In a world where toast butters itself and people are mindless, Guy Montag finds himself caught in a society devoid of knowledge and free-thinking. Trained to destory literature, he also set aflame old ideals of individuality, curiosity and intellect. Montag begins questioning everything around him, and, indoing so, empowers himself against the very government he works for.
             Montag proves just how powerful literature can be when reading one line out of a novel -- accidentally -- prods him to do the unthinkable and steal a book. He becomes curious where curiosity is foreign. That line in the book awakened him, made him want to know what answers could be hidden in other books. This is demonstrated on page 66, where he pleads with his wife not to burn his coveted novels: " 'We can't burn these. I want to look at them, at least look at them once.' " Literature has already began to transform Montag from a law-abiding drone to something much more.
             Montag also begins to think for himself, which was completely unheard of. Whst began with stealing books turned into an elaborate plan to force literaty onto the nation. Unlike his wife and her friens, Montag stopped being force-fed thoughts and actually dared to formulate them on his own.
             Does literacy empower people in Fahrenheit 451? Most definitely. That is, I think, the primary reason those in charge want it to disappears. In the course of a few days, Guy Montag became an individual, free-thinking, and bursting with questions. He took control of his own mind, which meant that no one else could. And that is what scared "them" the most....