Plot Presenter, Mckinley Fox-Cowart
"Don't look to be saved in any one thing, person, machine, or library," Faber tells Montag. "Do your own bit of saving, and if you drown, at least die knowing you were headed for shore."
In what way is this advice good or bad? Explain.
This advice given to Montag by Faber is bad. It gives Montag permission to continue to defy authority and live by his own set of standards, which will not be successful in his field of work. When Faber gives this advice, it is just encouraging Montag to break more rules. For example, in Fahrenheit 451, Montag defies authority when he burns a house instead of just books “the house fell in red coals and black ash” (Bradbury 111). After this incident, his fire Captain had seen enough and decides to punch Montag, “Beatty struck him a blow on the head that sent him reeling back” (Bradbury 112). In this situation, the advice Faber gave Montag had a direct effect on what happened to Montag. He felt that he could defy authority (do your own bit of saving), but that only ended in getting smacked by his boss. The Fire Captain also tells him he will be arrested, in the novel it states, “’When you’re quite finished,’ said Beatty behind him. ‘You’re under arrest’” (Bradbury 111). Getting hit and threatened by your boss is not a good way to live, just based on what your friend said. Faber does not understand Montag’ s position, because he is not a fireman and does not know the risks and strict set of rules that they must follow, regardless of their own personal belief. This advice is in no way, good for Montag. His metaphor, “at least die knowing you were headed for shore” does not work in Montag’s scenario, because his actions continued to push him farther into the ocean, (metaphorically speaking).
ReplyDeleteAndrew, I see where you are coming from when you say that he is given permission to deny authority. But you also have to think about what problems the rules set are causing in the first place. Up holding this law towards the discrimination of books has led to riots, violence, and even war. Maybe it would be a smart thing for the firemen to let off and allow book to be owned by people. There could be a limit but then both sides of the cause would be more satisfied. Seeing that Faber is a book enthusiast, I actually would take the advice he gave Montag and use it to put an end to the war. It is important for people to stand for what they and many others want. With enough persuasion and persistence, Montag and the other literature enthusiasts might be able to. Metaphorically speaking when Faber says “You must remember, burn them or they’ll burn you” (Bradbury123), this means that if Montag were to be able to beat Beatty to the punch, or tell him about the books instead of trying to hide them, he and the others might have saved a lot of trouble, including burning his own house down. Coming to an agreement to me would have been a much more logical way of solving the problem. I see many different ways to get around the problem of defying authority. Maybe one of these might have been any easier route to take.
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