When his wife discovers what he is doing, she becomes terrified. Eventually she turns him in, and he is forced to burn his beloved collection. And in a fit of rage and shock her turns the fire on his superior officer and kills him. Guy is forced to flee to avoid being arrested, and joins an outlaw band of scholars who are trying to keep the contents of important books in their heads.
This book takes you to the edge and back. It makes you think about what our society is going to become if we keep wanting things to be more efficient, faster, sharper, smarter, more hurried and eventually just plain easier. Shouldn't things require a little work? Not in the world in which fireman Montag lives. Everything is easy, and, more importantly, thoughtless.
The thematic elements in Fahrenheit 451 have received much praise. "Bradbury's rage against censorship and book burning reached its fullest and most eloquent expression when the novel was expanded." Says (George Guffey) in an essay he wrote about Bradbury. (Novels for Students 149) In the scenes of Fahrenheit 451 Bradbury establishes an atmosphere of alienation when the "fireman" shows his dissatisfaction with his conformist society. This is shown when Montag's Superior officer states: "You always dread the unfamiliar- (Bradbury 162). This statement shows how Montag was afraid to change and break away from the society he had come to know it wasn't until he realized that he could as long as he wanted to that he actually followed through and became and individualist.
Montag's joy in burning books is questioned after a conversation with Clarisse McClellan. When she questions him about his happiness, his response is yes, but later when he is alone, he realizes that he is not happy. When he discovers that his wife has taken an overdose of sleeping pills his alienation is intensified. The introduction of the mechanical hound is also a key point in the alienation of Montag.
