Within the context of the opening passage, Montag demonstrates some potential for creative thought and some interest in creative ideas.
In this introduction to Montag, the reader learns that he derives pleasure from watching things be destroyed:
It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed.
While the act of destruction is negative, it is, nevertheless, a form of creativity. For instance, Montag feels that his hands are those...
Within the context of the opening passage, Montag demonstrates some potential for creative thought and some interest in creative ideas.
In this introduction to Montag, the reader learns that he derives pleasure from watching things be destroyed:
It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed.
While the act of destruction is negative, it is, nevertheless, a form of creativity. For instance, Montag feels that his hands are those of "some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning."
A fireman who takes pleasure in burning in a musical sense, Montag wears his "symbolic helmet" on his "stolid head" and his eyes are "all orange flame with the thought of what came next." He also wants to follow the old tradition of roasting a marshmallow in the fire and watching the "flapping pigeon-winged books . . . [as they] died on the porch and lawn of the house."
Despite his limitations, there is in Montag the suggestion that he possesses a mind and imagination that has the ability to respond to stimulation. The use of figurative language—"his eyes all orange flame," "flapping pigeon-winged books," and "he strode in a swarm of fireflies"—hints at Montag's potential to appreciate greater beauty and creative thought.
This suggestion that Montag possesses an imagination, although limited, lends credibility to his reactions later, after he has talked with the imaginative Clarisse.
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