Analysis of Guy Montag

Fahrenheit 451 Character Essay In the story Fahrenheit 451 main character Guy Montag lived a simple easy going life. Fireman by occupation, husband by choice. Until he meets a strange girl that flips his life up side down. Montag undergoes a drastic change in mind, marriage, and self. Going from a charlie to a sagacious man, Montag goes on a wild ride throughout the story.

Fahrenheit 451 opens up with an inner monologue that really displays his mentality right on the spot. Ray Bradbury writes, "It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed." (Bradbury, 1) This shows the mindset Montag has. It Demonstrates how he gets joy out of his job. In the society he lives in books are illegal and firemen start the fires rather than put them out. Montag is such a man and enjoys it greatly. He is completely happy with demolishing pieces of history and written pieces of art. As he says, "it never went away, that smile, it never went away, as long as he remembered." (Bradbury, 2)

On a merry walk home from his beloved job, Montag is nearly un over on the side walk by a life altering girl. In meeting Clarrise, the girl, Montag's mind starts working in ways it never had before. With just one question, " Are you happy?" (Bradbury, 4) she sets way for future events that otherwise would have never happened. Montag starts to doubt whether the way he lives his life is really joyful. He starts to realize that he laughs when not really amused and answers without thinking about the question or his answer. He doesn't really think much at all. And Montag realizes...he is not really happy in the least.

This makes him notice the truth about his marriage, as well. Montag and Mildred Montag's marriage is very much empty. When he tries to confront her about how she feels about him she avoids or brushes it aside. He comes to the realization that all she really loves is her television, or parlor. Their marriage eventually deteriorates completely as she comes to believe he is crazy because he made her read with him. She runs away but not before calling his own department on him first.

Montag comes to the realization that he hates what he is and the society he lives in. His fascination with books continues to grow, but at first he blames the Hand for it. When he would sneak books into the house he would curse his hand for the action, thinking it had a mind of it's own. He was a confused individual because all he knew was books were bad and yet all he grew to want was books. He went to see Professor Faber, a man he talked to years before about books, he found out that it was really he who grabbed the books not his hand. He grew to hate his job and society so much that on a call to his own home he ended up killing his boss. And facing his fear of the Mechanical Hound and killing it, too. Montag then leaves his town on the run from the very people a day before he thought he liked.

The change Montag goes through is grand and amazing. Ignorance was bliss and he fought past it and became an intellectual. People tend to destroy things that they deem a threat to them and that is exactly what the government in Fahrenheit 451 did by televising his 'death and capture'. The entirety of this novel is a story about change, from the first page to the last chapter. With 'change' in italics the novel begins with, "It was a special pleasure to seethings eaten, To see things blackened and changed." (Bradbury, 1) Montage goes from changing things by destroying them to changing society by preserving know
Edge which, in turn, changes him.