Bradbury's protagonist in the novel, Fahrenheit 451, is Guy Montag, a thirty-year-old, fireman, who is ironically named after a prominent paper-manufacturing company. .
Montag is, in many ways, is an "antihero" like Darth Vader of Star Wars, but in a more subtle way, he starts off as being a mindless servant of an oppressive government who have giving everything to control the minds of all society.
During the early scenes of the novel, Montag enjoys and loves his book-burning career; ["Kerosene is nothing but perfume to me", PG 6], expelling punishment in a patriotic and just way. Beneath his everyday schedule, however, Montag is completely apathetic towards his job, Mildred, and the society, which he lives; he seems to have feeling for nobody or anything, simply performing his required tasks in a slave-like fashion. .
Montag is married to a completely lifeless woman by the name of Mildred, who is the exact replica of what society has become. Mildred ignores intellectual thought for technology like her three wall interactive television and seashell earphones, which allow her to have a constant escape from any free thought or "disturbing" realities. The need to escape causes her to constantly and unknowingly take sleeping pills, this steady stream of pills, causes her to overdose and nearly kills her. She discovers later that Montag has been studying books, she abandons him and her home for the simple fact she cannot and does not want to deal with the "unpleasantness" of literature. This shows how little Millie is in touch with reality and how little love and compassion she shows for Montag. This in turn brings Montag to the realization that there is something wrong with society and in particularly his wife.
This realization is further noticed when he meets the free spirited Clarisse McClellan on his walk home from work. A complex teenager with a passion for life, Clarisse is considered "insane" by most people, because she enjoys nature, conversation, and observation all qualities that are so necessary in real life.