"How close the wilderness is in the night"

“When we forget how close the wilderness is in the night, my grandpa said, someday it will come in and get us, for we will have forgotten how terrible and real it can be” (Page 157, Granger)

Throughout the entirety of Fahrenheit 451 the author has been preaching to us the dangers of embracing technology too much at the cost of our own critical thinking and free will. As Montag has finally escaped from the city he used to live in and is now out in nature with other likeminded individuals, he hears this warning from Granger. This serves to remind Montag not to become complacent. While it may seem like he has finally escaped from the Mechanical hound and other ghosts of his pasts, if he becomes complacent it could all return. He could become just like Mildred, depressed, attempting suicide, and lost within the walls of the “parlor.”

Another point to mention is that at the end of the book, it appears as if his old city has gone up in flames, probably due to an atomic explosion of sorts. It’s a warning that even if the entire old structure of firemen and censorship was torn down, you still have to watch out for any potential pitfalls that could return the world to such a state.