"Oh, just my mother and father and uncle sitting around, talking. It's like being a pedestrian, only rarer. My uncle was arrested another time - did I tell you? - for being a pedestrian. Oh, we're most peculiar."
"He was not happy. He was not happy. He said the words to himself. He recognized this as the true state of affairs. He wore his happiness like a mask and the girl had run off across the lawn with the mask and there was no way of going to knock on her door and ask for it back."
"We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the constitution says, but everyone made equal... A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it. Take the shot from the weapon. Breach man's mind."
In the novel, Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, the author conveys many different points through carefully illustrated scenes. From these scenes, two stan out to me the most. One of the two scenes is the scene in which Montag, the protagonist, is confronted by Clarisse, a "normal" girl that is viewed as an outcast in Montag's dystopian society. This scene is significant due to the fact that to the reader, the actions that Clarisse does is viewed as normal but to Montag it is viewed as atypical. However, Montag finds these actions to be intriguing and his acquaintance with Clarisse helps him to realize his unhappiness. As a result, Montag later continues to go on a search for his happiness by reading books. The second scene that I found significant was the scene in which Montag's captain, Captain Beatty, explains the history of firemen to Montag. Beatty defends the disintegration of authenticity in a passionate, almost regretful tone. He is willing to defend the "equalization" of society yet he still remains educated himself for he has been exposed to the knowledge of books. He uses his book-educated mind, his "loaded gun," to manipulate Montag. THis draws the reader to the idea of whether Beatty chose his job for the fall from faith in books or to enable himself to gain illegal access to books through his position of authority. As a result, a clear tone of irony is drawn from this scene.
