Who did Montag say was the first fireman?

Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, is a classic novel that challenges authority through self-discovery and growth. The main character Guy Montag is a dedicated fireman. He enjoys his job, watching pages of books become nothing more than burnt ash. He has never questioned anything before, nor has he had a reason to. That is, until he encounters three important individuals that seem to influence a change in Montag and ultimately change his world. His contact with a 17 year old girl named Clarisse McClellan, an elderly woman who was willing to die for her books, and an old professor named Faber, help Montag start to question things and begin a transformation that takes him from the rule following, book burner; to an idea challenging, book reader…show more content…
She is the first person who challenges Montag and gets him to truly think. She triggers Montag’s questioning of life, what he is doing, and his relationship with his wife Mildred. Upon their first encounter Clarisse begins asking Montag questions, questions about a time when firefighters put out flames not started them, a time when life was a bit slower. She asks, “Are you happy?” once Clarisse is home Montag responds, “Of course I’m happy. What does she think? I’m not” (pg 10). This quote supports my claim that she is challenging him to think. You can sense his uncertainty in his defensive response, it is as if he is almost infuriated at the thought. He has begun questioning his life. Is he happy burning books instead of reading them? Is he happy speeding through life? Is he happy with his wife? On their next encounter, she tells him that he isn’t like the other firefighters. That he looks at her when she speaks, that he puts up with her when the others don’t. She tells him that firefighting doesn’t seem right for him. This comment causes a reaction in Montag, “He felt his body divide itself into a hotness and a coldness, a softness and a hardness, a trembling and a not trembling, the two halves grinding one upon the other” (pg 24). His reaction shows a conflict, that is causing emotion and thought. He begins to wonder why he isn’t happy.…show more content…
The two have a short visit on a bench where it was evident to Montag that Faber was obstructing his view of a book with his coat. Yet for some reason, Faber gave Montag his contact information that day. Years later, after Clarisse and the old woman have planted the ember of curiosity for books and life in Montag, his intuition sent him to Faber for help. He decided to seek out Faber. Montag needs answers, help and direction. He pleads with Faber to help him, “You’re the only one I knew might help me. To see. To see…I want you to teach me to understand what I read” (pg 81-82). Faber agrees to help Montag, he becomes Montag’s mentor, and has a large effect on him. He also gives Montag an earpiece, to continue to educate him when they are not together. It also helps him interact with Beatty as well as others. This plays a crucial part in Montag’s change. Montag at times felt dismal, and very alone, but the voice in his ear, which was Faber was comforting. He was elated when he realized that with Faber, “He would be Montag-plus-Faber, fire plus water, and then, one day after everything had mixed and simmered and worked away in silence, there would be neither fire nor water, but wine” (pg 103). This shows that Montag knew that one day with the help of Faber he would emerge as an improved, educated, and

The novel, Fahrenheit 451, presents a future society where books are prohibited and the firemen burn any that are. The title is the temperature at which books burn. It was written by Ray Bradbury and first published in October 1953. In this novel, protagonist Montag changes his understanding in various aspects such as love or his human relationship throughout the book. However, among all of these, fire – the main theme of this novel – has the most significance as it also changes his understanding of knowledge from books. Bradbury portrays how Montag’s perception of fire and burning books with his personal development changes by the different choices he makes throughout the novel. In the beginning of the book, Montag has a great passion and…show more content…
In this part of the book, all of the firemen including Montag received a call to burn a house with the books in there. Here became the turning point for Montag as he saw the woman, who already had made her decision to die rather than live in a world of oppression and restricted freedom of thought which books symbolize in this part, burns with the illegal books in the burning house, refusing to go out without the assurance of the safety of the books. We can suppose that his perception is gradually changing through the phrase showing that Montag felt a huge guilt over this, unlike the other firemen or Beatty. Furthermore, during the conversation with his wife, Mildred, Montag says, “We burn a thousand books. We burnt a woman."(page. 50) and continue to talk to Mildred “There must be something in books, things we can't imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there.” (page. 51) without consciously noticing his different perspective towards fire from the first encounter with Faber before the novel. These quotes represent that he rejected the idea of being a fireman by questioning himself and the cause of the incidents occurred on that day. Clearly, the quote “he pressed at

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