The first line and opening paragraphs of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury immediately inform readers that Guy Montag enjoys his job as a fireman who burns books, thus setting the dystopian tone of the novel.
However, after Montag’s encounters with the spirited Clarisse and the elderly woman willing to sacrifice herself for her books, his attitudes toward the job undergo significant changes.
In the novel’s third section and turning point, “Burning Bright,” Montag’s change of mind is then tested when station captain Beatty drives the Salamander truck to Montag’s house to burn the books Montag has hidden.
Montag’s initial reactions to the arrival at his house are disbelief and shock. In an instinctive, subconscious moment, he looks at what used to be Clarisse’s house, as if to evoke her spirit:
Montag’s face was entirely numb and featureless; he felt his head turn like a stone carving to the dark place next door, set in its bright border of flowers.
After Montag’s wife Mildred leaves the house, the firemen move in to do their work. Montag, still in shock, observes them with a detached, dreamy state of mind. After Beatty announces that fire’s purpose lies in eradicating “responsibility and consequences,” Montag’s resolve begins to waver under the spell of Beatty’s speech:
Montag stood looking in now at this queer house, made strange by the hour of the night… and there on the floor, their covers torn off and spilled out like swan feathers, the incredible books that looked so silly and really not worth bothering with, for these were nothing but black type and yellowed paper and raveled binding.
Then Beatty orders Montag to burn his own house with a flame thrower. Montag obeys, in part from his anger at Mildred’s betrayal. For a moment, his previous pleasure in burning returns. Then after Beatty punches him, the earpiece that links Montag to Professor Faber falls out. Beatty threatens to send the crew after Faber.
Beatty’s threat finally galvanizes Montag into making the decision about which side he’s truly on, one that makes him an outlaw, and brings the novel to its conclusion. However, when Montag turns the flame thrower on Beatty, he takes no pleasure in this burning.
The answer to this question does depend on when in the story it is asking about. At the beginning of the story, Montag is the quintessential fireman. He loves his job because he gets to light things on fire. Burning houses down that are filled with books makes sense to him because he has bought into the cultural assumption that books hold nothing worth his time or that books are dangerous.
As Montag comes into contact with people like Clarisse and the woman that is willing to burn to death for her books, his feelings begin to change. He questions the assumed uselessness of books because he has seen firsthand that someone is willing to die to protect them. He realizes that something valuable must be contained within the pages of books for a person to willingly burn to death for them. As Montag gets more exposure to books, he learns of their value, and he is saddened by the rampant destruction of them.
At the beginning of the novel, Bradbury describes Montag's experience burning books. Bradbury writes, "It was a pleasure to burn" (1). Montag enjoys his work as a fireman and takes pleasure in burning books. He firmly believes that he is helping humanity by burning books and is essentially institutionalized. Bradbury writes that Montag is calm as he flicks the igniter and watches as the flames engulf the books. Montag thinks of a relatively enjoyable experience by wishing that he could roast marshmallows over the flames. Bradbury also mentions Montag's "fierce grin." When Montag returns to the firehouse and looks in the mirror, he winks at himself. While Montag lays in his bed at night, his fiery smile does not go away. Bradbury is suggesting that although Montag is unsympathetic about his occupation and appears happy, his feelings are artificial.
After Montag becomes friends with Clarisse and realizes that he is living a meaningless life, Montag feels differently the next time he burns books. When Montag responds to a call suggesting that a woman has a library in her attic, Montag feels guilty about destroying the books. He is not unattached while he sets the novels on fire and even reads a line from one of the pages. He thinks about what he has read the entire time and even steals one of the books. Montag's feelings of guilt reflect his change in perspective.
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