Fahrenheit 451 Romanticism- Sense of Darkness and sensitivity

Romanticism is composed of many different aspects of human thought and their nature along with the physical beings in the world and the habitat or living conditions that they live in.  Among these aspects are the ideas of darkness and sensitivity represented by the characters in a Romanticism piece.  This particular portion of Romanticism can be represented in the character's emotions or could be represented physically.  Throughout Fahrenheit 451, Montage portrays the emotional sense of darkness and sensitivity.

Montage displays darkness and sensitivity in his thoughts and actions throughout Fahrenheit 451.   He is consumed with darkness for many years of his life and only seeks to destroy any form of knowledge. This is how he was raised to think and act and his views do not change easily.  Once he begins to be exposed to the knowledge that had previously been forbidden to him, he experiences a sense of enlightenment and curiosity that is continually growing stronger, but realizes that this knowledge is not supposed to be known.  This causes him to become very sensitive and cautious whenever his peers mention the book burning or books in general, which is where he obtained the knowledge and understanding previously mentioned.  The sense of darkness continues to decrease as he falls in love with books and his curiosity strengthens.  As the sense of darkness and ignorance decreases, the sense of sensitivity towards the treatment of others that also have the same desire to learn more increases drastically.  As he sees others being treated unkindly because of the same curiosity, he becomes very cautious in his actions and increasingly sensitive to the way he treats others with the same desire to learn as he had.  This sense of darkness and sensitivity ruled his life and effected every one of his actions until he became associated with a group of men that share the same passion of learning that he possessed.  

Fahrenheit 451 Romanticism- Satisfaction of Desire

Romanticism is composed of many different aspects, some of which are more apparent than others.  One of the many elements of Romanticism that is apparent in many of the pieces of literature during the Romanticism era is character's satisfaction of desire.  This is an important aspect of Romanticism because it s often times what drives the main character's actions and greatly affects the outcome of the story.  The character's satisfaction of desire in a Romanticism story is not always evident at first, but by the end of the story, the main character has achieved what he desired.  This aspect of Romanticism is shown in Fahrenheit 451 by Montage and his actions. 

In Fahrenheit 451, Montage lives in a community where books are not allowed.  This restriction on books results in a restriction on knowledge.  Lacking the knowledge that people previously held, he was curious when he began to read the books that he was supposed to be burning.  This is  begins to develop a longing for knowledge and a desire to know more about the world than just what he has been allowed to know.  The problem with having this particular desire during this time was that knowing to much resulted in being imprisoned or killed.  He was not satisfied with the amount of knowledge he held and wanted more.  This drove him to steal more and more books until he had at least twenty.  He is hunted by the law enforcers and is forced to run from his community.  He encounters a group of men similar to him in that they search for knowledge and try to spread the idea that knowledge is good and is a part of the culture.  His desire is satisfied when he joins this group of men to help others come to know the beauty of knowledge and books and how important they are to how a community develops over time.  

Fahrenheit 451 Romanticism- Characters Set Apart from Society

Fahrenheit 451 displays numerous characteristics of Romanticism throughout the book.  One of the major aspects of Romanticism that is used to describe the main character, Montage, is the idea that he is set apart from the society.  This is important in Romanticism because it allows the author to incorporate the other characteristics of Romanticism, such as the fantasy or supernatural foreshadowing aspects, without having interference from other characters not important to the story.  This is an aspect of Romanticism that is constantly used throughout Fahrenheit 451.

Montage is not a well loved person in his community.  He burns books for a living along with around 5 other men.  They are his only associates until he meets his neighbor, Clarisse.  He begins to enjoy her company and learns a significant amount about himself as a person and his motives in life.  He does not speak to any other people than those in his family or his co-workers with the exception of Clarisse.  Nobody likes being around him because by destroying books, he destroys a part of the culture.  Books are very important to all cultures because they carry the history and interests of the people that wrote them.  As he realizes this, he becomes horrified in his actions and becomes obsessed with reading.  This obsession leads him to a small group of men that all share the same love of books and reading that he does.  These men are all in hiding because they were once hunted like he was because they learned to treasure the stories and history that came from books.  From that point on, he remained in the wilderness traveling with this small group of men and forgetting about all other people in his previous life.  Even before he was a member of the small group, he was set apart in the society and rarely spoke to people that he was not directly involved with.  He remained set apart from the common people throughout the entire story.