Fahrenheit 451: That Guy

Ha I made a joke in my title. See the character's name is Guy and I made the title That Guy. Get it? OK you can boo me now. Well this post is about Guy Montag the protagonist of Fahrenheit 451. I liked Guy Montag because he was a pretty relate able and likable character and had the same name as the hero from V for Vendetta and the revolutionary Guy Fawkes so that makes him A-OK in my book. In the novel Guy Montag is a fireman, but not in the traditional sense of the word. Guy Montag burns books. In the futuristic society of Fahrenheit 451 books are illegal. The firemen go around searching "suspicious" peoples houses and gathering up any text they can find and burn it. They also collect of book hoarders and ship them off to mental hospitals because they think the book burners are the ones in need of help, which seems a bit off. Also an ironic note is that Montag is the name of a paper company. That's a pretty funny coincidence. In the novel Montag at first goes along with burning books and killing things just to watch them suffer. But a series of events occur that cause him to begin thinking for himself if what he is doing is truly right. He is also married to Mildred who just might be one of the most boring and plain characters I have ever seen. But the reasoning behind her lack of character is a good one as she attempts suicide early on which is one of the events that motivate Guy to question what he is doing and become a revolutionary. Mildred has absolutely no character what so ever. It's like she's just a puppet who does not think at all and just watches television. All she does is mess around with the technology of the age and irritate Montag by making him bring her medicine.