Montag in Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 was definitely an interesting and eye opening book. Although the entire plot was absurd and highly unlikely to ever happen, I still felt the same frustration that Montag felt when he realized that he was surrounded by people who were completely oblivious to the fact that there were things to be learned and knowledge to be gained. While I could relate to Montag and appreciate him as a character for this reason, I still was not a fan of Montag. I thought that he became very unreasonable and didn't think through his actions towards the end, which was frustrating as a reader because you knew that he was going to feel the consequences of his actions later, yet there was obviously nothing you could do about it. Montag began to feel invincible when he realized there was a whole world of literature hiding behind his eyes, but he was far from invincible. He acted as though the laws just didn't apply to him when it came to owning books and he was in for quite the surprise when he got caught and watched his house be burnt to flames.

So, now that you know how I felt about Montag as a character, it's time to back it up. And I have just the quote to do so, from page 113, where Bradbury writes, "'Why,' said Montag slowly, "we've stopped in front of my house.'" This was the moment went Montag realized that his house was about to be burnt by his own coworkers and, more importantly, that Beatty knew exactly what Montag was up to. I guess what annoys me about this is that Montag was so obvious with his attempt at a "revolution" that Beatty was able to find out about it. This forced his attempts at revolution to be unsuccessful, because he really didn't put the time and effort into devising a plan.