Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451 takes place sometime in the future where the main character, Guy Montag lives in a corrupt society where books are illegal and imagination is limited. Montag’s curiosity gets the best of him when he is caught stealing books. Because of this, he is forced to burn his own house down. Subsequently killing two people, one including his fire-chief Beatty Montag becomes a wanted fugitive. After escaping his town and following a path by a railroad, Montag meets other fugitives just like him and is accepted into their “group”, travelling with them to an unknown future that awaits them. One lesson in the story is to not try to fit in with everyone else. Stand up for what you believe in, despite what others think of you. Guy Montag wants to dig deeper into the past, but is constantly discouraged by others.
From the very beginning of the novel, we see how Montag is introduced to the fact that life used to be different and books weren’t unauthorized. People could read as much as they wanted and not be penalized for it. Imagination was boundless, all according to another main character named Clarisse. If it wasn’t for Clarisse, Montag would still be living life plainly like everyone else. At first, Montag is baffled this new information, but later starts to consider more about it and delve deeper into the topic. In the beginning of the story, Guy was perplexed as to why Clarisse says that firemen put of fires rather than burning them. After hearing this, Montag begins to debate his actions and everything that he stands for. The beginning of the novel also uses comparisons to show Montag’s point of view on books and their importance. An example of this would be, “This book has pores. It has features. This book can go under the microscope. You’d find life under the glass, streaming past in infinite profusion.”
In the middle of the story, Guy starts to think deeper about this and begins to question his beliefs, as stated in the second paragraph. Montag even steals a book and hides it in his bedroom. He tries to read a couple pages to understand why books are even considered illegal. He even attempts to explain to Mildred the new information he learned, but she refuses to listen to him. She thinks that what Montag is doing is insane, but Montag continues to learn more about books and their significance. As he learns more he realizes that he should be cautious. He realizes this because he starts to notice that Beatty is on to him and feels suspicious about his sudden change in behavior. While burning a woman and her books, since he is still continuing with his job, he even uses this opportunity to read one line from a fairy-tail book. But instead of feeling a rush of adrenaline, he starts to feel guilty about burning the woman and her books. Because of this, he considers quitting his job but Beatty uses persuasion to coax Montag out of quitting.
Because of Beatty’s act of persuasion, Montag continues going to work the next day. Although he chose to continue his job, he still has mixed emotions. On the other hand, many people think that being too curious about something can end up being a bad idea making the issue worse. Most people are familiar with the phrase, ‘Curiosity kills the cat,’ which is believable. While this an exceptional point, this doesn’t apply to everything. Sometimes it’s good to know more about an underrated topic even if it seems like no one else cares about it as much as you do. This shows that it all depends on the topic. You might have good intentions, but sometimes it might have bad consequences.
After Montag decides to be committed to discovering more about the past, he officially goes against the law, which makes him even more isolated from society, just because his beliefs are different from others. After being caught with books, Montag is forced to burn down his house. Montag used this opportunity to kill Beatty. During this, Montag’s ex-fellow firemen don’t make an effort to stop Montag. The people of the law, even begin to fear Montag’s behavior, but do not want to show the public their fear. This is why the police kills someone who looks like Montag to fool the public into thinking that Montag was caught. Instead, Montag runs away and meets a group of people who are runaway fugitives like him. Montag no longer feels alone and isolated, because now he’s found people who are in the same situation as him and understand his struggles. At the very end of the text it states, ” Yes, thought Montag, that’s the one I’ll save for noon…. When we reach the city.” This shows that now, Montag can read freely when he reaches the city, where he can finally live in a fear-free future. When you stand up for what you believe in, even though others might not agree with you, that shouldn’t stop you from accomplishing your goal and making sure your voice is heard.