Fahrenheit 451 revolves around the premise of Guy Montag’s life-changing run-in with forbidden literature. His encounters with books caused a series of events that ultimately lead up to a murder, sabotage, a deadly chase and the road to becoming a fugitive. With books being so influential to his thought processes and change in views of the world, what would’ve become of Montag if he’d never begun collecting books in the first place? Montag’s life would’ve likely changed for the worst had he never stopped to change the shape of his life and questioned what was important to him. Before Montag had met Clarisse, he’d never even questioned his everyday arsonistic habits and pleasures. Similarly before he‘d met Faber. he’d never had a plan of action to follow his realization in the first place. Montag, had he not come to his senses and recognized the issues with the world, would likely be dead.
With no real reason to rebel and consider problems, Montag would’ve likely gone about his days shrouding his pain in fire. On a regular basis, Montag was obligated to deal with the issue of his wife growing apart from him, along with the frustrations of dealing with the war and Beatty‘s everyday reminders that evelything should stay as is. This would conflict with his own thoughts and opinions, having no one to share them with such as Clarisse or Faber. Montag’s obsession with flame could’ve consumed his life in more ways than one. According to the United States Fire Administration, it is scientifically proven that arsonistic tendencies are a gateway to more violent crimes and problems. Even if burning books was socially accepted by society, is the burning of everything else accepted as well? Without the books as a deterrent to his pyromaniacal interests.
Montag could‘ve easily misjudged the separation of right and wrong with burning. This could’ve ruined his life even more than it already was prior to his book-reading. Montag stated several times in the book that he’d already met Faber briefly before he went to him for help, and kept his contact information as well. Should he have rediscovered the info, being dutiful to his burning responsibilities, he would’ve most likely turned it in as an alarm. Faber held several books in his house that were possibly the last copies of his in the world; Montag‘s alarm could’ve destroyed these forever, let alone ruined Faber‘s life, taking into consideration how many priceless literary artifacts and how much knowledge Faber had in his possession. Clarisse. as well, did supposedly “die” several days after Montag met her, but it is possible (as hinted to by Beatty) that her death was set up to appear to be an accident.
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Considering the circumstances, she could very well have been killed in a fire, perhaps on her own house. Having not met her and not remembering anything about her, Montag could very well have murdered Clarisse in a routine burning without realizing it. Montag’s connection with Mildred, meanwhile, would’ve slipped even further below what it already was. In the book, Montag scares off Mildred’s friends by reading poetry to them. This leads to the chain of events that follow, in which Mildred‘s friends leave Mildred and turn in an alarm, Montag is brought to his own house on call, and resorts to murdering Beatty in cold blood. These events turn him into a fugitive, who in turn leaves town, etc. Montag’s life would’ve stayed the same, for the most part had he never read the poetry to Mildred‘s friends. Being around “friends” who didn’t care about much more than the very things Montag had come to hate (officially, following the canon storyline ofnthe book) is what made him really snap and make the major mistake that was the reading of the poem aloud.
Having not cared about these things, however. would’ve sunk Mildred AND Montag into a deeper pit than they were in already. Mildred’s material connections with television and shallow conversations with her friends would‘ve drawn her even further apart from Montag. This unwillingness to change how things were could‘ve very well have lead to another “accidental” suicide attempt via another bottle of sleeping pills; possibly one in which she succeeded in offing herself. Perhaps the most important of all, though, is that Montag would be dead if it weren‘t for the books. Though the events leading up to his fugitive status were shaky and, at times. didn’t seem worth pursuing. Montag managed to leave the town before the ”war” had taken its toll. Escaping with his life and assorted books of the Bible in his mind. Montag survived to live another day and eventually share what knowledge he retained with the rest of the world.
Had he not seen anything was wrong, let alone had he not had a reason to leave town, Montag would’ve died right next to Mildred (who wouldn’t have left for a hotel had she not turned in an alarm on her own house), unhappy and pained as ever, Montag used the books of the Bible as a coping mechanism to get him through the bombing, and without books or even the taste of knowledge to cling to, would Montag have really objected to being bombed? Perhaps death was welcome in a world where even Montag was both alive and dead. Fahrenheit 451 is a constant reminder of how every human leaves his mark on the world. Ray Bradbuw said it himself through the eyes of a character at the end of the story: “Everyone must leave something behind when he dies. my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made Ora garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you’re there.
This quote is powerful. and makes us realize the impact that Montag had on the world because of his simple curiosity regarding books, Had he never turned away from burning and towards the growth of his own knowledge, would the world have been better off, or worse? Beatty would’ve lived, though Faber’s life may have been shattered. Mildred wouldn’t have left him, but the two wouldn’t have gotten any closer together, either. He would’ve died, but as unhappy as he was, would that have really phased him? Ray Bradbury reminds us constantly that the choices one makes in life can affect many around him as well, just as it does in our world, No one is safe from the actions or choices of another, and the same is true in the case of Guy Montag, who chose life over death in his world of the alive yet dead.
