Guy Montag
Encyclopedia
Guy Montag is the protagonist in Ray Bradbury
's dystopia
n 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451
. He is depicted living in a futuristic town where he works as a fireman
whose job is to burn books.
. Several events cause him to question his existence:
Over the course of the novel, Montag becomes increasingly disillusioned with the hedonistic
and unthinking belligerent society around him. Bradbury emphasizes that the U.S. government, in burning books, is merely expressing the will of a people whose short, mouse-like attention spans, indifference, and hedonism have gradually eroded any semblance of intellectualism
from public life. Schools no longer teach the humanities, children are casually violent, and adults are constantly distracted by "seashells" (small audio devices resembling earbuds) and insipid television
programs displayed on wall-sized screens. Authors and readers are regarded as ridiculously pretentious and dangerous to the well-being of society. He meets many characters that change his outlook on life such as Clarisse and Faber.
After an incident where Montag tries to read a poem to his wife's friends when they are visiting, his wife denounces their house as book-possessing, and disappears from the novel. Montag's fire chief, Beatty, tries to persuade him that books are evil, and urges him to return to the unthinking fireman mentality, but Montag refuses, and sets Beatty and the whole house on fire.
He flees through the city streets to Faber's house, with another firehouse's mechanical hound and television network helicopters in hot pursuit. When he arrives at Faber's home, the old man tells Montag of vagabond book-lovers in the countryside. Montag then escapes to a local river, floats downstream and meets a group of older men who, to Montag's astonishment, have memorized entire books, preserving them orally until the law against books is overturned. The war begins. Montag watches helplessly as jet bombers fly overhead and attack the city with nuclear weapons.
as Gui Montag, a Terran
Firebat hero.
Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
's dystopia
Dystopia
A dystopia is the idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian, as characterized in books like Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four...
n 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451 is a 1953 dystopian novel by Ray Bradbury. The novel presents a future American society where reading is outlawed and firemen start fires to burn books...
. He is depicted living in a futuristic town where he works as a fireman
Firefighter
Firefighters are rescuers extensively trained primarily to put out hazardous fires that threaten civilian populations and property, to rescue people from car incidents, collapsed and burning buildings and other such situations...
whose job is to burn books.
Montag's role in the storyline
At the opening of the novel, he is happy in his work destroying books and sending book hoarders to mental hospitals and never wonders about his role as a tool of thought suppressionThought suppression
Thought suppression is the process of deliberately trying to stop thinking about certain thoughts . It is often associated with obsessive–compulsive disorder, in which a sufferer will repeatedly attempt to prevent or "neutralize" intrusive distressing thoughts centered around one or more obsessions...
. Several events cause him to question his existence:
- First, he meets 17 year old Clarisse McClellan while walking home from work. His talks with her are thought-provoking and assuage Montag's loneliness. Her death spurs him into becoming a radical.
- Second, he discovers his wife, who prefers television and radio to human interaction, has overdosed on sleeping pills. The callous behavior of the paramedics makes him feel very alienatedSocial alienationThe term social alienation has many discipline-specific uses; Roberts notes how even within the social sciences, it “is used to refer both to a personal psychological state and to a type of social relationship”...
, while his wife's emptiness disturbs and angers him. - Third, he has a call to go to a house owned by an old woman who, rather than be led out of the house before it is burned, decides to set the fire herself, and burn alive.
- Fourth, he remembers a chance meeting he had one year previously with an old man in the park, who is later identified as an English professor. Montag, who has secretly been hiding books in his own house, eventually makes contact with Faber.
Over the course of the novel, Montag becomes increasingly disillusioned with the hedonistic
Hedonism
Hedonism is a school of thought which argues that pleasure is the only intrinsic good. In very simple terms, a hedonist strives to maximize net pleasure .-Etymology:The name derives from the Greek word for "delight" ....
and unthinking belligerent society around him. Bradbury emphasizes that the U.S. government, in burning books, is merely expressing the will of a people whose short, mouse-like attention spans, indifference, and hedonism have gradually eroded any semblance of intellectualism
Intellectualism
Intellectualism denotes the use and development of the intellect, the practice of being an intellectual, and of holding intellectual pursuits in great regard. Moreover, in philosophy, “intellectualism” occasionally is synonymous with “rationalism”, i.e. knowledge derived mostly from reason and...
from public life. Schools no longer teach the humanities, children are casually violent, and adults are constantly distracted by "seashells" (small audio devices resembling earbuds) and insipid television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
programs displayed on wall-sized screens. Authors and readers are regarded as ridiculously pretentious and dangerous to the well-being of society. He meets many characters that change his outlook on life such as Clarisse and Faber.
After an incident where Montag tries to read a poem to his wife's friends when they are visiting, his wife denounces their house as book-possessing, and disappears from the novel. Montag's fire chief, Beatty, tries to persuade him that books are evil, and urges him to return to the unthinking fireman mentality, but Montag refuses, and sets Beatty and the whole house on fire.
He flees through the city streets to Faber's house, with another firehouse's mechanical hound and television network helicopters in hot pursuit. When he arrives at Faber's home, the old man tells Montag of vagabond book-lovers in the countryside. Montag then escapes to a local river, floats downstream and meets a group of older men who, to Montag's astonishment, have memorized entire books, preserving them orally until the law against books is overturned. The war begins. Montag watches helplessly as jet bombers fly overhead and attack the city with nuclear weapons.
Historical notes
- Montag is portrayed by Oskar WernerOskar Werner-Early life:Born Oskar Josef Bschließmayer in Vienna, Werner spent much of his childhood in the care of his grandmother, who entertained him with stories about the Burgtheater, the Austrian state theatre, where he was accepted at the age of eighteen by Lothar Müthel. He was the youngest person ever...
in the 1966 film versionFahrenheit 451 (1966 film)Fahrenheit 451 is a 1966 film directed by François Truffaut, in his first colour film as well as his only English-language film. It is based on the novel of the same name by Ray Bradbury....
. - Bradbury notes that he found, after the book was published, that Montag is the name of a paper company, making him the counterpart to Faber, which is also the name of a pencil manufacturerFaber-CastellFaber-Castell is one of the world's largest manufacturers of pens, pencils, other office supplies and art supplies, as well as high-end writing instruments and luxury leather goods...
.
Trivia
Guy Montag is featured in the real time strategy game StarCraftStarCraft
StarCraft is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The first game of the StarCraft series was released for Microsoft Windows on 31 March 1998. With more than 11 million copies sold worldwide as of February 2009, it is one of the best-selling...
as Gui Montag, a Terran
Terran
- Fiction :Terran is a demonym, a term commonly associated in science fiction with humans.- Literature :* Terran Federation, a government in the 1959 science fiction novel Starship Troopers...
Firebat hero.