Farenheit 451 Paper

“Faith is the heroism of the intellect” (Charles Henry Parkhurst). In Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, the protagonist, Montag, is an intellect. In the society he lives in, books are illegal. The government feels threatened by people with the knowledge that books promote. Montag has the infamous job of a fireman, an odd twist on our society’s fireman. Fireman in this time start fires rather than stop them and the fuel for the fires are books. The government attempts to suppress thinkers; people who question orders given, people who question things that most just ignore. Montag’s job easily disguises his secret plots; Montag plans on planting books in fellow fireman’s houses in attempt to bring down this dystopian government. The author depicts his heroism through the use of word choice, imagery, symbolism, and characters’ actions. Throughout the novel, Montag faces a great deal of tough situations which led to tough decisions. He forces himself to walk away from his wife, kill his boss, and much more. The author descriptively depicts Montag’s heroism.
The author’s use of informal word choice creates Guy Montag’s heroic traits. “There must be something in books, things we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing” (51). Montag cannot figure out why those books meant so much to that woman. He feels that if she were to stay in a burning house for them, there must be something else there that he missed. Montag stands up for a cause that he isn’t even sure of. He knows there is something there, but he doesn’t know what. This is heroic because Montag takes a risk. It may seem easy to take risks such as this one, but in his society, things are a lot different. Taking home books and reading them is a crime that will be punished with jail time. After making the decision to commit to this idea, Montag loses his temper and show’s his wife. “When he was done he looked down upon some