Review of The Novel Fahrenheit 451

 The classic book Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, is a book like no other. It has a unique plot placed in a world of technological dominance and has incredible character development. The phenomenal book is about a man named Guy Montag whose job is a fireman. In this world, television expands and dominates worldwide, forms of literature are becoming extinct, and firemen are to start fires instead of putting them out. Books have been outlawed by the government in fearing an independent-thinking public. His job, along with other firemen, is to destroy and burn books along with the houses in which they are kept. Guy then goes through a series of surprising and life-changing events which cause him to begin to question his job. All of these elements then add up to change Montag’s life forever, which creates a dramatic change to the character.

One of the first events and people that impacted Montag as a character was meeting Clarisse McClellan. The seventeen-year-old girl who moves in next door. A girl who loves life and nature and has a mind beyond her years. Montag is leaving work very late at night and as he walks home, he thinks about the odd feeling that someone had been on the same sidewalk as him a 'moment prior to his making the turn.'(pg 4) It had bothered him for the past several nights, and yet he couldn’t make sense of it. On this night, however, Montag turns the corner to see a girl. When Montag asks this girl if she is the new neighbor, she replies that Montag must be 'the fireman,' saying that she'd 'have known it with my eyes shut,' because of the smell of kerosene(pg 6). As they talk, Montag finds Clarisse to be different than other people because she talks of the past while everyone else only considers the present. They continue to talk as they walk home. They soon find themselves talking every day and become close friends. One day, Clarisse shows Montag a myth with a dandelion. She tells him that if you rub it under your chin and the color comes off, then you’re in love. She tests it on Montag and she claims that he must not be in love because there is no color. He refuses to believe in such a silly thing because he is married to Mildred. Clarisse apologizes for angering him, but this soon leads Montag to ponder if he really is in love. Another day, Montag strolls down the sidewalk expecting Clarisse, but she is not there. Many days later, Montag finds out that she was killed by a car and her family had moved out from next door. This makes Montag very sorrowful and he realizes how much Clarisse had impacted his life. She had helped him see how things used to be without involvement in media and what it’s like to really live.

Another event that greatly affects Montag’s life is when he witnesses a suicide due to a woman’s love for books. While Montag and others are at the fire station, the alarm for hidden books goes off. The firemen rush to the scene at a “three-story house in the ancient part of the city.”(pg 35) The men came ramming into the home to find an unidentified woman standing, not running, inside. Captain Beatty, the head fireman, demanded to know where the books were kept but she replied, “You know where they are or you wouldn’t be here.” They soon find the books and throw them into the yard. They begin to soak the books and house with kerosene. Again Montag reads a sentence from one of the books by chance when it drops open. Without thinking, Montag steals one of the books and hides it in his uniform. The woman who owns the house and books refuses to leave as the firemen get ready to burn them. Captain Beatty gives her to the count of 10 to move, but she lights her own match and ignites everything on fire, allowing herself to die with her books. This had a substantial effect on Montag. He tried to save the woman, but she refused and insisted he leave. This was the first time he had encountered a human who wanted to die for books. Before this, 'You weren't hurting anyone, you were only hurting things! And since things really couldn't be hurt, and things don't scream or whimper, as this woman might begin to scream and cry out, there was nothing to tease your conscience later.' (pgs 36-37)