Women Who Influenced Guy Montag's Life Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, showed what it would be like to live in a world where people couldn't think for themselves. In this novel, people were not allowed to keep and read books because the government said that they made people feel and think too much. Guy Montag was the protagonist in this book. He was a firefighter whose job was to burn books, but he was beginning to question his role. There were many people that influenced Montag's thoughts and feelings towards life. I believe that the people who had a significant affect on Montag's life were Clarisse McClellan, Mildred Montag, and the unidentified woman.
Clarisse McClellan was the girl that first got Montag questioning his happiness. Clarisse was 17 years old; she had moved in across the street from Montag. Clarisse was a lover of life and nature. When she first met Montag she asked him if he was happy.
Oskar Werner as Guy Montag in the 1966 film versio...
Books burned by Nazis (display at Yad Vashem).
Burning left-wing books during the early days of t...This made Montag start thinking about his surroundings, his marriage, and his job. His encounter with Clarisse made him wonder what he was missing and why he wasn't happy. Sadly, Clarisse died in a tragic automobile crash. Although Montag was not able to continue hearing about life before books were burned, Clarisse left a permanent impression on him.
Another person that had a major impact on Montag was his wife, Mildred (Millie) Montag. Through Millie he saw how fake society had become. Millie had overdosed on sleeping pills. We do not know if the overdose was intentional. Millie had a boring existence. Most people like Millie just sat around and watched the "family"� on the wall televisions; they never had conversations about issues or ideas. This showed Montag that people really weren't happy. People needed to be able to think to enjoy life. Montag learned from Millie that he no longer wanted to be just another person in society with no feelings.
The unidentified woman may have only been in the book for a few pages but she had a lasting affect on Montag. Montag was sent to go burn the unidentified woman's house along with the books that she was hiding. She didn't want to leave the house and decided to light a match and incinerate herself with her books. Montag realized that books must have something very important for this woman to die with her books rather then go to jail. This made Montag, again, have doubts about what he was doing: burning books. He saw how awful and wrong it really was. The unidentified woman changed how Montag conducted himself in the rest of the book.
In Fahrenheit 451, Montag transitioned from being a dedicated firefighter to becoming an outlaw. Three women had a overpowering influence Montag's thoughts and actions throughout the book. Clarisse helped him to see a world with ideas and books, Millie helped Montag realize how unhappy people really are, and, finally, the unidentified woman gave Montag an unintended push to turn away from being a firefighter. These were the people that influenced the changes in Montag's life the most.
Ray Bradbury
English: Clarisse Français : Clarisse
Clarisse muvemba