* Who are the main characters in the novel? Do you like them? Why or why not? What is special about them? What do they reveal about the universal human experience?
The main characters in the novel are Guy Montag and Captain Beatty. Guy Montag is the protagonist in this book. I like this character because he stands up for his belief and what is right. He isn’t necessarily a hero, a sage or a doughty man, but because he is a fool, he keeps his opinions and rebels against the society. Montag is a fireman. However, the bizarre thing is that a fireman in this story is not a person who saves people from fire, but starts a fire to burn the books. Later on, Montag realizes that there is something wrong with his actions, and becomes desperate to find the truth and a meaningful way to live. Montag can be compared to other people who learn and want to know more about his life and the society.
Captain Beatty is an antagonist in this novel who is filled with contradictions. He is a book burner just like Montag. I don’t really like him because he tries so hard to convince Montag about the negative things about books. He believes that firemen bring pleasure to people by destructing the books. In page 59, he said, “…People want to be happy, isn’t that right? Haven’t you heard it all you life? I want to be happy, people say. Well, aren’t they? Don’t we keep them moving, don’t we give them fun? That’s all we live for, isn’t it? For pleasure, for titillation? And you must admit our culture provides plenty of these.” He is a narrow-minded person, who is so against reading and strictly follows the law. In page 38, “You know the law,” said Beatty. “Where’s your common sense? None of those books agree with each other.”
The main characters in the novel are Guy Montag and Captain Beatty. Guy Montag is the protagonist in this book. I like this character because he stands up for his belief and what is right. He isn’t necessarily a hero, a sage or a doughty man, but because he is a fool, he keeps his opinions and rebels against the society. Montag is a fireman. However, the bizarre thing is that a fireman in this story is not a person who saves people from fire, but starts a fire to burn the books. Later on, Montag realizes that there is something wrong with his actions, and becomes desperate to find the truth and a meaningful way to live. Montag can be compared to other people who learn and want to know more about his life and the society.
Captain Beatty is an antagonist in this novel who is filled with contradictions. He is a book burner just like Montag. I don’t really like him because he tries so hard to convince Montag about the negative things about books. He believes that firemen bring pleasure to people by destructing the books. In page 59, he said, “…People want to be happy, isn’t that right? Haven’t you heard it all you life? I want to be happy, people say. Well, aren’t they? Don’t we keep them moving, don’t we give them fun? That’s all we live for, isn’t it? For pleasure, for titillation? And you must admit our culture provides plenty of these.” He is a narrow-minded person, who is so against reading and strictly follows the law. In page 38, “You know the law,” said Beatty. “Where’s your common sense? None of those books agree with each other.”
3 comments:
First of all, I LOVE the picture!!!
I personally hate Catain Beatty too!! I see Beatty as a venomous snake that spurts poisons on innocent people. I totally agree with you that he is a "narrow-minded" person. He seemed to limit his thinking on one idea: books are bad. I guess it's a good thing to make people happy, but what do they gain from that happiness? Stupidity? After reading this book, I noticed that the characters don't have a specific reson why they live. Basically, they just live to die happily. It's scary how things change as the time pass because you never know, Fahrenheit 451 can become a nonfiction book. :D
Wow Jean - powerfully written comment. Mrs.Mc.
I definitely agree that Guy Montag was fool, since he was blamed by Faber many times. He has done crazy things like burning his own house and killing Beatty using a flamethorower. Even though he could have think of another way to resove his problem, he was not able come up with good ideas because of his extreme shock and depression.
In this novel, Montag was probably facing the situation called, "identity crisis." He wanted to seek and observe who he is and what the purpose of continuing fireman's job. In addition, like you said, his action was becoming desperate and to find the truth, Montag has found out that his job caused great impact in the world.
I admit Beatty's preaching in Montag's house was very convincing so that many students would have chosen Beatty's long speech for a meaningful passage.
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