Author's Note: A reflection on the quote "What doesn't kill me, makes me stronger" by Friedrich Nietzsche and how it relates to Montag's actions recently in the book.
Pain and strength. Two words of quite different meanings, yet, there isn't one without the other, as demonstrated in Friedrich Nietzsche's quote, "What doesn't kill me, makes me stronger." Life cannot exist without pain, or it would be meaningless. In Fahrenheit 451 Montag experiences this daily. He is trying to choose between being numb, or feeling; living a meaningful life. As a result, Montag uses the pain to make his life serve a purpose.
In Montag's world, there was only confusion and hurt, a hollow inside him, empty for so long he did not know what was to belong in its place, and then there was the fire,burning and destroying; killing. Montag was lost in a life where he felt he didn't belong - but then he met Clarisse McClellan. She was so innocent and full of life; she was so much different than Mildred. She made him feel, made him laugh -- a sound he had not heard in a long time. Her ideas introduced him to a whole new world, a world free of the confusion, and hurt, a world free of burning. Most importantly, she introduced him to a world with something to replace the missing part of his soul: love.
The world Montag was living in was so completely void of emotion that Montag himself was numb.This pain was the only thing that kept Montag sane, for it was all that he could feel. Without the pain that Montag experienced he would not have lived.Clarisse awakened the side of him that can finally feel, and the numb melted away; he started to see that there are many different kinds and forms of feeling, such as love, as well as different ways to live life. The pain he experienced before he met Clarisse has made him a man that does not just walk around, letting himself be carried to and fro, not feeling. Instead, it let him see the world with new eyes. Montag is breaking free of his chains, and coming out into the sun, ready to live a life full of meaning.
I love your marriage between intellect and poetry. You take risk here, and that is an especially admirable quality when you could play it safe and easily get fine grades. I love the playful use of language, and how it always keeps me thinking, spending time to read what you write, hoping it doesn't end too soon.
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