“It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed.”
Narrator, Page 3
This is how the novel “ Fahrenheit 451” starts. The beginning gives an image of the antagonist of this novel, but this quote is referring to the main character, Guy Montag. It may seem quite odd that the main protagonist would pleasure such action, but in the world of Fahrenheit 451, this action is considered justice. This quote is important because it clarifies the objective of Montag at the beginning of the novel. And from that point readers are able to question themselves about the main character.
Montag believes that his actions, which is to burn books, is justice. Even if I were to live in the same world as Montag, I don’t think that burning precious pieces of art and literature is justice. The interesting things about this novel is that the author does not mention anything about the past, such as the reason why books are getting burned or why Montag chose to become a fireman. These questions are very important to the story, but I think the author doesn’t mention about the past because either it is because there is too much to answer or because it wasn’t necessary to answer because he wanted to make this novel completely in the point of Montag.
This sounds like what we talked about in class today about the different types of characters. Montag seems to be a protagonist, round, dynamic and stock character. He is made to sound like a stereotypical bad person in the beginning of the book (and in fact he was!) but as the story goes on he slowly makes a change.
ReplyDeletewait, why are you here?
ReplyDeleteLater on the story Montag definitely becomes a protagonist.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I agree that the past is rather vague. But later on we soon realize why the books are actually being burnt, and that may be the theme of the novel.
Censorship.
I think Montag is a protagonist because he faces a conflict.
Man vs. man (against Captain Beatty)
Man vs. society (which is a big one here. The censorship of society and banning of the books.)
Do you think possibly that Ray Bradbury (the author) might have deliberately left out background information in order to hook in the reader? This style of writing seems to leave the reader wanting more information about an incomplete story and continuing reading the book. By giving us hints and pieces of the puzzle we're given space to draw our own conclusions about the setting. This way, the book appeals to a larger audience then if every single detail was spoon-fed to us.
ReplyDelete@Ryo.M :) I read this book too and I needed somewhere to comment. But hey I'm helping you out by giving additional input. You're welcome!
ReplyDelete8. Montag is the only character who changes at the end of the story and seems to have a better opinion about books.
ReplyDelete10. In this book what the firemen do is wrong and is the opposite of the real world. In the real world the firemen put out fires and save lives which is positive but in this book the firemen start fires which is negative.
ReplyDelete