"Forget them. Burn all, burn everything. Fire is bright and fire is clean." is a quote of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and it is about a society and world thats opposite of ours. Because instead of putting fires out they cause fires, the government led people think about knowledge and the imagination from books that dont exist. Montag the main character in the novel that live in the society with no feeling and thinking at the beginning who changes himself into different way at the end and he is reborn into a whole different person. He starts change his belief about the life from the beginning to the end.
Montag the protagonist is a 30 years old man who makes his living by burning books at the beginning. He had been marrying to a woman named Mildred for a few years and she is trying to avoid their relationship. She does not know who she really is and lives in an illusionary world with her television shows. She is a very down person always Montag feel badly about himself. One night she overdoses on sleeping tablets and Montag starts to see that she is slipping away from him. He is so confused because she tries to ignore it ever happened."...One, two, three, four, five, Clarisse, Mildred, uncle, fire, sleeping tablets, men disposable tissue, coattails, blow, wad, flush...Rain. The storm. The uncle laughing...The whole world pouring down..." (19). After this incident he looks at Mildred in a different light. When Montag got home from work, he met a seventeenth years old girl named Clarisse who moves next door of his house and they are being a friendship. Through his friendship with Clarisse, he doesnt love his wife as much as he did. When Clarisse asks, Montag is he is in love, he really begins to feel uncomfortable because his immediate answer should have been yes (since he is married), but he had to question his answer before he could reply positively.
Similar to the Montag at the end, Montag watched his wife Mildred who also tried to push him away from his house. She told the firemen that Montag has hidden the books in his house and they came and burned all the books and his house. After his house is burned, he went to the forest to meet Faber and Grangers groups. Then Montag starts remember about Clarisse who was dead, but even after her death, Clarisse continues to affect Montag by changing his minds.
At the beginning, Montag appeared a happy man. He is seen burning a house and is thoroughly enjoying himself. At one point, he thinks, "It was a pleasure to burn" (1). He had been a fireman for ten years and he had never questioned anything. After the house is burned, Montag begins to walk home and he met a seventeen year old girl named Clarisse who first open his mind to new concepts to perceive the world differently and brings thoughts of unhappiness to Montag. She does this to him by asking a simple question are you happy? (10). When Clarisse leaves, Montag begins to think about their conversation. 'Happy! Of all the nonsense.' Of course I'm happy. What does she think? I'm not? He silently asked"(10) Then he goes into his house and enter his bedroom. At this point he realized that he is not happy. "He felt his smile slide away, melt, fold over and down on itself like a tallow skin, like the stuff of a fantastic candle burning too long and now collapsing and now blown out. Darkness. He was not happy. He was not happy. He said the words to himself. He recognized this as the true state of affairs. He wore his happiness like a mask. . (12). One day, Montag and the other firemen have to burn down the book infested house of an elderly lady who refuses to leave her house and her books. But she didnt want to leave, so she jumped into her house with the books and burn her self. Then Montag thinks why she want to burn herself there must be something in books, the thing we cant image to make a women stay in a burning house (52). So he decided to read the books to see what in them that would cause such diverse reactions. He discovered that books contain and preserve a lot of knowledge. Furthermore books seem to make people think. They challenge the mind and expand imagination.
Unlike the Montag at the beginning, the Montag at the end of the novel is unhappy with the society he lives and he looked for new society which would make him happy. Well said Beatty now u did it. Old Montag wanted to fly near the sun and now that he's burnt his damn wings, he wonders why. (113). Montag wanted to be different and he got his punishment for trying. Then Montag decided to starts reading the books. He goes to his cache of books that he has been stealing, picks one that he feels interest and starts to read it and understand it. He isnt supposed to read the books, he is supposed to burn them and he jobs is totally opposite. Montag changes his ways of living and thinking and turn his life into different direction. "We'll start over again, at the beginning." (68). He decided to quit his job, he wanted to sees the different side of society, the way it used to be. He doesnt feel he has much time for his jobs anymore and he finds himself on the alarm to burn his own house after his wife told the firemen that Montag has hidden books in his house. Stuff you eyes with wonder," he said, "live as you'd drop dead in ten seconds."(page157).Then he figured out how to solve the problem and quit his job. He took a journey to find supports that help him out and he finds granger and other minded books loving along the train tracks. Then Montag and other witness begin the quest to assist in the rebirth of new society based on truth and knowledge.
So what Montag is a person that have no feeling and thinking and he changed him self to a better person by the influence of the people around him. Especially Clarisse, who wakes him up and changing his life forever, when his previously held ideology comes crashing down around him. He starts to change his thought on the books and he starts reading the book instead of burning it. At the end, after he escapes from the unhappy society, he is reborn into a whole different person. He becomes a better person aware of the real things in life.
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