Fahrenheit 451: Guy Montag And People Who Influenced Him

Fahrenheit 451 takes place in the future in a time where such ridiculous things as reading books, driving slowly, and walking outside are prohibited and the job of firemen involves burning books. The main character, Guy Montag, is one of the many firemen and he expects respect from people because he is one. He takes great pride in his job and enjoys seeing things “changed” by the fire (such as the books he burns). He even enjoys the smell of kerosene. Montag is influenced by many people throughout this period of his life.

One of these people is Clarisse McClellan-a beautiful, young girl who influences Montag to think more and be more individual like her. She also influences him to open up more to the beauties of the natural world. Clarisse describes herself as “seventeen and crazy” and says she comes from an odd family that do bizarre things such as talk to each other and walk places. One night, she and Montag are talking as they walk home and she asks Montag, “‘Are you happy?’.” This affects him greatly because it gets him thinking and brings him to the realization that he is not happy.

Another man influences Montag to rebel and speak out against book burning-Faber. One day, while on the job, Montag has to burn a woman along with her many books and he steals a book although he claims “his hand had done it all, his hand, with a brain of its own…” He decides he wants to read teh book, along with 20 other books he has hidden in his ventilator, to help him out of his ignorance, but he does not comprehend what he is reading so he turns to faver, an old, retired professor that he met in the park a year ago. Guy wants Faber to help him make a duplicate book because he has to turn the book into Beatty within 24 hours. Faber explains to him “It’s not books you need, it’s some of the things that once were in books. The same things could be in teh ‘parlor families’ today.

The same infinite detail and awareness could be projected through the radios and televisions, but are not… Three things are missing.” He tells what is missing, “Number one: quality of information. Number two: leisure to digest it. And number three: the right to carry out actions based on what we learned from the interaction of the first two.” He then supplies Montag with an audio transmitter device so he can help Montag on his quest.

A man by the name of Ganger is also responsible for influencing Montag to rebel against book burning. He persuades Montag to join his group of intellectual rebels. Montag meets up with Granger when he runs off after torching Beatty to death wehen Beatty discovers the earpiece and threatens to trace it to the person on the other end. granger is the leader of an intellectual group of hobos who have mastered the art of memorizing books. He happens to have a portable television set with him and they all watch the so-called “chase scene” between the police and Montag. (Now, Montag is supposedly dead because the police lost him and are too embarrassed to admit it.) Granger welcomes Montag back from the dead which is symbolic of his rebirth into a new, more meaningful life. Granger’s group is determined to bring books back to society so one day, perhaps they “can be of some use in teh world.” The men then start to move from their current location and head downstream.

Montag is influenced by many people throughout this period in his life. granger influences Montag to join his group of intellectual rebels; Faber influences Montag to rebel against book burning; and Clarisse influences Montag to think more and be more individual. Those three people helped cahnge him greatly. One day, he was burning books for a living and now, he is involved in a revolution that is tryin to stop that and bring the books back.