In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Guy Montag has an emotional dilemma whether to go against the system or abide by the law. This law forbids the reading of all books. Guy Montag is a fireman who ironically sets books on fire instead of putting fires out. The decision to betray his fellow firemen is encouraged when a woman is killed because she is caught possessing books. "She made the empty rooms roar with accusation and shake down a fine dust guilt that was sucked in their nostrils as they plunged about."(Pg 37). Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451 takes place in a futuristic city while a war is taking place. Oddly enough, the city has its own problems. The protagonist, Guy Montag, goes against society and steals books to read at home, meets a friend to help him in his brave stand against society but gets discovered, then barely escapes his punishment to join a group of people who attempt to preserve knowledge through memorization.
At the beginning of the novel, Guy Montag is described as a "minstrel man" (pg 4). He is a firefighter who "never questioned the pleasure of watching pages consumed by flames" (cover of the book). He is a brave individual who decides to rebel against society. Montag meets a crazy and imaginative seventeen-year old girl named Clarisse McClellan. She tells him of a time when firemen used to put out fires instead of making them. After that, Montag and the other firemen burn a house filled with books and burn its owner. "They crashed the front door and grabbed at a women, though she was not running, she was not trying to escape." (Pg 38). This incident make Montag start to think that there is something important and valuable in those books, for a woman to stay and burn with them. Montag then starts to get curious and reads books, betraying the firemen.
In the middle of the book, Captain Beatty, the antagonist who is the fire captain, detects that Montag is questioning the law.