In the beginning of the book my opinion of Montag was that he just went with the flow, he was a good citizen (in the governments eyes), and never caused any problems. To me, he wasn't a very dynamic character. Honestly, I felt Montag was very flat up until the part where Chief Beatty allowed for the woman to be burned and die in the fire with the house and the books. This was the ultimate turning point in Montag's character for me. From this point forward he starts realizing that Clarisse was correct in her statements from the beginning of the book. One such statement that he finds true about himself was that when Clarisse asked Montag if he was happy he quickly replied yes, but later in the novel he realizes that he truly isn't happy in his current position as a fireman, a citizen, and a husband.After Montag starts on his journey to find happiness by reading books and participating in other illegal acts that allow for a person to think for themselves, I feel that Montag has become a more dynamic character that arouses new problems in the story. In other words, he has become an individual in a society that doesn't allow for one to be themselves.
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I very much agree with what you are saying here. I find Montag to just kind of be very dull and unexciting. But as the story progresses he becomes more dynamic. He asks questions and he defies his own government. As he changes, his wife remains a boring character that reflects Montag"s personality and thought process from the beginning of the book. She never changes and that was the driving force between her leaving him. Montag had been blinded by his government, his job, his boss, and his wife for so long that he was not able to see what was actually going on in his society. Hope to be discussing this soon.
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ReplyDeleteVery well-written explanation here. I agree completely. At the beginning, Montag was just a normal citizen in his society, but as the story progresses, Montag starts going against his society. I think that Clarisse is responsible for this because she was talking to him about the past on how firemen used to put out fires and stuff like that. He also changed as a husband. Clarisse was a big factor in this novel because her actions and quotes effect the rest of the plot in this story immensely. I like your blog post as it is easy for somebody to follow, even if they haven't read any of the book.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Great explanation, personally I didn't like the book because it was just like every other utopian or dystopian society, but the way the characters acted was different which attracted me because this time you couldn't predict what was going to happen, or even if you did it would be wrong or different.
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