Society establishes a set of rules and laws to keep it stable and its people safe. Although the majority will usually accept and/or follow the rules, occasionally, individuals or groups will demonstrate their disapproval of them by revolting against the government and authorities. Ultimately, these groups may break and rebel against the rules they do not support in order to be heard. In the novel Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury, Mr. Bradbury writes of a time in which literature is illegal and television becomes the dominant source of media. To rid the society of reading books, the government implemented a program using firemen to burn the books. One of the firemen, Guy Montag, is the main character in the story. Early on Guy never doubts why he burnt the books but a series of events sparks his curiosity for answers as to why books are prohibited, consequently causing him to break the rules he once enforced as he risks his life to find the answers he seeks.
Montag experiences unusual occasions within a short period of time that creates a desire to figure out why books have become outlawed. The first event was when Montag comes home and finds his wife had overdosed on sleeping pills. Montag confronts his wife, Mildred, the next morning and finds that Mildred doesn't remember overdosing and is the least bit disturbed with the fact that she could have died. Secondly, Montag talks to his neighbor, a seventeen year old girl named Clarisse McClellan. Clarisse tells Montag "I am afraid of children my own age. They kill each other. " (p. 27). The next event, is when Montag asks Mildred if she had seen Clarisse lately and she replies "Run over by a car. Four days ago But I think she's dead. (p. 44). Lastly, he is put over the edge when a woman, whose house was ordered to be burnt, would rather commit suicide and burn along with her books than be separated from them. Through these episodes, Montag realizes that television and the lack of literature has caused people to become unemotional, insensitive and carefree.