Third-person, limited omniscient; follows Montag’s point of view, often articulating his interior monologues

The Phoenix

After the bombing of the city, Granger compares mankind to a phoenix that burns itself up and then rises out of its ashes over and over again. Man’s advantage is his ability to recognize when he has made a mistake so that eventually he will learn not to make that mistake anymore. Remembering the mistakes of the past is the task Granger and his group have set for themselves. They believe that individuals are not as important as the collective mass of culture and history. The symbol of the phoenix’s rebirth refers not only to the cyclical nature of history and the collective rebirth of humankind but also to Montag’s spiritual resurrection.

Mirrors

At the very end of the novel, Granger says they must build a mirror factory to take a long look at themselves; this remark recalls Montag’s description of Clarisse as a mirror in “The Hearth and the Salamander.” Mirrors here are symbols of self-understanding, of seeing oneself clearly.
Protagonist
Protagonist
The protagonist of Fahrenheit 451 is Guy Montag. The novel opens with Montag torching a pile of books, clearly enjoying his work as a fireman, but the pleasure diminishes soon after Clarisse McClellan asks him if he’s happy. In a moment of self-honesty, Montag admits that he is unhappy. This admission marks the beginning of Montag’s transformation, and soon after he realizes his own misery, he begins to see that everyone else is also deeply unhappy. At the same time, Montag grows increasingly curious about the very things he’s supposed to destroy: books. Montag believes books might help him uncover the roots of his society’s problems and forge a new path into the future. However, Montag’s curiosity about books brings him into conflict with his wife, his boss, and society as a whole. Montag persists in his desire to go against the status quo and discover the power of books, which ultimately leads to a confrontation in which he murders Beatty. Now a bona fide rebel, Montag finally escapes to the country, where he joins the ranks of roving intellectuals who seek to preserve the knowledge found in books.
The primary antagonist of Fahrenheit 451 is Guy Montag’s boss, the malevolent Captain Beatty. As the leader of the firemen, it is Beatty’s responsibility to uphold the status quo and destroy all illegal books. Beatty takes this responsibility seriously, yet he also understands the temptations of books. As Montag comes to find out, Beatty has actually read a lot of books. Beatty frequently quotes from literature and makes allusions to a wide variety of authors. In spite of his evident education, Beatty has conflicted feelings about the value of books. He seems particularly perturbed by the way books open themselves to multiple, sometimes conflicting interpretations. At one point he complains to Montag: “What traitors books can be! You think they’re backing you up, and they turn on you.” Beatty believes it’s important for his firemen to understand the danger of books, and he attempts to convince Montag of the disorienting and hence dangerous nature of knowledge:
‘Sweet food of sweetly uttered knowledge,’ Sir Philip Sidney said. But on the other hand: ‘Words are like leaves and where they most abound, Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found.’ Alexander Pope. What do you think of that Montag?
Ultimately Montag disagrees with Beatty, which forces the confrontation in which Beatty orders Montag to burn his own home, and Montag burns Beatty instead.
Although Captain Beatty represents the most obvious antagonist in the book, Montag stands at odds with his society as a whole. Just as Beatty wishes to defend the status quo, others in Montag’s society appear committed to keeping things as they are. For example, Mildred invites her friends over to watch television, and after watching a particularly violent scene, Montag switches off the parlor walls. The women respond to Montag’s unwelcome action with looks of “unconcealed irritation.” Like addicts suffering withdrawal, the women experience physical tension in the sudden quiet:
Their faces grew haunted with silence...The perspiration gathered with the silence and the subaudible trembling around and about and in the women who were burning with tension.
Montag further heightens the women’s discomfort when he insists that they listen to him read a passage of poetry. Pushed to the brink, the women burst into tears and run out of the house. As Montag later learns, all the women immediately report him to the firemen. These women are representative members of a society that would prefer to keep things comfortable and unchanging, and it is this society that Montag resists and ultimately escapes.