Essay on Fahrenheit 451
This woman had a tremendous impact on Montag. She burned with her books. When he is talking with Mildred about it later, he says “There must be something in books, things we can’t imagine to make a woman stay in a burning house, there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing. ” (pg 51) Mildred tries to say that the woman was simple-minded and that it is water under the bridge. Montag knows that the experience will last him a lifetime. He cannot put it out of his mind.
He goes on to explain that for the first time he realized that a man wrote the books He had to think them up and put them down on paper, and then he came along and in two minutes burned it all up and it was over. It seriously bothered him. montag becomes kinder: he sees the self-destructing, depressed people and is affected by them, instead of merely moving on in his life and not caring. He is so moved by his new change that he states, “It doesn’t matter what you do, so long as you change something from the way it was. he decides to stand for a real purpose: he decides to rebell against this terribly corrupted government by remembering his book. Quote: It didn’t come from the Government down. There was no dictum, no declaration, no censorship, to start with, no! Technology, mass exploitation, and minority pressure carried the trick, thank God. Today, thanks to them, you can stay happy all the time, you are allowed to read comics, the good old confessions, or trade journals. Quote: If they give you ruled paper, write the other way.
