As we grow, we change
What makes a character dynamic? (In Fahrenheit 451 some characters are static or dynamic)
What makes a character dynamic is when they've gone through a significant change in their characterization due to experiences they've had throughout the book. It's when a character starts off feeling or expressing themselves in a way, but finishing up the story in a completely different or opposite way.
Guy Montag, the main protagonist in the book, undergoes dynamic changes. At the start of the book Montag has no care for books or wondered about anything abnormal from their "dystopian" society. Yet, that slowly start to change, firstly with Clarisse being introduced into his life. Clarisse made think about the way their society was structured, she would constantly ask him questions that would make him wonder... for a little too long. Clarisse says, "'So I've lots of time for crazy thoughts, I guess...Did you know that once the billboards were only twenty feet long? But cars started rushing by so quickly they even had to stretch the advertising out to make it last'" (7). The diction helps him initiate some "openness" into his thinking, where he actually starts wondering about how things are and why things are that way, debunking a lot of things as myths along the way. Another way that Montag manages to change himself is through his wife, Mildred. She was a negative influence on him, she showed him how everyone surrounding him is actually careless and self-centered. At the end of the book he starts to realize that maybe he never even loved her in the first place. Mildred starts to say things, "'...fire, sleeping tablets, men disposable tissue, coattails, blow, wad, flush...Rain. The storm. The uncle laughing...The whole world pouring down...'" (19). This makes Montag realize that Mildred isn't someone he can relate to anymore, he realizes that she was always a stranger to him. Lastly, the old woman who burned herself to death with her books changed Montag in a way too. Montag, being a firefighter, burned down houses easily and without a care, but when he meets this old woman who wouldn't leave her books, he realizes that maybe they do mean something. In the book it states, "The woman on the porch reached out with contempt for them all, and struck the kitchen match against the railing" (Part II).This gruesome suicide cause Montag to go over the edge and encourages his curiosity to read a book. The theme portrays the changes of Montag from a careless book burner, connotating someone who never bothered to wonder, to a curious learner.
What makes a character dynamic is when they've gone through a significant change in their characterization due to experiences they've had throughout the book. It's when a character starts off feeling or expressing themselves in a way, but finishing up the story in a completely different or opposite way.
Guy Montag, the main protagonist in the book, undergoes dynamic changes. At the start of the book Montag has no care for books or wondered about anything abnormal from their "dystopian" society. Yet, that slowly start to change, firstly with Clarisse being introduced into his life. Clarisse made think about the way their society was structured, she would constantly ask him questions that would make him wonder... for a little too long. Clarisse says, "'So I've lots of time for crazy thoughts, I guess...Did you know that once the billboards were only twenty feet long? But cars started rushing by so quickly they even had to stretch the advertising out to make it last'" (7). The diction helps him initiate some "openness" into his thinking, where he actually starts wondering about how things are and why things are that way, debunking a lot of things as myths along the way. Another way that Montag manages to change himself is through his wife, Mildred. She was a negative influence on him, she showed him how everyone surrounding him is actually careless and self-centered. At the end of the book he starts to realize that maybe he never even loved her in the first place. Mildred starts to say things, "'...fire, sleeping tablets, men disposable tissue, coattails, blow, wad, flush...Rain. The storm. The uncle laughing...The whole world pouring down...'" (19). This makes Montag realize that Mildred isn't someone he can relate to anymore, he realizes that she was always a stranger to him. Lastly, the old woman who burned herself to death with her books changed Montag in a way too. Montag, being a firefighter, burned down houses easily and without a care, but when he meets this old woman who wouldn't leave her books, he realizes that maybe they do mean something. In the book it states, "The woman on the porch reached out with contempt for them all, and struck the kitchen match against the railing" (Part II).This gruesome suicide cause Montag to go over the edge and encourages his curiosity to read a book. The theme portrays the changes of Montag from a careless book burner, connotating someone who never bothered to wonder, to a curious learner.
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