BYU-I - FDWLD 201 - Class Notes - Week 5

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Schools > Brigham Young University - Idaho > OTHER > FDWLD 201 > BYU-I - FDWLD 201 - Class Notes - Week 5

School: Brigham Young University - Idaho

Department: OTHER

Course: World Foundations II

Professor: J. Terry Gorton

Term: Fall 2017

Name: World Foundations 201

Description: Note on Fahrenheit 451

Uploaded: 10/10/2017

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World Foundations 201 Fahrenheit 451 introduces a new world in which control of the masses by the
media and censorship has taken over the general population. Then books are
considered evil because they make people question and think. The people live in a
world with no reminders of history or appreciation of the past; the population
receives the present from television. In the first part of Fahrenheit 451, the character Guy Montag, a thirty-year-old
fireman in the twenty-fourth century. However, the firemen was given a new
occupation; which was in charge of burning books. His action seems just as a
result of the power given to him to legally do such in his society. He is a burners of
books and the official censors of the state. Guy Montag as a fireman is
responsible for destroying not only the books he finds, but also the homes in
which he finds them. Books are not to be read; they are to be destroyed without
question. This action is quite unfair to the masses of which the decree were
enforced upon. However, for Montag he expressed that "It was a pleasure to
burn." The state mandated that all books must burn. Therefore, Montag, along
with the other firemen, burn the books to show conformity. Without ideas,
everyone conforms, and as a result, everyone should be happy. When books and
new ideas are available to people, conflict and unhappiness occur. The whole story had a step up or a change when Montag meets Clarisse
McClellan, his new vivacious teenage neighbor, which gave the edge to emphasize
on his marriage. Getting to acknowledge that he doesn’t know much about his
wife Millie. All that he does know about his wife is that she is interested only in her "family" the illusory images on her three-wall TV and the fact that she drives
their car with high-speed abandon. He realizes that their life together is
meaningless and purposeless of which he understood that they don’t love each
other. Later, as Montag went to sleep, he realizes that his smile still grips his face
muscles, even in the dark. And I quote "fiery smile still gripped by his face

muscles" this suggests that his smile is faked and forced. At present, Montag
seems to enjoy his job as a fireman. He is a "smiling fireman." However, this smile
and the later realization of its artificiality foreshadow Montag's eventual
dissatisfaction not only with his job but also with his life. Montag smiles, but he is
not happy. Clarisse's is partly responsible for Montag's change in attitude. She
makes Montag think of things that he has never thought of before, and she forces
him to consider ideas that he has never contemplated for ones in his life. Due to
the light that crossed Montag path entertains the idea of quitting his job for a while because Millie offers him no sympathetic understanding, he feigns illness
and goes to bed. Captain Beatty, has been suspicious of Montag's recent behavior, but he isn't
aware of the intellectual and moral changes going on in Montag. He visits Montag
and told him that books are figments of the imagination. “ Fire is good because it eliminates the conflicts that books can bring.” Montag later concludes that Beatty
is actually afraid of books and masks his fear with contempt. In effect, his visit is a
warning to Montag not to allow the books to seduce him. Finally, this story reveal a blissful idea of transformation in oneself which is one of
the most difficult thing to achieve in life. However, truth, love and light bliss the
heart of one man which triggered a path to change and to emerge an inspiring
revolution. Redemption, moral truth and a Just Society.

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