Montags Metamorphosis in Fahrenheit 451 :: Fahrenheit 451 Essays

Montags Metamorphosis in Fahrenheit 451      It is once in a while in the history of bingles literary experience that a book comes a long which is so poignant in its message, so frightening in its implications New York Times, and so ironically simplistic in its word choice. One of these treasures of 20th century literature sits on my desk in front of me as I type-Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, the clean devoted to denouncing the adage, Ignorance is bliss. This novel provides a glance into a bleak world similar to our own (almost too similar) where war is common, feelings are shunned, family is non-existent, and thought is no longer an individuals query. To facilitate this last criterion of Mr. Bradburys world, books yield been banned, condemned to be burned on sight along with their possessors. (Incidentally, I am sure that Mr. Bradbury was aware of the gritty irony of writing this down in a book when he conceived of the idea.) And who should be the policemen of th is world of ignorance? The firemen. Not unlike the firemen in our world today, they dress alike, commence big trucks, and wail their loud sirens. There is one fundamental difference, however-these firemen start fires they cleanse the evil books of their sin. And who should personify the heartless, unfeeling, cold-warm fireman but Guy Montag. His father was a fireman, and his father in turn, so what other job could there be for a man like him? Well, as you, the reader, will see, Montag will soon have trouble answering that question himself.       As I have mentioned, Montag is like all the others at the commencement of the novel loving his job, never questioning an means that has never given him any reason to obey. This all changes though when, while walking home from work, he encounters a young girl named Clarisse, who, through her pureness and oblivion to the world around her, shows him that society is crumbling around him and that he can be a part of the soluti on, not as everyone else is-the problem. For the first time in his life, he questions what he sees around him his wife overdosing on pills, Clarisse getting hit by a speeding car and killed, and even the book burning which he does every night for money. Or was it amusement? Either way, curiosity gets the better of him as he steals a book from a raging fire during one of his raids.