Guy Montag is the novel’s protagonist. He’s a 30-year-old fireman with “black hair, black brows [and] a fiery face” (22). Initially, Montag takes great pleasure in burning books in the unnamed American city where he lives. He believes wholeheartedly in his work and its significance. His meeting with Clarisse McClellan sparks a change, and Montag begins to question everything about his life: his marriage to Mildred, his job, and his purpose in this authoritarian society. He starts to read the books that he’s secretly stashed away, and although Montag does not truly understand them, he believes they may help him identify the reason why his life feels so meaningless and empty.

Montag chooses to defy the government, but his struggle is as much internal as it is external. He has little education, and his inability to control his emotions makes him impulsive, which almost leads to his downfall, as Beatty learns of his subversion. A combination of both his tenacious spirit and undoubted imagination enables Montag to seek help from Faber, form the seeds of a plan to bring down the fireman system, and with Granger’s help, find a new purpose after the city’s destruction.