Character Analysis on Faber from Fahrenheit 451

Character Analysis: Faber from Fahrenheit 451 Faber is portrayed as a wise old professor who often acts a little unjustly. He lets his fear take over his body, and often does not act ethically. As Faber said, “…you are looking at a coward. I saw the way things were going, a long time back. I said nothing. I’m one of the innocents who could have spoken up and out when no one would listen to the ‘guilty’, but I did not speak and thus guilty myself.” Because of this cowardliness, Faber does not always do the right things and wise actions. It was also said in the book that when the structure that was set to burn the books, he grunted a few times and stopped, for there were nobody else grunting and yelling with him. He is now guilty of what he has not done and says, “Now it’s too late.” Faber acts unwisely because he is too cowardly. As mentioned before, when the society started burning books, he only grunted for a while then stopped because no one else is doing so. His cowardice also leads to inventing the green bullets. Another clue of this fear is that when Montag came over to his house, he explained his plans and asked Faber to help him. Faber complimented the scheme but refused to join until Montag started ripping the pages of the last bible in the city. Faber does not interact with people much (another sign of cowardice) except for Montag. Montag is everything that Faber is not. He is brave, daring, and is curious about many things, but Faber does not have any. After his first meeting with Montag, the author made Faber seem different. He seemed to have more courage. Montag thought Faber was someone who he could trust, someone who he can talk to and share secrets. Montag had faith in Faber. He also looked up to him. Faber also tells Montag how a literate society allowed itself to slide into mechanization and repression. He gives Montag information of the world before books were banned. The green bullets that Faber created symbolize him in some way. As Faber