The Metamorphosis of Guy Montag Essay -- essays research papers

Ray Bradbury originally wrote his novel, Fahrenheit 451, as an indictment against the censorship lucid during the McCarthy era of America, and it has since become one of the few modern science fiction books that can be con steadred a classic. The adulation of this novel is due to its plethora of symbols, metaphors, and quality development. Bradburys component part development is singularly impressive in this book because he shows the evolution of the main character, Guy Montag, from book-burner to living-book (Johnson 111). His maturity is displayed by his growing discretion of the world in which he lives and by seeing the flaws in his corporation. Bradbury illustrates Montags metamorphosis with him changing from a mindless burning drone to his maturation and borrowing into a society of like-minded booklovers.The first words of Bradburys novel state, it was a pleasure to burn (Bradbury 3). These words sum up the beginning character of Montag he enjoys burning, and his job is t o answer alarms not to put out fires, but to start them (Moore 103). Guy Montag is a fireman, a man who is trained to spray lamp oil on books, and light them in a spectacular show. He has never questioned his job or the reasoning behind burning books. He takes pride in his position, even shines his beetle-colored helmet as he hangs it on its hook (Bradbury 4). With fire Montag brings down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history, and he revels in the power of destruction that fire holds (Bradbury 3). His further view of fire is a product of his job as a fireman he sees fire as a machine, which simply burns and devours the license of the people. In this period of his life, Montag feels at ease with machine, especially the machines that produce fire. He sees nothing wrong when his wife lip-reads his words instead of listening to him speak. When Montag first meets his young neighbor, Clarisse, he thinks of her in a mechanical mindset (Johnson 111). He sees them walking, as if fixe d to a sliding walk, letting the motion of the wind and the leaves carry them forward (Bradbury 5). Hence, Montag feels comfortable around the soulless technology of his society he loves to burn and to destroy, and he cannot think about the morals that surround his job and his culture.Montag is first pushed towards rejecting his society when he meets Clarisse. She is brave enough to questi... ...ll circle in Fahrenheit 451 because he has progressed from his ignorance to becoming one of the few people who are brave enough to defy society by preserving books. The final message Bradbury leaves in the novel is a message of hope. Montag, who carries a piece of the Bible in his mind, returns to the city in hopes of resurrecting it after a bomb had destroyed it. His one desire is to search and perhaps find his wife. In the last few lines he quotes the Book of Revelations and on either side of the river was there a tree of life, which bore twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit eve ry month And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations (Bradbury 165). This quote assures mankind that they must take a crap faith and endure before they can enjoy the fruits of victory (Sisario 107). The lasting moral is that in order to overcome the continual destruction and rebirth of mankind, the military personnel race must use its creative mind and intellect (Sisario 107). Thus, Montag, along with the human race, was burnt to ashes at the beginning of the book, and at the end was reborn with a wholly new outlook on his society and a plan to prevent his consumption by fire hereafter.