Guy Montag, the main character of Fahrenheit 451, also represents the theme of isolation and alienation. Guy's occupation is that of a fireman, but instead of putting out fires he sets fire to houses that contain books. "While the books went up in sparkling whirls and blew away on a wind turned dark with burning." (Bradbury 3-4) In the society in which Guy lives books are banned from owning or reading. Guy has a similar feeling to Winston's, in that he is unsure and questioning of his society. Guy is fairly well off financially, has a wife, and has friends as co-workers, yet is also very isolated. Everything that the government encourages the people to do while at work and away from it acts to distract the people from thinking too much or needing too much.
People drive fast cars and watch mindless television in the majority of their free time. They feel comforted by these excuses for social interaction, yet are in fact completely isolated from one another. "How did you get so empty? he wondered. Who takes it out of you?" (44) Guy attempts to talk to his wife about what he is concerned with, yet is met with a blank reaction and an uncaring for anything except the TV. Guy realizes his isolation when even his wife, the closest person to him, cares more about the TV characters that she watches everyday, which she calls her family, than him.
In 1-2
paragraphs respond to the post describing:
1. The
connections between what you have just read about “1984” and what you have read
thus far in F-451.
2. What are
the connections between these novels and the society we live in today?
