Hopkins 1

Michael H.

Mrs. Nguyen

English 3 IB

Period 4

05 May 2025

Word Count:

From ignorance to an outlier

​ An outlier is a person that breaks away from the main body or system. Numerous films

and media have a protagonist such as Neo The Matrix(1999), to Guy Montag of Fahrenheit

451(1957) who don’t seem to fit in with society and often have to question their current way of

life. These characters often inspire us to consider questioning and going against the injustices of

the government such as the laws in place. These injustices could be the entrapment of people,

avoiding racial or gender injustices such through history or in this case censorship. Censorship

that mirrors communist nations wanting to keep away certain ideals that would otherwise

threaten the existence of government domination. In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit, the novel

follows a man who lives in a society where reading is illegal and that man Guy Montag begins

questioning the government who enforces these very laws. In the novel titled Fahrenheit 451,

Ray Bradbury uses Guy Montag’s character development in order to show that society must

change their ignorance of avoided topics that cause controversy.

​ Like most protagonists and people alike, will start off with ignorance to what surrounds

one and pass it off as just the norm of society. Montag for example was a firefighter and burnt

books for a living as he had stated the motto of firemen “Monday burn Millay, burn them to

ashes, then burn the ashes, that's our official slogan”(Bradbury 06). The quote shows that Guy
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Montag has no regard or has any concern for all the books he blindly burns. Like most, false

ideals are placed and embedded into one’s blood so one doesn’t bother to question what’s

considered right and what is considered wrong. Afterall Montag’s boss Beatty had embedded this

ignorance into him due to ideals such as , “Colored people don't like Little Black Sambo. Burn it.

White people don’t feel good about Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Burn it. Forget them. Burn it,

everything”(Bradbury 57). That society is supposed to get rid of anything controversial even if

it’s necessary for a society to thrive.

​ As humans, many have an over reliance on technology and while using technology as a

tool can be useful it’s never good to rely on machines like it’s a life support. Montag begins to

see some of the negative effects that technology has on society. Many such as his wife Mildred

are almost lifeless as she is described as “cold, like a body displayed on a tomb, eyes fixed to the

ceiling immovable”(Bradbury 10). He also noticed that due to people avoiding books they have

become less observant and more than not lack memory recall such as Montag when in the story it

mentions “He suddenly couldn’t remember if he’d known this or not”(Bradbury 7). These quotes

reveal Montag’s questioning of his current world he lives in. He begins to realize the problems

there are in the world such as low attention span and people wanting to avoid all their problems

and never confront them.

​ Of course these protagonists, as one witness, have to change their ways such as starting to

defy the current status quo as Montag started showing through chapter 2 when he had thought to

himself “I realized that I didn’t like them at all, and myself any more. Maybe it’d be best to burn

the firemen”(Bradbury 64). While it’s not quite the significant change of Guy it still reveals that

he had hid away the possibility of hating his job as a fireman. What is also noticeable is that he

has eternal hatred for them in fact because he realized that all his life he was brainwashed to the
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point he was practically forced to be a firefighter. For example, due to the pressure of family

tradition it had made him believe he was meant to be a fireman because his father and

grandfather were firemen as he had recalled, “Was I given a choice? My grandfather and father

were firemen. In my sleep, I ran after them”(Bradbury 49). Montag is beginning to question

himself and others if what they are doing is truly the right thing. If society should believe that

books must be destroyed just because it causes controversy. Montag begins to realize that maybe

the only real reason he decided to be a firefighter was due not much of self choice but rather

family traditions and felt pressured to continue the traditions despite its corrupt nature.

​ Later on in the story readers start to witness Montag’s frustration, loneliness and fear

from the technology that has influenced most citzen’s lives such as his own wife Mildred.

Mildred is one who is antisocial and will barely even talk to her own husband and instead will

always turn to the parlor walls, what readers know as televisions. For example Montag is

frustrated with his wife’s over reliance on technology as he yells “Maybe the books can get us

half out of the cave. They might stop us from making mistakes! I Don’t hear those idiot bast-rds

in your parlor talking about it!”(Bradbury 70). He implies that most of human mistakes were due

to lack of intelligence and ignorance of the problems of the world and rather would always turn

to technology. Due to the lack of knowledge which can be only obtained through books which

the government has banned due to avoiding controversial topics that upset others such as racism.

​ Towards the beginning of chapter 2 Guy Montag attempts to read a bible verse and

remember it in order to understand the burning woman’s reason for wanting to protect her books.

Unfortunately due to the ads blaring on the train he gets distracted and wants to be free. He

couldn’t handle being surrounded by technology and “ran on the white tiles through the tunnels,

ignoring the escalators. He wanted to feel his feet move, arms swing”(Bradbury 76). Now
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readers are witnessing the change in Guy Montag. A man who once listened to the government

and burned books for a living to a man who is trying to escape the hell that he worked for many

years. In this sequence readers notice that Montag is finally breaking away from the nightmare of

people being influenced by technology and the government similar to Neo waking up in the real

world and escaping the matrix. Montag has finally gained an understanding of how reality really

is and like Neo is searching for answers, in this case an old man named Faber. No longer does

Montag want to simply follow the laws mindlessly and rather rebels against the injustices of

censorship.

​ In conclusion, Bradbury uses Montag as a way to show that society must break out of

government ideals that restrict content and fight against the injustices of censorship. Society

must stop censorship for it hinders intellectual growth and freedom. Montag inspires others such

readers to at least question if what the government is doing is truly crucial or not if not rebelling

against the government’s injustices.

​
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Work Cited

Bradbury, Roy. Fahrenheit 451. Simon & Schuster, 2013.