Homework Help > Fahrenheit 451How does Montag change throughout the narrative of the novel Fahrenheit?Download Answers Download Study GuideAsked on May 20, 2012 at 7:57 PM by lowe1357like 1dislike 02 Answers | Add Yoursamarang9 | College Teacher | (Level 2) Educator EmeritusPosted on May 20, 2012 at 10:39 PMAt the beginning of the novel, Montag is a mindless servant of the state. He does not question his role in his marriage or as a fireman and he does not even second guess his own thoughts. His transformation begins after he meets Clarisse. She is the one who gets Montag to begin questioning everything from his own happiness to the reason for burning books. The second part of Montag's transformation is when he starts reading some of the books he'd stolen from the fires. Then he contacts Faber, an English professor, and the ideas they share only adds even more fuel to the fire of Montag's thirst for knowledge. By the end of the novel, Montag has gone from not even being aware of the mental and social prison he was in to an enlightened and increasingly inquisitive state of mind. It is a complete mental transformation. In fact, he becomes knowledge itself when Granger tells him, “If anything should happen to Harris, you are the Book of Ecclesiastes” (134). It is fitting that the novel begins with the word “changed” in italics. “It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed” (1). This is an ironic twist. Instead of changing things by destroying them, Montag is changing the world by preserving knowledge and he, in turn, changes himself. In Fahrenheit 451 Guy Montag changes from an unthinking individual, an automaton of his depersonalized society who ignores his soul, into a man who realizes his spiritual needs as a human being.It is interesting that Montag becomes the Book of Ecclesiastes because of the message of its verse:To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heavena time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn...a time to keep and to cast awaya time to keep silent, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.For, in a sense, Montag passes through different times in his life that parallel the times described in this verse. In the exposition of Bradbury's novel, Montag enjoys the lowest creative act, that of destruction:It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed.He delights in watching the "flapping pigeon-winged books die" as he torches the forbidden property. However, after he meets the pedestrian Clarisse, who walks in a society in which no one walks, Montag is unnerved. She questions Montag to perceive if he can think for himself, and she concludes, "You never stop to think what I've asked you." This meeting with the delightful young Clarisse effectively leaves Montag wondering about his contentment with life: "He was not happy." Nor apparently is his wife Mildred, whom he finds in a death stupor from taking pills. After plumber-type emergency responders pump her stomach indifferently, Mildred is her old self the next day, remembering nothing. This mindless insensitivity of Mildred stirs Montag's recall of Clarisse and the contrast of personalities. is this good
