If Montag from Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 were to protest against censorship and the laws against having books, he would need to show that the information in books doesn't hurt people. The society in which Montag lives believes that authors contradict each other and offer no help to anyone. It also believes that entertainment and fun are the only ways to achieve happiness. When a teenager, Clarisse, asks Montag if he is happy, this gets him to thinking if he actually is. When he discovers that he is not happy, he then feels as if something is missing from his life. Since the main things that are taken away from people are books, Montag wonders if they might be a source of happiness. His curiosity gets the better of him and submits to seeking out what books offer. Montag eventually discovers that books offer something more meaningful than TV, ideas that can teach life lessons, and a chance to discover one's inner workings of the mind.
First, one annoying aspect of this censored society is the fact that the radio and TV are the only source of ideas; and, in fact, those ideas lack substance. Montag describes it best by saying,
"Nobody listens anymore. I can't talk to the walls because they're yelling at me. I can't talk to my wife; she listens to the walls. I just want someone to hear what I have to say. And maybe if I talk long enough, it'll make sense" (82).
People who read and discuss ideas are those who discover more about the world around them and find out new ways to enrich their own lives. This could be the first of examples to protest censorship.
Next, Montag feels that something is lacking from life because "quality" of life is lacking. Faber explains it best with the following:
"Do you know why books such as this are so important? Because they have quality. And what does the word quality mean? To me it means texture. . . The book can go under the microscope. You'd find life under the glass, streaming past in infinite profusion" (83).
Finding life is the part of what helps people to endure it and this is what Faber is trying to teach.
Finally, after Montag runs away and meets Granger, the leader of the outside community, he learns that people didn't appreciate books like they should have, and that's one reason why they lost the use of them. Luckily, the people of this outside community have memorized books so they can be of some use to people when they are ready for it again. Montag reaches into Ecclesiastes, the book he memorized, and remembers this quote, which would also help with his protest:
"And on either side of the river was there a tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month; And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations" (165).
It's all about life. Books give life to the monotony of living. Without books, language and ideas are lost and only idleness and meaningless lives are the result.
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