The Real Guy Montag

Guy Montag, he is a quiet kind of man. He does whatever he is told to do without even thinking if it is right or wrong. In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury uses the character, Guy Montag, to show that almost everyone does things without thinking about the effect if will have on them or anyone else in their life. Montag is a firemen, and his job is to burn down the person's house that has books in their home. He does his job under the watchful eye of Captain Beatty. Captain Beatty does his job without any regret of what he has done to the people who own books. Montag eventually becomes more and more like Beatty. Montag's wife, Mildred, only cares about the money that montag brings home. She truly doesn't care what happens to Montag while he is at work or at any other time for that matter. Montag finally realizes that what he is doing is wrong when he is forced to find the books hidden in this little old women's home. He stole one book from that house before it went up into flames. That one book was added to the stash of books hidden in the vent of his own house. The real Guy Montag started to realize that killing people that had books is murder and he did not want to be known as a murderer. Montag finally took a stand against his Beatty and decided he was going to change his life for the better and make himself happy. Montag had to burn down his own house because Beatty found out that Montag had books hidden in his house and Mildred left him there all alone only worrying about her 'family' which was only those floor to ceiling T.V.s in their parlor. Montag's anger got the better of him and he ended up killing Captain Beatty. The Montag we met in the beginning of the book would have never even thought about standing up against his boss and the rest of the firemen. As we have witnessed that stress can bring out the real person inside of you.

-Kenzie Smith