Fahrenheit 451 Part One: The Hearth and the Salamander

Transcription

1 Fahrenheit 451 Part One: The Hearth and the Salamander Beginning through the end of the scene where Montag and Capt. Beatty discuss the Mechanical Hound 1. On the first page of the book, author Ray Bradbury uses several metaphors to describe Guy Montag as he completes his job. Find and write two of the metaphors, explaining the effect Bradbury is trying to create with each metaphor choice. 2. Look back over the opening sequence before Guy Montag meets Clarisse McClelland. What two adjectives would you use to describe this man? What textual evidence leads you to this conclusion? 3. In the moment that Montag first sees Clarisse, what is the main color that Bradbury wants us to associate with this girl? What, symbolically, is significant about this color choice? 4. How old is Montag? How long has he been a firefighter? 5. At first, Clarisse tells Montag that she s 17 and, later, she admits that she ll be 17 next month. She says, I m seventeen and I m crazy. My uncle says the two always go together. When people ask your age, he said, always say seventeen and insane. First, decide whether you think her uncle is right is there a special kind of insanity in 17 year olds? Explain your answer. Second, given the world that Montag and Clarisse live in, how might the uncle s advice be seen as practical and wise? Explain this answer, too. 6. In Bradbury s version of the future, how have roadside billboards changed? What does this detail show the reader about this society? 7. What metaphor does Bradbury use to describe the earbuds in Mildred s ears? What should alarm the reader about this description? 8. The men who arrive in the night to pump Mildred s stomach have a casual indifference about their work. How many cases like this do they handle each night? What does this show you about this world? 9. According to Clarisse, how is Montag different from the other firemen? What evidence is given that shows Clarisse is right? 10. Based on the description given, draw a Mechanical Hound. (I realize this isn t an art class, but just do your best and include details that are mentioned in the text to show you can visualize this creature.) 11. What entertainment happens every night at the firehouse? What does this show the reader about the firefighters? About Montag? 12. As Montag discusses his discomfort around the Mechanical Hound with Fire Captain Beatty, he thinks about the ventilator grill in the hall at home and what lay hidden behind the grill. If someone here in the firehouse knew about the ventilator then mightn t they tell the Hound...? We re not told what Montag has hidden, but take a guess. What item/s do you think Montag has stashed behind the vent in his home? Some ancient Roman and Greek communities believed the salamander was a spirit that lived in fire. Historians theorize that this may be because the smooth, moist-skinned lizards often hide in wood chip piles. When a bundle of wood chips were thrown on a fire, a salmander would quickly scurry out of the flames, making onlookers think the creature was coming out of the fire itself.

2 Fahrenheit 451 Part One: The Hearth and the Salamander, continued Beginning with the first section that starts One two three four five six seven days through the end of Part One 1. Describe a typical day at Clarisse s high school. Be sure to include specific details from the text. 2. After school, what do most teenagers do for fun? What do these activities show us about this society? 3. Clarisse says that she s not like the other teens, primarily because she was taught to be responsible for her actions and even spanked when I needed it, years ago. Where do you stand on the issue of spanking children who misbehave? From this passage, what do you think is Bradbury s stance on the issue? 4. What evidence exists that shows us the story begins in late October? 5. What phrase from a children s fairy tale likely raises Capt. Beatty s suspicion that Montag has been illegally looking at books? 6. From the scene in the old woman s home, find and write down one sentence that includes a simile. Then, explain the symbolic significance of what that simile is supposed to add to the scene for the reader. 7. One of Beatty s criticisms of the old woman and her books is that none of those books agree with each other. Obviously, author Ray Bradbury wants us to read a wide variety of books. What, do you suppose, happens when we read only books that align with our own world view? What is gained? What is lost? 8. How long have Guy and Mildred Montag been married? Where did they meet? What s significant about this detail? 9. Explain what wall exists between Guy and Mildred. 10. Although we can t be certain, what do we think has happened to Clarisse? What does the uncertainty of Mildred s report do to Montag? What does it show us, the readers? 11. According to Beatty, why do smart kids, the intellectuals, get picked on at school? What is his opinion of this? 12. According to Beatty, firefighters are actually the Happiness Boys. What does he mean by this? Do you agree with Beatty that happiness is the aim of life? If not, what should be the aim of life? Explain your answer. 13. Why, according to Clarisse s uncle, aren t porches built on homes anymore? 14. Give at least three concrete examples that show Mildred is an awful wife.

