Fahrenheit 451 - 2

2) What are the causes, gains, and losses of the conflict dealt with in this book?

The conflict in Fahrenheit 451 is actually between Montag and what seems like the entire current world that he lives in.  At first, he really does not know what he thinks about the world's current situation.  The way he sees it, he has a job burning books, and that keeps bread on the table.  He never really gives anything a second thought (like most of the people during that time) to anything happening until he meets Clarisse.  Clarisse is basically considered to be mentally unstable because of her curiosity and abnormal behavioral tendencies (Bradbury 47).  We know that something is a bit abnormal in Montag because of the way he accepts her thoughts and finds himself becoming like a father figure of her's (Bradbury 75).  He begins to question his line of work.  He does not understand why they no longer want books.  When he finally gets some answers, conflict becomes obvious.  He does not agree with what these people believe, and he values literature, as he should.
Through the conflict, he gains knowledge about himself.  He learns what he needs to know and how he really feels about the world's issues, and he does what he has to.  The climactic point of the book is at the beginning of part three when he has to burn down his own house (Bradbury 113).  What I love about this is that this should be considered a loss, but it really is not!  He feels relief as he scorches his meaningless material possessions.  The only true loss through the conflict is when he burns the books, but he is used to that.  He has been doing that all along anyway.  Sure he has no shelter, but fate falls on his side when he run out of town just as a nuclear bomb is dropped and destroys everything else (Bradbury 176).  He finds Granger and his men, which is the most significant gain because of the possibilities unlocked with them on his side.  Overall, the gains outweigh the losses in this story heavily, and I would like to imagine that there would be more gains to come if the book were to continue.  

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York, NY: Ballantine Books, 1954