Guy Montag is the unquestionable protagonist of the book. I guess he is also the hero, but once again not by my books. Montag is a Post Modernism hero though. He has to deal with real life issues (breaking a law and becoming an outlaw for something that he believes in) and doesn't make the right decisions (reading poetry to the ladies in the parlor [Bradbury 100]), but they do work out in the end. Montag undergoes a transformation during the book. He starts off as an obedient firefighter and ends up as an independent, yet accepted member of a group of other people who believe in books and the power of knowledge. Montag is kind of a gullible person in the sense that he takes commands from Beatty, Faber, and indirectly from Clarisse. She gave him the seed that sprouted into Montag being the subject of a police chase. He listened to her, a teenage girl, and acted upon what she told him (Bradbury 11). Beatty pushed Montag around and mentally abused him. Montag never stood up for himself (except for that one time... you know when he burned Beatty alive...). Faber talked into Montag's ear to give him things to say because Montag couldn't think of things himself. Montag listened to Faber's opinions and made them his own.
Montag accomplished breaking the censorship and "becoming" a book (Bradbury 151). That is a big step from having a profession of burning books to preserving a book by committing it to memory. I think the idea of each person being a "living book" is great! That way they don't have the actual book and won't be persecuted by the police and government because they can't prove what the "living books" have in their heads. That is an ingenious system. Being the future, I hope their "method to recall anything that's been read once" (Bradbury 151) is more high tech than hypnotism, but having whatever method ensures that the book is forever ingrained in someone's memory and can be passed down through the generations.
Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine, 2003. Print.
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