It will be no surprise if one day books become just another thing in the past as humanity begins to rely solely on technology for information, fun and communication. Although this scenario may seem far-fetched, in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury the protagonist of the novel must decide whether he wants to be an individual and make his own decisions going against the "norm", or whether he will continue to live under the power and rules of others . Guy Montag is a firefighter who, ironically, instead of putting out fires and helping society, actually starts them. The reason is that the setting of this novel takes place in a future where books are illegal and anyone found guilty of hiding them in the house is immediately reported to the police who alert the fire brigade. Firefighters enter criminals' homes with flamethrowers and burn every last book they own to try to keep everyone at the same level of intelligence. According to Beatty (Guy's fire chief); the books are banned because groups of people have started complaining about how some words and ideas in the novels offend them. Many authors took their unhappiness into consideration and decided it would be best to implement guidelines to prevent people's feelings from being hurt. Soon all books started to look the same, as writers tried to avoid offending people. This wasn't enough for the public. So instead of telling people not to read material that upsets them, society as a whole has decided to simply burn books rather than allow contradictory ideas. Once Guy Montag meets Clarisse (his next door neighbor), his whole outlook on life and its purpose changes. Clarisse helps him open his mind to the beauty of nature and our... medium of paper... to turn to the burned city in hopes of rebuilding it into an intellectual, hard-working society. Ray Bradbury uses the power struggle between knowledge and ignorance to enhance the meaning of the novel. By making firefighters (people who are seen as heroes in America today) the characters who promote ignorance and diminishing the importance of acquiring information, the reader can begin to appreciate the importance of learning and 'be informed because the thought of such respected men, acting as if uniformity and illiteracy have now become the “norm” in their society is appalling. Guy Montag's quest for knowledge and self-empowerment puts an end to the ignorance he once shared collectively with nearly everyone in his community. Guy Montag begins to think for himself and move further and further away from the status quo.