In his classic novel, Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury conjures a frightening future of the 24th century, where books are burned and knowledge is disregarded entirely. Intellectuals are frowned upon, free thought is discouraged, and information is heavily censored. The ultimate goal of this intrusive, oppressive social construct is to shield citizens from the unpleasant nature of reality. In the place of the ideals of intelligence and emotional compassion are absurd forms of escapism and selfish indulgences. It is in this world where firemen are hired with the purpose of starting fires to destroy books rather than to extinguish fires and save lives. Guy Montag is one of these firemen who makes a perilous transformation from a blindly led government servant to a free thinking renegade. Through the course of the novel Guy interacts with several other characters who come to represent various facets of society.
             Guy Montag, the protagonist, is introduced in the first part of the novel as a thirty-year-old, third generation fireman, who mindlessly goes through the motions of his life, not questioning the society he lives in. He takes great pleasure in his job, which consists of incinerating the books and homes of individuals who own any form of illegal literature. His patriotic fervor for which he executes these book burnings soon begins to wear thin as he contemplates the emptiness within in his life. Guy realizes that he holds no sincere passion for his job, his emotionally distant wife, or society as a whole. Beneath his kerosene soaked veneer lies a melancholic desperation to reach out to others and discover himself. Fire Chief Beatty, Guy's superior, acts as a "big-brother" figure who knows all and sees all of whom wish to break the heavily enforced information laws. His co-workers consist of two firemen named Black and Stoneman and the Mechanical Hound, who tracks d
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