Books in Fahrenheit 451 Literature Essay Example

In the novel, Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, Montag hides multiple books that he has collected over the years from past jobs of burning and pillaging innocent minds’ homes. This then eventually leads to him meeting Clarisse, the young girl next door who dares him to look further into himself. Captain Beatty the maniacal fire chief dying from Montag’s flame. Lastly, Montag meets other book people, the people that dare to not have seashell radios attached to their ears all their life. For all of these reasons, we see that yes, these books can have a more negative outcome, but for Montag, they will change his life for the better. 

An adolescent and peculiar girl next door gives Montag a headstart to what he would never guess to be his future. She asks him questions that he would never dare to think about until he meets Clarisse. Questioning himself and what society has come to which has him smuggling books into his home. In Part 1, when Montag meets Clarisse it says, “No. Houses have always been fireproof, take my word for it.” “Strange. I heard once that a long time ago houses used to burn by accident and they needed firemen to stop the flames.” He laughed (Bradbury 12).” Clarisse asks questions that Montag would not consider. She is examined to be very strange in this society and considered crazy. She asks about books and the past history of firemen. Bringing up outrageous but maybe true conspiracies about how society was and what firefighters’ jobs used to be. This encounter with each other is the start of Montag’s future, little does he know what he is about to go through to find out the truth. 

Captain Beatty, society-obsessed, the manipulative psycho who is always watching. He is the captain of the fire department and controls everyone around town, and can make you believe anything he wants. Montag finally starts to notice this when people catch onto him hiding books in his home, all leading up to Beatty showing up at Montag’s home threatening to burn it to the ground. On page 110, Faber speaks, “But remember that the Captain belongs to the most dangerous enemy to truth and freedom, the solid unmoving cattle of the majority. Oh, God, the terrible tyranny of the majority (Bradbury 110)." Faber speaks to Montag and tells him the truth about Beatty. He reminds him of who he is in society and what side he is on. Faber is explaining to Montag that he is alone in society, everyone else fears books and the people with them, let alone a fireman smuggling them and trying to see the truth in them. He explains that majority rules and how that leads to the depletion of information. In 451, a lot is hidden from the people or unknown. No one knows the truth about books and why they are hidden but they have been told that they exploit dangerous information and misleading ideas. 

“We’ll pass the books on to our children, by word of mouth, and let our children wait, in turn, on the other people. A lot will be lost that way, of course. But you can’t make people listen (Bradbury 154).” Granger says to Montag after meeting him, he explains how the one way they can keep the information alive is through the mouth, by word. It will never be perfect but generations will help keep the knowledge known. Granger is the leader of  “the book people,” they open their arms to Montag and help him get away from the mechanical hound chasing him. Granger is committed to keeping literature alive, no matter the circumstances. Rather than going against the government and keeping the physical books they memorize the words and burn the books, promising to keep them alive. 

One decision. One split decision leads to the city exploding. Montag decides to smuggle books and hide them from society, he knows it is illegal but wants to get down to the truth. Montag questions what society has come to, what’s so dangerous about books, why are they being hidden from the people. He meets Clarisse who has an impact on Montag. She bombards him with questions that make him think twice about his job and society. All leading up, Beatty shows up at Montag’s home, revealing he knew about the books he was hiding. Montag flames Beatty and his house, believing Captain Beatty wanted to die. He escapes the hound and meets his people. They share with Montag their plan and how they are going to keep literature alive through generations of speaking aloud, word for word the books they memorized. For Montag, he has found his people, his safe. All leading up to this moment all life-threatening but at peace in the end. He remembers, he remembers the words of Ecclesiastes and Revelation in the bible. Granger, Montag, and the book people were all meant to gather in the end and begin to renew society.