Ray Bradbury uses fire in his book Fahrenheit 451 to warn his readers about the dangers of technology and enforced conformity through the main characters' progress through the novel. Guy Montag, the protagonist of the novel, serves as a fireman whose job it is to burn concealed books. Clarisse, Montag's next door neighbor, is a blithely carefree teenager that goes against everything the conformist society has set up and helps Montag come to the realization that there is no progress in conformity. Captain Beatty, another fireman, holds fast to the conformist beliefs presented to him and tries to pass these beliefs onto others, especially Montag. Montag, whose entire life is centered around fire, experiences a drastic change in Fahrenheit 451, one that is influenced by the major characters in the novel.
             Guy Montag's life is centered around fire and the desire to burn, but that desire transforms into an appreciation for what he is burning. The conversations between Guy and Clarisse are what help Montag develop an appreciation for knowledge and understanding. When Clarisse tells Montag that he is not in love he actually responds. Other firemen would not take the time to even speak to Clarisse. She even talks him into tasting the rain; something Montag had never done before and had not planned to do. Montag's transformation has, by this point in the novel, already begun but the reader is not aware of it until the climax.
             The climax of the novel is when the firemen respond to a call and burn down an elderly
             woman's house. In this scene, Montag takes a book out of the house. His hands are described as being inspired by a mind of their own. "Montag had done nothing. His hand had done it all, his hand, with a brain of its own, with a conscience and a curiosity in each trembling finger, had turned thief" (Bradbury 37). He had not consciously taken a book but did. When he arrives at his house, the b...