Montag’s

schizophrenic
behavior
in Fahrenheit
451
Plan:
• Introduction
• Definion of Schizophrenia
• Who is Guy Montag ?
• Guy Montag: character analysis
• Schizophrenic behavior
• Conclusion
 Introduction
• Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian novel by the American
writer Ray Bradbury which was first published in 1953.
• It is often regarded as one of his best works. The novel
presents a future American society where books are outlawed
and "firemen" burn any that are found.
• The book's title: Fahrenheit 451 explains the temperature at
which book paper catches fire, and burns.
• The protagonist, Guy Montag, is a fireman who becomes
disillusioned with his role of censoring literature and
destroying knowledge, eventually quitting his job and
committing himself to the preservation of literary and cultural
writings.
 Schizophrenia
• Schizophrenia is a chronic and
severe mental disorder that
affects how a person thinks,
feels, and behaves. People
with schizophrenia may seem
like they have lost touch with
reality.
 Guy Montag
• He is the protagonist, an unhappy, complacent
man who is thirty years old.
• He has been a fireman for ten years.
• He meets Clarisse and finds that her outlook
to life is refreshing.
 Character Analysis to Guy Montag

• The novel opens with Montag torching a pile

of books, clearly enjoying his work as a
fireman, but the pleasure diminishes soon
after Clarisse McClellan asks him if he’s
happy.
• Guy Montag , shows schizophrenic behavior at
some points in the novel, he is proud of his
work, proud of being a fireman , He takes great
joy in his work, but he shows a great dicontent
, he can’t even understand the source of his
emptiness and dissatisfaction.
• One can clearly see his fragmented pychology
which results in a conflecting and oppressive
behavior from being proud of doing his job as
a fireman « It was a pleasure to burn » into
judging the ultimate resaon behind doing that.
• Thus , In a moment of self-honesty, Montag
admits that he is unhappy.
• This admission marks the beginning of
Montag’s transformation, and soon after he
realizes his own misery, he begins to see that
everyone else is also deeply unhappy .
• At the same time, Montag grows increasingly
curious about the very things he’s supposed
to destroy: books.
• He believes that books might help him to
uncover the roots of his society’s problems
and to forge a new path into the future.
• He reaches this crucial point after he witnesses
the burning of an old woman , who willingly
embraces death when the firemen come to burn
her books . His psychological state, shows his
inner repression which is a signification of his
schizophrenic process that is to liberate hismelf
from the burden of capitalist, totalitarian society .
He is lured and obsessed by books that he hides
them behind the grille in his home, he even urges
his wife to join him in reading .

Montag faces an ongoing spiritual dilema of love and hate

to his job , his wife and the state as a whole .
• He persists in his desire to go against the status
quo and discover the power of books, which
ultimately leads to a confrontation in which he
murders Beatty, the chief fireman .
This decisive act of rebellion embraces his
budding idealism and hopes for a better life , a
better future “ one in which dissent and
discussion redeem humanity from its gloomy
dark age “
• Now a bona fide rebel,
Montag finally escapes to the
country, where he joins the
ranks of intellectuals who seek
to preserve the knowledge
found in books .
 Conclusion
• Montag’s schizophrenic behavior is
manifested through his pychotic disorders ,
which is charecterised by delusions ,
withdrawal , conflicting emotions and
detorioration of his personality and mind .