Montag's Transformation in Fahrenheit 451

Montag's Transformation In Fahrenheit 451 While we often fear it, change can be good. One character to illustrate this point is Montag in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. Montag is the model citizen at the beginning of the novel. He does not ask any questions and does what is expected of him. As a fireman, he enjoys the pleasure of burning books although he does not know why. When Montag begins to think outside the realm of the comfortable, he begins to move closer toward trouble.

Clarissa sparks a curiosity he cannot quell because she holds a mirror up to not only society but himself. Faber, too, is important to Montag's transformation because he plants the seed of something magic located in books. Hands and fire become tools Bradbury incorporates into the story to facilitate Montag's change. Hands and fire can destroy and Montag lived to regret what he did with both. At the end of the novel he is a fugitive but one with a sense of self.

His change is profound because it leads to freedom, a concept found through the others that passed before him. Clarisse serves as a mirror too Montage in that he begins to see things he would not have otherwise seen as the result of being with her. Through her perspective, he begins to picture himself as "dark and tiny" (Bradbury 7). Clarisse not only operates as a mirror for Montag but for society as a whole. She points out things that cause Montag to think about things he never considered before.

For instance, as she describes how school was not a social experience for her, she points out how the answers were thrown at students and says, "But everyone I know is either shouting or dancing around like wild or beating up one another. Do you notice how people hurt each other nowadays?" (31-2). This comment forces Montag to realize how much of the people he knows behave this way and this is the beginning of his transformation. Faber is another person significant to Montag's transformation.

He points out that while books may not be what Montag needs, "some of the things that were once in the books. There is nothing magical in them at all. The magic is only in what books say" (89-90). This moment opens up Montag's mind to the possibility of what the books say and how these things might actually be important and life changing. Montag's stages of growth begin in his mind and as he grapples with his actions.

One feature important to the novel and to Montag's transformation is hands and what they do. They are visible elements pointing to the stages of Montag's growth. Early in the novel, we read how Montag possesses the hands of "some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal rains of history" (Bradbury 3). As he tears pages from a Bible, "His hands, by themselves, like two men working together, began to rip the pages from the book" (95).

Power is associated with a simple pair of hands and what it could do to books. Hands cannot move without direction from the brain. Montag's hands destroyed countless books without him giving any thought to what he was doing. He was operating within the "system" just as he was supposed to do. His inclination was to obey authority, not question it. Later in the story, however, he finds himself questioning many things.

In this stage of growth, he is learning to think on his own and ask certain questions about responsibility, government and choice. Granger helps him reconsider the importance of his hands when he tells him it does not matter what you do "long a you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away" (170). This scene proves noteworthy for Montag because he realizes it is true.

He even notes change will "come from our hands and our mouths" (175). Here we see a complete turnaround for Montag as he begins to accept personal responsibility rather than do what the powers that be tell him to do. He finds a sense of self apart from the government machine and he discovers he does not agree with that government. This is a significant stage in Montag's growth because he begins to believe in himself and the others. His fear and his anxiety regarding this transformation are lessening.

Fire is undoubtedly an important symbol in the novel. It represents destruction and, oddly, pleasure. The firemen experience pleasure when they set fire to the books and watch them burn. We read it was a "special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed" (Bradbury 3). Fire made Montag smile a smile that "never went away, as long as he remembered" (4). Here we how the act of burning, destroying, and obeying the government were pleasurable.

It was something to look forward to as Montag states, "Monday burn Millay, Wednesday burn Whitman, Friday burn Faulkner, burn 'em to ashes, then burn the ashes" (8). Montag does what is expected of him; he moves without question. It is ironic that the fire that brought him pleasure would lead to a significant stage of his transformation. In this stage of his metamorphosis, fire becomes a symbol of hope. Later in the novel when Montag is on the run, we see the importance of his change.

He is in a stage of accepting his choices. One scene where this becomes clear is when Montag stands around the fire with Granger and his gang. Montag notes the fire was "not burning. It was warming" (Bradbury.