Montag's Transformation in the Dystopian World of Ray Bradbury's
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The 5th TICC International Conference 2020 in Multidisciplinary Research Towards a Sustainable Society November 26th – 27th, 2020, Khon Kaen, Thailand MONTAG’S TRANSFORMATION IN THE DYSTOPIAN WORLD OF RAY BRADBURY’S FAHRENHEIT 451 Aphiradi Suphap1 Department of Western Languages, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences1 Thaksin University, Songkhla 90000, Thailand Email: [email protected] Abstract: This academic paper aims to explore Fahrenheit 451’s protagonist, Guy Montag’s transformation throughout the story to investigate how he has changed in the dystopian society where freedom is limited and information is distorted and if he succeeds in his transformation. The textual analysis is mainly employed in this article. His transformation is divided into four categories: transforming from indifferent to inquisitive; ignorant citizen to knowledgeable man; conforming to the society to rebelling against the society; and belonging to the society to the alienated person. Each state of transformation demonstrates his self-development. It enlightens him and gains him new knowledge that the state he lives in is full of false information and also discovers that he is not truly happy because he does not realize that he is forced to live the restricted life which he does not have any aims and does not genuinely have feelings for anything around him.After being through those transformations, he is, finally, successfulin seeing the world in the completely different perspectives and can start his new life outside the dystopian state. Keywords: Montag’s transformation, dystopia, Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury 1. Introduction Dystopia is “an apocalyptic version of future world with man taken over by the machine and technology playing havoc with human life. Information science, atomic energy, global surveillance, rapid mechanization and weapons of mass destruction for global warfare called for science fiction” (Anwar,2016, p. 247). Anwar (2016, p. 247) also remarks that “the tone of dystopia is of despair and the feel it gives is that of fear. The dystopian literary works in the 20th and 21st century arose from the “doubts and concerns that the modern civilization experienced after the horrors of the World Wars and the destructive side of technological advancement" (Anwar, 2016, p.249). Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury depicts the life of people being “dark, scary and cold”. Their lives are separated from what is going on in the real world. They do not know that there is the war exists outside their world (Anwar, 2016, p.248). 384 The 5th TICC International Conference 2020 in Multidisciplinary Research Towards a Sustainable Society November 26th – 27th, 2020, Khon Kaen, Thailand Living in the dystopian world is very hard to change the way of life and thoughts because most of the citizens are ignorant. They do not really know what is exactly right or wrong. Most of them do not have any clues that the government restrains their freedom. Like most people in this story, they think they have the happy life from the illusion world that the state creates. The state establishes the illusion of the perfect world by distracting their citizens from the world outside. It brainwashes people to know only what it wants them to perceive. The states lure people into the world of entertainment by making them to watch “parlor walls” (television) and listening to the “seashell” (the device to listen to the entertainment that the state wants to broadcast). However, the protagonist, Montag, comes to realize that his perception about the world he lives in is not the world he wants to be. He, thus, starts to find out what goes wrong with his society. According to Ikhsanti (2015, p.20), the government in this story oppresses its citizens in five ways: “exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, and violence”. From this point, he gradually changes himself in several means. Furthermore, the state also uses the subtle way to control its people. The fireman is presented as “a police state” whose duty is to destroy books by burning. In addition, the state uses the machine which is called the Mechanical Hound to monitor if anyone violates the state’s rules by possessing books. It is the representative of the advanced technology (Ersöz, 2015, p108). The opposite kind of thoughts which is called binarism also appears in Fahrenheit 451. Captain Beatty is loyal to the state whereas Montag tries to rebel against the state (Abass and Sc, 2019, p.1149). The protagonist, Montag, has had self-development throughout the story. Self-development in the dystopian world is considered rebellious since the state loves its people to be under its control. To be under the state’s control, one does not need self-development. The state does not want its people to develop or change at all since the development would lead them to have new perspectives in life which may lead them to disagree with the state’s schemes and will greatly stir the state’s stability. Yet, Montag does not let himself be under the state’s authority for his entire life. He dares to choose his own way of life. He does not care whether he will be punished as long as he can regain his freedom and make his own decision in life. His action is related to the theory called Existentialism. This philosophical thinking focuses on the essence of human’s existence. Its main idea is that humans are totally free to make their own decisions. At the same time, they are entirely responsible for the outcome of their decisions. It is the individual’s right to choose his/her characteristics and identities (Crowell,2020).The state’s controlling cannot lead anyone to have their identity or existence. On the contrary, the state intends to erase people’s existence. The social construction also creates self-estrangement for humans since they need to conform to the social rules. They do not do things according to their own choices. Yet, the social rules lead ones to feel alienated both to the society and one’s self. People feel estranged to the society because they are just following the rules because it is their duties. They do not do it because they want to. They feel like they are parts of others not being the complete ‘self”. At the same time, they would be upset because they do not have their own choices. As a result, their true self is not found. In Fahrenheit 451, after having been the obedient citizens for many years as the loyal fireman, Montag’s awakening makes him realize that the state deprives him of his freedom in many aspects such as freedom to feel, think and act. He, therefore, yearns for freedom to choose his 385 The 5th TICC International Conference 2020 in Multidisciplinary Research Towards a Sustainable Society November 26th – 27th, 2020, Khon Kaen, Thailand own life. As a result, various types of his transformation are seen for the entire story.This academic article, therefore, investigates how he transforms throughout the story and whether his transformation succeeds and he can find the freedom at the end of the story by using textual analysis as the main method to examine the protagonist’s process of transformation. The central character’s actions, behavior, speech, and thoughts will be scrutinized along with the related contexts. Furthermore, the concept of Existentialism is also concerned as how the major character can discover his self through the transformation he makes. 2. Results and Discussion Transformation of Montag can be categorized into four types: from indifferent to inquisitive person, ignorant citizen to the knowledgeable man, conforming to the society to rebelling against the society, from belonging to the society to the alienated person. His transformation arises from the desire to have freedom in different ways as the mean to escape from the state’s oppression. 2.1 From Indifferent to Inquisitive Person Montag starts to realize that people should have freedom to feel and think which opposes the state’s intention. The influence of Montag’s transformation from indifferent to inquisitive person respectively lies on the two characters, Clarisse and the old woman. At the beginning of the story, Montag is indifferent. He is not interested in anything surrounded him nor curious about anything at all. He does his job and lives his life the way he has done for a long time without trying to ask himself any questions. He is just like other citizens in the state who live their lives superficially and think they are happy. He becomes inquisitive because of Clarisse. The appearance of Clarisse as his new neighbor causes the great changes in his life. The arrival of Clarisse totally opens the new perspectives in life for Montag. She makes him begin to inquire about things around him and his true happiness. Clarisse is inquisitive of everything around her. She observes nature and appreciates its beauty: “I rarely watch the ‘parlor walls’ or go to races or Fun Parks. So, I’ve lots of time for crazy thoughts, I guess. Have you seen the two-hundred-foot-long billboards were only twenty feet long? But cars started rushing by so quickly they had to stretch the advertising out so it would last” (Bradbury,1995, p.7), whereas Montag has never observed it before. She asks him several questions that he cannot really find the answers and those questions also disturb him and make him think more carefully. For example, she asks him these questions: “Do you ever read any of the books you burn? Is it true that long-ago firemen put fires out instead of going to start them; Are you happy?” (Bradbury,1995, pp.5-7). Especially, the last question: “Are you happy?” stirs Montag’s thought although he answers her that he is happy.