time enjoys glancing through them. Montag begins to question what he does for a living and if he still wants to continue with it. On his day off, Montag decides to meet up with Clarisse once again and discuss the feelings he is having. While talking, Clarisse asks Montag why he chose to be a firefighter in the first place. He believed he was doing the right thing, but now wondered if he was doing more harm then good.
Montag and Clarisse decide that they have had enough talking for one day and Montag returns home to his wife. On a day like any other, Montag and his crew get a call to check on a house that has been suspected for containing books. The firemen enter the building and begin interrogating. While searching the house, one of the firemen knocks through a glass pane on the wall to discover a hidden library. Beatty, the chief fireman, states that he has never seen so many books in one place, at the same time. While searching through the library, Montag takes one of the books and sneaks it into his bag. Captain Beatty goes through a long explanation with Montag on how books are not worth reading and they are filled with lies and made up stories that will get someone nowhere. When the firemen attempt to burn down the house containing the books the owner, an elderly lady, throws herself onto the books and refuses to move. She says “I would rather die in the place where I started with my books then to keep living without them” (Bradbury, 38). The firemen proceed to burn the house down with the woman remaining inside. After the fire, Montag questions why someone would give up their life just for a book, which in turn, gets him wondering what books really do contain and why are people so attached to them. Bradbury later describes the scene of Montag after burning the house with the lady remaining inside of it. "He felt his smile slide away, melt, fold over and down on itself like a tallow skin, like the stuff of a fantastic candle burning too long and now collapsing and now blown out. Darkness. He was not happy. He said the words to himself. He recognized this as the true state of affairs. He wore his happiness like a mask . . ." (Bradbury, 12). Montag is now beginning to realize that he is truly unhappy and must find a way to resolve this. One night, when Montag begins reading over one of his books, Mildred catches him. Worried, she decides to send in a report against him. Montag remains completely unaware of this and continues to read.
Days pass, but still the firemen had not responded. Captain Beatty appears in the station shortly after Montag arrives and begins to converse with him. Beatty explains to Montag that what firemen do is right by saying,
"We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the constitution says, but everyone made equal. Each man the image of every other; then all is happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves against. So! A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it. Take the shot from the weapon” (Bradbury, 58).
Shortly after Beatty finishes, Montag thinks for a second and replies "I'm so damned unhappy, I'm so mad, and I don't know why "(Bradbury, 62). At this time, Montag has realized he is actually unhappy with his life and needs to find a way to change it. Thinking of the only person that he knows he can talk to, Montag goes looking for Clarisse, only to discover that her house has been boarded up. He finds her hiding in a near by bush. Astonished to see Montag, Clarisse runs up and tells him she is fleeing to see the “book people” because she is now wanted for owning books. Seeing that Montag is confused, Clarisse explains that the “book people” are designated people that read a certain book and memorize it word for word. The reason for this is so they do not get arrested for having books in their possession. Their plan is to tell the world their stories and reprint the magnificent books that once existed. She quickly explains to Montag the way to reach the book people and hurries off.
Montag , realizing that he must help these people and bring back books to the world, comes up with a plan to plant books throughout several of the firemen’s houses in order to get the people to believe the organization is a failure. Not knowing how to get books to the world, Montag goes in search of a man named Faber, a retired professor who is known for writing books. When he arrives at Faber’s house, Faber is very wary of letting him in. Montag presents himself as a book reader who wants to bring the joy of reading back to the world. Faber welcomes him in with open arms. Together they sit for hours and strategize ways to get books back to the world. During their discussions, Faber points to a book in his house and asks Montag “Do you know why books such as this are so important? Because they have quality. And what does the word quality mean? To me it means texture. This book has pores” (Bradbury, 83). This comment shows Montag that he is not the only one who believes in the magic that books hold. After hours of talking, the two finally organize a plan. Faber will get in touch with a printer to begin reproducing books and Montag will continue to plant books in the firemen’s houses. Later the next day, Montag arrives at work and tells Captain Beatty that he is resigning from his fireman’s position. Captain Beatty instinctively convinces Montag to go on one last job before he quits. Montag, not realizing what is going on around him, agrees to go.
This final job lands him at his own house where Beatty tells him he has been caught for hiding books. Beatty gives Montag the duty of burning all the books in the house. Instead of burning just the books, Montag continues on and burns every belonging he has in his home trying to erase his past from existance. In a sort of taunting manner, Beatty asks Montag if reading all those books was truly worth it. Montag takes this question really offensively and turns the flame thrower on Beatty, killing him in a matter of seconds. After Montag realizes he has killed Beatty, he is wanted for murder and decides to run off to the “book people” hide out. War ensues while at the hide-out and the enemies proceed to drop a large nuclear bomb on the city. The explosion completely wipes out the city and erases everything from existence. Since Montag is far enough away from the city, no one suffers significant injuries. Knowing what must be done now, they make their way back to the city where it all began. The men and women will attempt to rebuild what had been lost, all the while bringing back knowledge that had been taken away from the world during the book burning process.
Throughout this novel Montag and the book peoples’ lives act the scenario similar to that of a phoenix. This is because they are now presented with the chance to rebuild the city from its ashes and bring back knowledge which was contained inside the books. Overall, Fahrenheit 451 is a story that demonstrates pure irony because Montag starts off as a fireman who destroys books for a living then eventually becomes fascinated by the books and realizes all the knowledge he has destroyed. Montag begins to see that this destruction of knowledge renders life meaning less and brings great unhappiness upon him. Without his desire to bring back the knowledge he had once destroyed, he would not have lived. If Montag had remained a firefighter without venturing into the world of books, he would have perished with all the other citizens in the explosion.
Bibliography:
Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. 50th anniversary . United States: Del Rey Books, 1978.
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