Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury :: Ray Bradburys Fahrenheit 451

In the 1950 novel Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury presents the now familiar images of mind controlled worlds. People now live in a world where they are blinded from the truth of the present and the past. The novel is set in the, perhaps near, future where the world is in war, and firemen set fires instead of putting them out. Books and written knowledge is banned from the people, and it is the firemen’s job to burn books. Firemen are now the policemen of this time. Some people have rebelled by hiding books, but have not been very successful. Most people have conformed to this world. Guy Montag, a fireman, is a part of the majority who have conformed. Throughout the novel Montag goes through a transformation, where he changes from a Conformist to a Revolutionary. Guy Montag has never questioned his job before the day he met Clarisse McClellan. This is the first time where Montag is confronted with the idea that, he doesn’t understand the whole truth about books. Monta g meets Clarisse as he is one day walking home from work, and they strike up a conversation. During their conversation Montag is questioned why books are illegal and why firemen burn the books. She also asks him if he had ever read any of the books that he burned. His reply was that it is against the law. Clarisse even asks, "… long ago [did] firemen put fires out instead of going to start them?"(Fahrenheit 451, page 38) Montag replies by telling her that that is nonsense, and that "Houses have always been fireproof,…"(Fahrenheit 451, page 38) Here you can see how brainwashed and blinded the truth is for the people. Clarisse says good night to Montag, and right before she leaves she asks him, "Are you happy?"(Fahrenheit 451, page39) Before Montag can reply Clarisse is gone, and she leaves Montag pondering her question. As he tells himself that her question was nonsense, he starts to realize that he is not happy with his life. Someone else who changed Montag’s thinking, changed it by their actions not by tell him anything. One day the firemen got a call with an address of someone who was hiding books. The firemen, doing their job like always, went to the house to find the books and burn them. When they got there they had found the books, but when they went to burn them the person who owned the books would not leave them.