Fahrenheit 451 Guy Montag Quotes

Guy Montag

Quote 4

"I've heard rumours; the world is starving, but we're well-fed. Is it true, the world works hard and we play? Is that why we're hated so much? I've heard the rumours about hate, too, once in a long while, over the years. Do you know why? I don't, that's sure! Maybe the books can get us half out of the cave. They just might stop us from making the same damn insane mistakes!" (2.27)

It’s possible this is a reference to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, in which we’re all ignorant and, you know, stuck in cave together. The enlightened man is the man who removes his shackles and walks out of the cave into the real world. The idea here is that books are what enable us to do so.

Montag walked to the kitchen and threw the book down. "Montag," he said, "you're really stupid. Where do we go from here? Do we turn the books in, forget it?" He opened the book to read over Mildred's laughter. Poor Millie, he thought. Poor Montag, it's mud to you, too. But where do you get help, where do you find a teacher this late? (2.31)

Montag doesn’t have the strength to rebel alone and always looks for an accomplice.

Guy Montag

Quote 6

"Nobody listens any more. I can't talk to the walls because they're yelling at me. I can't talk to my wife; she listens to the walls. I just want someone to hear what I have to say. And maybe if I talk long enough, it'll make sense. And I want you to teach me to understand what I read." (2.125)

For Montag, books are more about communication than anything else. That’s why it wasn’t enough for him to read them on his own, why he insisted that his wife do it with him and later, realizing she was inadequate, that he find a teacher.