Guy Montag's best qualities include being sensitive, introspective, teachable, interested in learning, and tolerant of people who are considered different in his society. For example, as the book opens, Montag enjoys his job of burning books. When Montag meets and speaks with Clarisse, he becomes more self-aware as he ponders the unusual and anti-social things she says to him (28). Montag also becomes sensitive to people like Clarisse because she is different. He doesn't judge or criticize her....
Guy Montag's best qualities include being sensitive, introspective, teachable, interested in learning, and tolerant of people who are considered different in his society. For example, as the book opens, Montag enjoys his job of burning books. When Montag meets and speaks with Clarisse, he becomes more self-aware as he ponders the unusual and anti-social things she says to him (28). Montag also becomes sensitive to people like Clarisse because she is different. He doesn't judge or criticize her. In fact, he appreciates her personality and seeks to understand her better.
Montag's desire to learn more about what he might be missing from life leads him to want to be taught. He seeks out Faber to teach him about how to understand books and comes away with a friend and ally (80). Montag's desire to learn also prompts him to desire a change in the way his society behaves toward life and people who are different. All of these qualities help him evolve into a free-thinking, self-aware, and concerned human being who values learning, love, and freedom.
As far as Montag's worst qualities are concerned, they include being impulsive, prone to outbursts, and easily provoked. While Montag is tolerant with one class of people (the misfits), he is not tolerant of those who follow society or those in authority. For example, Montag is impulsive when he spouts out poetry to some neighbor ladies, which makes one of them cry, and motivates them to report him to the authorities (100). Montag shows he is prone to outbursts when he starts screaming on the train because he can't hear himself think over the advertisements blaring over the loudspeakers (79). Finally, he is easily provoked to commit murder when his patience ends with Captain Beatty's taunting and verbal abuse (119). Captain Beatty is ruthless, deserves what he gets, and actually seems to want to die, but the fact that Montag goes through with the murder shows he has lost control of his senses.
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