Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury: Literary Analysis

Alejandra Ramos
Professor Lambert
English 102
1 June of 2014
Fahrenheit 451 How would the world be today if books were not allowed to be read? The novel Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury, takes place in a dystopian world where firemen had the job not to put out fire, but to start them with books. Some of the characters are believable and help conduct this book to be one of the great selling books. Overall, with the symbolism and other elements the plot makes sense. Set in the 24th century, Fahrenheit 451 tells the story of the main character, Guy Montag. Montag, the main character of the book that helps contribute to the plot of the novel. At first, Montag enjoys and takes pleasure in his profession as a fireman, burning illegally
owned books and the homes of their owners. However, Montag son begins to question his job and, in turn, his life. Throughout the novel Montag struggles with his existence, eventually leaving his oppressive society and joining an underground network of intellectuals. With his new found friends, Montag witnesses the atomic destruction of his former city, and then dedicates himself to rebuilding a cultural society. At the beginning of the novel, Montag develops a friendship with his 17 year old neighbor, Clarisse McClellan, whose humanistic outlook and nature makes Montag to examine his life. Soon, he realizes he is unhappy and no longer loves his wife, Millie. Meanwhile, Millie is unwilling to deal with reality and instead chooses to immerse herself in interactive television, seashell radio, and an addition to tranquilizers. This thing is what somehow the author predicts in the future. The big screen television on walls, the seashells can be compared with the earphones how we always put it on and in a way ignore what is really going on. Unfulfilled by his occupation and discontent with a society unconcerned with reports of an atomic war, Montag begins to question the ways of the world. Specifically, Montag wonders why books are promote to be so dangerous and why some people are so loyal to them. Driven by his increasing uneasiness, Montag steals a book from a collection he is sent to burn. At the scene of the burning, Montag is shaken when the owner of the books, an older woman, refuses to leave her home. Instead, the woman sets fire to her kerosene soaked house and remains there as it, and she, are destroyed by the flames. The woman’s dedication to her books makes Montag realize that maybe the happiness he is missing can be found in books. After the burning, Montag returns home, feeling ill as he relives the woman’s horrific death. He begins to realize that although, over the ten past years, he thought he was serving society as a fireman, he was actually just an instrument of destruction. That night in a discussion with Millie, Montag learns that his friend Clarisee was killed by a speeding car more than a week earlier. Upon hearing this news, Montag feels even more ill. He falls asleep that night with his stolen book hidden underneath his pillow. The next day, Montag refuses to attend work, claiming that he is sick. His boss, Captain Beatty, visits Montag that morning, and appears to somehow be aware of the internal struggle Montag is suffering through, and that Montag might possess books. Beatty lectures Montag about the offensiveness of books and the superiority of their current society, where structured are mandated, to the old society where free thought was encouraged and people were permitted to express different opinions. During Beatty’s visit, Millie nervously organizes the bedroom and tries to pull Montag’s pillow away. When he won’t let her, she puts her hand underneath it and finds the hidden book. Millie is astonished, and although she does not directly give up her husband, she asks Beatty what would happen if a fireman brings a book home. Beatty says firemen are allowed to brin a book home but must burn it within the first 24 hours have passed by. When Beatty departs, Montag retrieves 20 books that he has stolen from alarms over the years and begins to read. Unsure what to do next, Montag recalls meeting a retired professor, Faber, a year earlier and discussing with the old man about the value of ideas. He decides to visit Faber, who is at first afraid to speak with him, fearing that he will be the fireman’s next victim. However, as the two men grow to trust each other, Faber becomes a mentor to Montag, sharing insight with the fireman and sharing with him to have copies of his books made. Faber gives Montag a small two-way radio of his own invention to insert in his ear so that the two men will always be in communication. At home, Montag becomes disgusted with his wife and her friends as they sit watching television and gossiping that reveals their selfishness and lack of awareness for the atomic war. Against Faber’s objections streaming through the secret radio in his ear, Montag engages the women in a debate about family and politics. Next, he reads to them froma book of poetry. Millie’s friends react emotionally to Montag’s reading, crying and not understanding the source of their tears. When the wife’s friends leave she goes to her room to take some sleeping pills and Montag hides his books in the backyard before heading to work. The firemen receive an alarm, and Montag is surprised whe he discovers that it is his own house that is to be burned.
His wife Millie reported him. After burning his home and possessions by himself, room by room, as ordered by Captain Beatty, Montag is reproached by his boss, and the two men engage in a scuffle, during which Faber’s radio is knocked from Montag’s ear. When Beatty remarks that both Montag and his “friend” will be dealt with severly, Montag threatens him with the flamethrower. When Beatty continues to verbally abuse him, Montag flips the switch and kills the the chief. At once, the Mechanical Hound, a computerized attack dog that can track down any human being by scent, follows him. The Hound stabs him in the leg with a procaine needle, but Montag is able to annihilate it with the flamethrower before ot can do more damage. Montag retrieves his remaining books from the yard before running to Faber’s. On the way, he pauses to plant the books on the home of fireman Black, briefly collects himself at a gas station where he hears reports that war has been declared, and when crossing the road is nearly run over by a reckless
driver. Faber provides refuge for Montag, who is being chased by a second Mechanical Hound and the authorities.
Faber provides Montag with some old clothes, and tells him to go to the river and float downstream to the train tracks, where he will hopefully find a hobo camp of intelligent outlaws’ who can help him. In return. Montag encourages Faber to turn on all of his sprinklers to throw the Hound of his scent. Montag departs, Faber heeds his advice, and then sets off for St. Louis to commission a former printer he knows to print some books. Montag floats down the river, successfully avoiding the Hound, and comes up on former writers, clergymen, and academics by the riverbank. As for here the setting of the novel seems more realistic because this is where in today’s society we will find hobos near the river bed. As for the Hound this is something that helped the novel be more of a dystopian world something where the technology is that
advanced. The leader of the group, an author named Granger, welcomes Montag and offers him a concoction to change his pH so that the Hound cannot detect his presence. Later they all see how the Hound has found “Montag” and killed him, just so the public can still have confidence with the police. Granger tells Montag how the men in camp have each memorized literary work so that someday, when it is safe to do so, they can again print books, recreating them from memory. When atomic bombs destroys the city, the men set out to sift through the rubble and begin a new society where there can be books again and free thought. The main character, the plot and some settings helped developed the the main idea of this book.9