Fahrenheit 451 free essay

Fahrenheit 451By: Ray BradburyLife may be confusing to you when your job is to commit arson to any housethat has a book in it. At least that’s the way it was for Guy Montag.

Guy Montag was a fireman and in the future, a firefighters job wasn’t tostop fires, but it was actually to start them. In the future, books were knownas bad and shameful and if anyone had possession of a book whether it was intheir house or in another person’s house, then the house was to be burned.

Guy was never really sure what was so bad about the books. He never reallyknew the reason why he would have to burn down a person’s house when one hadpossession.

One day the firemen were notified about a woman that had a large supplyof books in her house. When Guy went to commit arson at the house, he slippeda book into his coat pocket. Over time, Guy began to receive more and more books.

One night, Guy pulled one of the books out from where they were being hiddenand began to read some poems in front of his wife and friends. Because thepossession of books was a great sin, his wife reported him to the firemen. Guysoon kills 3 fireman, including the chief, and escapes with a professor by thename of Faber.

Guy and the professor end up together sharing and discussing their lovefor books.

“ Theory hell,” said Montag. “ t’s poetry.” (pg. 97)This is actually what changed Guy’s life. When Guy re-entered the room athis wife’s party he had a book in his hands. Mrs. Phelps, one of his wife’sfriends asked him if he was reading up on fireman theory. He was so frustratedwith her because of her expression of false views that night about war, husbandsand children that he finally spilled it. He wanted her to understand that bookswere a good thing and that they could teach you to be more objective towardssociety and its beliefs.

“ Do you ever read any of the books you burn?” (pg. 8)Because of this conversation with Clarrise McClellan, his 17 year old nextdoor neighbor, he realizes that he doesn’t even understand that the job he isdoing is right or wrong. This conversation makes him think about what booksreally have to offer and that is why he decides to slip a book into his pocketduring one of the arsons.