3 Fahrenheit 451 Part Two: The Sieve and the Sand 1. Early in Part Two, Montag realizes what made Clarisse so likeable. What was it? 2. As Montag reads and Mildred blankly stares on that cold November afternoon, what color does Bradbury use to describe the silent viewing parlor? What color does he use to describe the park where Montag met the old man a year ago? What s symbolically significant about these color choices? 3. According to Faber, how long ago was the last liberal arts college shut down? Why did it close? Would you enjoy an education where your only classes were based on STEM, science/technology/engineering/math? Why or why not? 4. What is more important, Mildred or the Bible? Explain. 5. While on the subway, Montag struggles to absorb the Biblical passage of Matthew 6:28, which implores readers to forget about material possessions and to consider the lilies of the field, beautiful blooms that grow wild on their own. His reading is interrupted by an incessant jingle for Denham s Dentifice, a teeth-whitening product. What point is the author trying to make in this scene? 6. Faber says he bears some responsibility for the dismal state of the world. What is the source of Faber s guilt? Do you share his opinion or think that he s being too hard on himself? Explain. 7. According to Faber, the loss of books themselves isn t what s ruined this society. Instead, he says it s the loss of three specific things. In your own words, explain what three things are missing from these people s lives. Sieves 8. Later in their conversation, Faber says, Those who don t build must burn. It s as old as history and juvenile delinquents. What does he mean? Do you agree or disagree with this idea? Explain. 9. How many days a month does Mrs. Bowles, one of Mildred s friends, spend with her children? How do her children feel about her? How do you know this? 10. Based on what Mildred and her friends say about politics, why did Winston Noble win the presidency? Do you think voters in our world today focus on this same criteria? Explain. 11. After Montag s disastrous attempt to enlighten the women with his reading of The Sea of Faith, he tells Faber, I made them unhappier than they have been in years, I think...maybe they re right, maybe it s best not to face things, to run, have fun. I don t know... What do you think? Is ignorance really bliss? Explain. 12. Find and write down one quote that shows Faber is a coward. Be sure to include the page number. 13. Find and write down one quote that shows Faber is brave. Be sure to include the page number. 14. The title of this section of the novel is The Sieve and the Sand. Sieve is another word for strainer or colander. In this story, what does the sieve symbolically represent? What does the sand represent?

4 Fahrenheit 451 Part Three: Burning Bright Beginning of this section through the end of the scene where Montag runs across the ten-lane boulevard 1. In the first sentence of this section, the fire at Montag s house is described as a carnival. What does the use of this word show you about Montag s neighbors? 2. Do you think Mildred put in the alarm, as Montag fears? Explain your answer. 3. Capt. Beatty says the beauty of fire is that it destroys responsibility and consequences. A problem gets too burdensome, then into the furnace with it. Explain how this line is an element of foreshadowing. 4. Find and write two similes used in this chapter. (Yes, I want you to write the full sentence and cite the page number.) 5. Personification is a technique where a writer gives human qualities to an inanimate object. Find and write an example of personification used in this chapter. (Yes, I want you to write the full sentence and cite the page number.) 6. Right before Beatty is killed, he quotes a line from Shakespeare s Julius Caesar. Look closely at that passage and then explain the irony of Beatty s words. 7. As he flees, Montag thinks, Beatty wanted to die. Do you agree or disagree with this idea? Explain your answer. 8. Do flying cars exist in this world? How do you know this? 9. Find the section where a car is racing down the street, aiming to hit Montag. Author Ray Bradbury uses repetition in this section, starting seven short sentences with the same two words. First, what are the two words that Bradbury uses? Second, what effect does this technique have on the scene and on the reader? 10. Montag is horrified to realize that the speeding car is not a police car but is actually filled with joy-riding teenagers amused by the idea of killing a pedestrian. What s the most likely reason the teen driver avoided hitting Montag at the very last moment? 11. Montag wonders if the teens in the car were the same ones who killed Clarisse. Do you think they were? Explain your answer.

5 Fahrenheit 451 Part Three: Burning Bright, continued Beginning with Montag s visit to Firefighter Black s home through the end of the book 1. Why does Montag stash his remaining books at Firefighter Black s house? What do you think of Montag s decision to do this? 2. When Montag visits Faber, he s told that there are lots of Harvard degrees on the tracks between here and Los Angeles. What does this mean? 3. Why is Faber heading to St. Louis? 4. Describe Faber s television. 5. After Montag escapes to the river, cleansing himself both physically and symbolically, he thinks about the sun. According to Montag, how is the sun like a firefighter? 6. Toward the end of the book, Montag realizes that fire is not necessarily bad. Describe the moment where he realizes that fire can be a good thing. 7. According to the professors, is it better to have a book you can physically hold or a book that s committed to your memory? Explain why. 8. Granger, one of the professors, has a unique perspective on why we grieve loved ones when they die. Explain his thoughts on this topic. 9. According to Granger, what s the difference between a man who cuts a lawn and a gardener? 10. Although a bomb has leveled the city, there s evidence in the last few pages that humanity can regroup and life can be better. Find and write one sentence from the last few pages that includes a hopeful tone for the future. Explain why you chose this line. 11. Earlier in the book, Montag is more of a student, learning from the wisdom of others such as Clarisse and Faber. Toward the end, though, it s clear that Montag has changed and now has become a leader. What evidence supports this statement? 12. At the end of the novel, Montag remembers these lines from the Book of Revelation, And on either side of the river was there a tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month; And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Symbolically, what might the fruit represent? 13. At the end, he also remembers a section of the Book of Ecclesiastes, which states: To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;... A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. Given the nature of humanity, do you think Montag and the professors will be able to help rebuild a healthy, successful society or are people doomed to repeat this destructive pattern? Explain your answer.