Critical Response to Novel (Relate to Archetypes/Monomyth):The main conflict of this book is Man vs. man. Montag fought Captain Beatty because he was different from the rest. Montag’s opinion about the books contrasted with Captain’s opinions.

That’s why he believed that Captain wanted to burn his house because he was different. Near the end of the book, Beatty forced him to “pull the trigger” and that’s what Montag did. He burned him alive and ran for his life. That’s where the second type of conflict comes in; Man vs. society.

He could not tolerate the fact that the entire community stopped thinking because they stopped reading books. Fabor told him that government had nothing to do with the loss of interest in books. The community as a whole stopped reading. “Who knows who might be the target of a well-read man?  Me? I won’t stomach them for a minute.” (Bradbury 58).  This quote shows that the reason why the whole community stopped reading was that the government would kill “well-read” man, and spread fear among the community. In my opinion, I think the reason why the government did that was that they wanted to control the people and if they reduce the thoughts of the citizens.

They are able to control them.  The fire symbolizes the control the government has over the knowledge of their citizens. It shows the amount of power they have on the citizens. The people who create the fire (firemen) can freely choose a house that has books and burns the entire house. This not only shows the power over knowledge but also the power over people’s sentimental belongings. The firemen’s have the power to destroy the people’s memories, they belongings just because they have books. The most significant theme:The main theme of this book is mass media.

The amount of media is used by every citizen is incredible. Every home in this society has a wall-sized Tv which projected TVs show serial dramas. The technology is so advanced that every viewer’s name was programmed into the software, that way the audience was able talk to the fictional characters called “the relatives” or “the family.” When the citizens are not in their tv rooms, they are listening to “Seashell ear thimbles” in their ear. It is a miniature radio receiver that plays constant broadcasts of news, advertisements, and music, drowning out the real sounds of the world.

Throughout the novel, Bradbury portrays mass media as a bad influence. The only reason he decided to choose “mass media” as a theme is that he wanted to portray our society and how we depend so much on media for everything. Just like citizens in the novel, our generation is slowly losing the ability to think deeply about their lives and societal issues. Synopsis of Main Characters (Choose 2)The protagonist of this novel is Guy Montag. He is a thirty-year-old fireman who burns illegal books for a living. Montag is a confusing character.

In the beginning of the novel, he was portrayed as a happy man who had everything he wanted from life, for example, a job he enjoyed. He was very proud to be a fireman. However, as the book progresses, he becomes an unhappy man when he realizes that his life was always empty and unfulfilling without him actually realizing it. This makes him unsure about his job, his marriage and the society he lives in. He is disgusted by himself after burning an old woman alive with her books. This generates his curiosity about the history of the firemen and what was their actual purpose. Also, Montag is an intelligent, brave and a free-thinking man. In Montag’s perspective, he was guilty of killing that woman, for living in this society that is filled with lies and for not loving his wife.

All this guilt started to mess with his sense of self. All this confusion started when Clarisse asked him if he was happy. Every moment after that, he felt like it wasn’t him speaking, it was Clarisse talking through his mouth. This shows us that Montag did not have a strong personality. He was a pushover who did what other people told him to do. Also, he was also very easily manipulated, for example, Professor Faber. When he gave him the earpiece, he was controlling Montag by telling him what to do or what to say almost like his puppet.

I think Bradbury portrait Montag with such a weak character is to show us (the readers) that no matter how certain we are about life or person we are, eventually we are someone’s puppet just like Montag.  Professor Fabor was one of the main characters in the novel because he helped Montag throughout the novel. He was his mentor who guided him in every rebellious act he has committed and every rule he has broken; Fabor was always there for him. This shows that Fabor was a Father- like figure for Montag, which is the Atonement with the father stage in the monomyth cycle.

Fabor is a father-like figure because, throughout the novel, he showed care for Montag, for example when he told him to run away to St. Louis and meet his printer friend. That showed that he cared about him and wanted to make sure that he was safe and secure. That is something a father would do for their children. It’s the father’s responsibility to protect their children. That’s what Fabor did for Montag, he protected him from danger. Quotations (Choose 2) Explain.

“White blurs are houses. Brown blurs are cows. My uncle drove slowly on a highway once. He drove forty miles an hour and they jailed him for two days”(Bradbury 6)Clarisse tells Montag about her “strange” uncle, the one that actually has a proper conversation with people and enjoys nature. This is “strange” because her uncle is not like everyone else. He sticks out from the crowd.

This shows how shallow Montag’s society has become. No one thinks and no one expresses themselves in that society. This part would be the calling to adventure because this quote makes Montag think about how different and messed up his society actually is.

“So it was the hand that started it all . . . His hands had been infected, and soon it would be his arms .

. . His hands were ravenous.”This quote occurs in part one when Montag stole a book from the old lady’s house before setting it on fire. Montag felt really guilty for it and blamed his hands. The hands are a symbol of rebellion and moral values. His actions are similar to Mildred’s overdose because they both were done unconsciously, this may be the result of dissatisfaction within Montag that he does not consciously remember.

Montag proclaims that his hands are “infected” from committing a crime (stealing a book) and feels as if the “poison” has spread throughout his body. The reason why Bradbury used the word “poison” is to express the amount of guilt Montag feels. Related Literature/Media: 1984This novel reminds me of 1984 by George Orwell.

There are a lot of similarities and differences between both the novels. Some of the examples of similarities are, both the novels are dystopian fiction; which means it’s about societies that go through third world problems like enough resources or dictatorship. In both novels, the society was restricted from freedom to think or be themselves.

They followed orders and did what they were told to do. Also in both the novels, the consequence was death, even for small things like keeping books. The only difference between both the books is the ending. In 1984, Winston ended up becoming a slave to Big brother whereas, in Fahrenheit 451, Montag ends up meeting people who are like him.