Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451. pages 90-165
"Montag said nothing but stood looking at the women's faces as he had once looked at the faces of saints in a strange church he had entered when he was a child. The faces of those enameled creatures meant nothing to him, though he talked to them and stood in that church for a long time, trying to be of that religion, trying to know what that religion was, trying to get enough of the raw incense and special dust of the place into his lungs and hus his blood to feel touched and concerned by the meaning of the colorful men and women with the porcelain eyes and the bood-ruby lips." (Bradbury 95)
Ray Bradbury writes this quote when Montag is located in the same room as his wife and her friends. Prior to the quote being said, the females are chating about superficial things such as
the show that they're watching on television.
This quote shows that Montag is looking at the women's visages, and studying them just like he has done in the past with the facial expressions of certain saints. This creates wonderful imagery because it explicitly shows the reader how Montag is trying to understand what the women are thinking by studying their facial expression, since he cannot find any other way of trying to understand them. That's because he feels like they are beings that are drastically diffrent from him; beings that he cannot find any means of communicating with because of him not being able to comprehend them and vice-versa.
Furthermore, just like what the women are saying is of no meaning to him, their facial expressions are not helping him gain an insight into their thoughts either. That's because their facial expressions are being compared to those of saints, which means that they have the enigmatic, and cold facial expression that most paintings of saints tend to have.
The author's intention is to creatively portray the sense of detachement that Montag is feeling from the women that are sorrounding him. The effective way that the Bradbury accentuates this is by comparing the women's faces to the faces of saints. This makes the reader not only profoundly feel the sense of detachment that Montag feels, but also why Montag feels this way. That's because just like a person has no means of communicating with saints, and one can only speak to them while wishing they will be heard, Montag has the exact same situation in his hands. He can only try to speak to the women that are around him, and he can only hope that they will hear and understand him, but because they are so different from him, he feels like there is no way that he will ever be able to verify that his message has really gotten across.
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4 comments:
Im the first to comment :)
Well your analysis of Fahrenheit 451 goes deeper than that of the obvious answers. You have clearly stated that Guy Montag is trying to estrange himself from others, trying to be his own person instead of a slave of the times. It is also seen how the womans faces are compared to those of the saints, whose faces were "enigmatic and cold."
All in all a good analysis, just like the others. Keep it up!
This is a good post. You describe a bit of everything, from explaining the quote, to a good character development. Keep it up!
This book sounds really interesting!
Montag has an interesting view on woman, but perhaps a more arrogant tone. Perhaps he feels like he is too different and better than those superficial women.
Montag seems to considered women as a different species to men, do you think there is any more proof to this? Are most men like Montag concerning his thoughts and beliefs? Great analysis, I really enjoyed reading it!
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