Over the course of the novel Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag goes from a relatively "typical" firefighter to a man on the run. In the story, Guy meets his seventeen-year-old neighbor Clarisse McClellan, she questions Montag about his life now and the life he has always lived. Near the beginning of the book Clarisse asks Montag, “Are you happy?” Clarisse's question affected Montag in many ways, causing him to question his life. After talking to Clarisse, Montag begins to think about his wife, Mildred, and whether or not they really love each other. He leaves her to go home and find out for sure. Once inside he asks Mildred if she remembers where they first met. Neither Mildred nor Montag remembers where they first met. He begins to realize that he is unhappy in his relationship with his wife, Millie, who is unwilling to face reality and chooses instead to immerse himself in an obsession to soothe the virtual world provided by his television and radio. The fact that Montag actually later thinks back to Clarisse's question and begins to admit to himself that he isn't happy is a big step for Montag. In fact it shows how he no longer lives as "one" with the society that places a lot of emphasis on "happiness". Therefore, Clarisse is the first person to encourage Montag on his path to self-awareness. Montag does not read books at the beginning of the story, but later in the book he begins to read books instead of burning them. He still burns the houses and most of the books, but he also takes some before he burns the houses. In doing so, this changes his personality and his way of thinking about society. One night, when Montag starts reading a book he stole from a house he later......middle of paper......and did something while hearing something else. Montag actually said to himself, “I went around doing one thing and feeling another.” Montag is amazed by the anatomy of himself and what he has done in his life and is confused as to how it all happened. Montag says "It was just the other night everything was fine and the next thing I know I'm drowning." He actually tells himself how quickly he's changed - from one day to the next. He wonders about his job, about Mildred, about marriage and about the society he lives in. Montag has now changed from being a "happy" man to a conscious, thinking and analyzing human being totally different from the society he lives in. Although Montag has had his struggles throughout the book, it seems to me that the right place for Montag was the forest, where he ended up after running, as Faber had told him to do when the Mechanical Hound was chasing him.