FAHRENHEIT 451: A SAMPLE ESSAY BY MR SIM JOO JIN

QUESTION:

Do you find Guy Montag a likeable character? Support your answer with evidence from the text.

In Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451, we encounter many interesting characters withcompelling personalities, but no one stands out like its chief protagonist, Guy Montag. In myopinion, Montag is indeed a deeply likeable character, chiefly because of some very endearingpersonality traits: he is compassionate, loving, and most importantly, willing to reflect on hisflaws.Firstly, Montag is likeable because of his sincerely compassionate nature. He has a deep respectfor the lives of others, even when he does not know them. We can see this from the way hetreats the old woman who owns the house he has been sent to burn. When the woman refusesto leave her house even though the firemen are about to torch the entire place, Montag trieshard to convince her to leave with him. None of the other firemen do this, and Montag is theonly one who tries to bring her to safety. This episode clearly shows how deeply Montag caresfor the lives of others even though he does not know them. Montag's compassionate naturebecomes all the more precious given how uncaring the other characters are. Captain Beattyspeaks of how “these fanatics always try suicide”, and sees no reason to stop he from doing so;Mildred says “She's nothing to me” when Montag talks to her about how they burnt the oldwoman. Both these characters only care about themselves: in Beatty's case he only wants to getthe job done with, while Mildred is only bothered by how Montag must go on earning money tosupport her expenses. When we know how selfish the other characters in this society are, westart to see how rare and admirable Montag's compassionate nature really is. Therefore, Montagis likeable because he is a truly caring person.Secondly, Montag is likeable because he is a loving person. Even though he seems to have losthis love for his wife, he still tries hard to find it back. We can see this from how earnestly hetries to remember where and when he had met Mildred. While he tries to do so, he feels that itit “suddenly more important than any other thing in a life – time that he knew where he hadmet Mildred”. Perhaps of he can remember the details, then the feelings he had when he justmet her and fell in love with her would return to him. The fact that this little detail matters somuch to him tells us just how desperate he is to reclaim the love he once felt for her. Thisshows how loving Montag is. Montag's loving nature is all the more precious given how distanthis wife has become. Instead of talking to her husband and listening to his problems, sheprefers to play the role of the “missing homemaker” in a script for the wall television andimagine that she is talking to fictional characters. This must be a hurtful thing to Montag, but hestill tries to find back his love for her despite the growing emotional distance between the twoof them. Montag's loving nature is therefore another reason why he is a likeable character.