Saturday, September 13, 2014

What types of conflict are there in Fahrenheit 451? man vs. man, beast, nature, society, technology, or self

Fahrenheit 451 is filled  with
conflict.


Man vs. man: It seems that Captain Beatty is out
to get Montag.  He knows he has been taking books, and he seems to be setting him up for
the day that he burns his house.  When that day comes, Montag takes the flame gun and
aims it at Beatty.  Beatty challenges him to "pull the trigger" and Montag does.  It is
then man vs. man when they hunt for him.  He must escape capture.  The Hound is his
basic opponent, but the helicopters are looking for him
too.


Man vs. society: Montag cannot accept what society is
telling him about books.  They have successfully stopped all thinking and turned people
into pleasure seeking beings.  Faber tells him that the government was not responsible
for the lack of books.  He says that the public itself stopped reading of its own
accord. Beatty tells him that "Who knows who might be the target of a well-read man? 
Me? I won't stomach them for a minute." pg 58. 


Man vs.
technology (beast). Depending on how you look at things, this conflict could be either
one.  The Hound is a piece of technology.  It is programmed to so many amino acids and
butterfat and alkaline in a body.  This is what allows the Hound to seek out those who
are hiding books.  The Hound tracks him throughout the novel.  It is sniffing below the
door right after Beatty leaves, it semi-attacks him at the firehouse -- enough for
Montag to complain about it, and it leaps at him when he kills Beatty.  Montag kills the
Hound by setting it on fire.  However, they bring another Hound from another district to
hunt him.  He must change his scent as much as he can to escape
it.


Man vs. self:  This is probably the strongest
conflict.  Montag realizes that


readability="8">

"There must be something in books, things we
can't imagine to make a woman stay in a burning house, there must be something there. 
You don't stay for nothing." pg
51.



   He also realizes
that they have everything then need to be happy, but they aren't happy.  "Something's
missing" pg 82.  He realizes that his life has no meaning, and he is in search of that
meaning.


Man vs. nature: This is a weak conflict. When he
is escaping in Part III, he must change his scent, so that the Hound doesn't find him. 
Your  scent is part of who you are.  He also must flow down the river and let nature
take him to a new spot. He must survive out in nature.

No comments:

Post a Comment

What is the meaning of the 4th stanza of Eliot's Preludes, especially the lines "I am moved by fancies...Infinitely suffering thing".

A century old this year, T.S. Eliot's Preludes raises the curtain on his great modernist masterpieces, The Love...