Montag In Fahrenheit 451

Ever wonder how a person would change over the course of living in a dystopian society? Well, in the story of Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, Montag is the protagonist. Montag is a firefighter, which is where they burn books instead of putting them out. Captain Beatty is the same as Montag, but not that quite… Ray Bradbury shows the differences between Montag and Beatty and shows how it affects Montag over the story, it also changes our perspective.
Monag has achieved to think, with a help of a 17-year-old, named Clarisse. Clarisse keeps asking questions to Montag. “You laugh when I haven’t been funny and you answer right off. You never stop to think what I’ve asked you.” (pg.6) This shows how Clarisse challenges Montag to “think” about things.
He continues to question his life, his role as a fireman, and the supposed illegality and evil of books. “He balanced in space with the book in his sweating cold fingers.” (pg.38) He has stolen a book from the old lady’s home that just got burnt down. Montag also has realized something that’s beyond the books itself. Montag stated, “And for the first time I realized that a man was behind each one of the books.” (pg.49) While reading some books and thinking, Montag has found out that a person has taken the time to write books. Montag starts thinking that there were real people who actually used their knowledge and had the time to write it down. While Montag gets more curious, he starts to steal books and read them, but in the past he wouldn’t ever do that, he would have burnt it
Beatty has surprisingly read some books… Which is weird because how he feelings about them. As he stated, “I’ve had to read a few in my time, to know what I was about, and the books say nothing! Nothing you can teach or believe.” (pg.59) This shows how Beatty is trying to play with Montag’s mind, he is trying to trick Montag into believing that books are a threat and that he will be wasting his time. Although, Beatty had read some books he went to visit Montag and gave him a talk about how the firemen gets a bit interested and says that’s totally normal. "At least once in his career, every fireman gets an itch. What do the books say, he wonders. Oh, to scratch that itch, eh?" (pg.62) Beatty is trying to convince Montag that it’s normal to have this phase. It is like what a thing that a parent would say to their kids “it’s just a phase.” Beatty seems to talk down to Montag, almost like he’s a child, but will soon grow up like Beatty to understand that books say “nothing.” Beatty is trying to make Montag confused about the books that’s he’s reading. But, Montag is refusing