In Part One, while he is playing cards at the firehouse, Montag looks around and notices that he and all the other fireman look exactly the same:
Had he ever seen a fireman that didn't have black hair, black brows, a fiery face, and a blue-steel shaved but unshaved look? These men were all mirror-images of himself!
Montag wonders if the fireman are deliberately chosen because they share the same physical attributes. Specifically, he wonders...
In Part One, while he is playing cards at the firehouse, Montag looks around and notices that he and all the other fireman look exactly the same:
Had he ever seen a fireman that didn't have black hair, black brows, a fiery face, and a blue-steel shaved but unshaved look? These men were all mirror-images of himself!
Montag wonders if the fireman are deliberately chosen because they share the same physical attributes. Specifically, he wonders if the state has intended to create a league of firemen who are carbon copies of each other:
Were all firemen picked then for their looks as well as their proclivities?
By doing this, the state has created an army of men who not only look alike but also share the same purpose. They are, therefore, united in both their physical form and their intent. As such, the individual firemen have merged into one single identity; a living embodiment of the fight against book-reading.
For Montag, this realization emerges as he begins to question his own identity and starts to ask more profound questions, like whether or not he is really happy. The fact that he has finally noticed that all firemen look the same suggests that he no longer feels connected to the others. He has realized that he wants to regain his independence, to take charge of his own identity and his own destiny.
It was perhaps intended that fireman would look the same to keep them united but, in an ironic twist, it is this attribute which contributes to Montag's desire to rebel.
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