8 th Grade Summer Reading Fahrenheit 451 For the chapters listed below, answer the following questions in complete sentences. You also need to define the listed vocabulary words as they are used in the context of the novel. Your answers should not be written in this packet. It is also important that you stop to answer the questions before continuing to the next section of reading. You will be turning this in at the start of the year, and it will be graded. PART ONE: SECTION ONE 1. Who is Montag, and how does he feel about his job? 2. Whom does Montag meet on the way home, and what do they talk about? 3. For what crimes has Clarisse s uncle been arrested? What can you tell about this society from these crimes? 4. What makes Clarisse s family different from others in the neighborhood? 5. Describe Clarisse. What does she ask Montag? 6. What does Montag discover at his home? PART ONE: SECTION TWO 1. Who is the mascot of the fire department? How does the mascot react to Montag? What reaction does Montag have? 2. How do the conversations Montag has with Clarisse differ from those he has with Mildred? 3. Describe school in the world of Fahrenheit 451. 4. Explain the state of the country. What possible threat looms? 5. Why do Montag s comments make the other firemen suspicious? 7. Why was the alarm at the old woman s house inconvenient? 8. How does Beatty describe the society in which they live? 9. What starling news does Mildred reveal? PART ONE: SECTION THREE
1. How does Mildred react to the circumstances of the death of the old woman? What does this indicate about Mildred? 2. What does Mildred find under Montag s pillow? What did she do? 3. According to Beatty, what impact has the speed at which the society lives had on books? 4. What are two chief goals of society? 5. Why did books become boring? 6. What unspoken deal does Beatty make with Montag? 7. How have Montag s opinions changed by the end of this first part of the novel? 8. Why is this section titled The Hearth and the Salamander? PART TWO: SECTION ONE 1. What is Mildred s opinion about reading? 2. Why does Montag seek out the man in the park? 3. What does Montag will himself to do on the subway? 4. What do Faber and Montag talk about? According to Faber, what three things are missing from society? 5. Describe the plan Montag and Faber devise. What device does Faber give Montag? Why? 6. What does Montag do to Mildred s friends? How do the friends react? PART TWO: SECTION TWO 1. To what does Bradbury compare the conversation of the ladies? 2. Recount some of the comments of Mrs. Phelps and Mrs. Bowles. Look at the original copyright date for this book. How might that date have a connection to the women s comments? 3. What purpose does Beatty have in making his remarks at the fire station? Whom does he quote? 4. What is the salamander? PART THREE: SECTION ONE
1. To what does Bradbury compare the scene at Montag s house? 2. Who turned in the alarms? 3. What does Beatty discover when he hits Montag? What does he threaten? 4. What does the hound do? 5. Where is Faber headed and why? PART THREE: SECTION TWO 1. What new game do the police invent? What fantasies does Montag have as he drifts along? 2. What does Montag know intuitively? 3. What does Granger give Montag to deter the hound? PART THREE: SECTION THREE 1. Whom does Montag meet while walking on the railroad tracks? What do they talk about? 2. What is happening in the city? Whom do they catch? 3. How is the city destroyed? 4. What does Granger say is their main job? Why? 5. Why does Granger want to build a mirror factory? 6. What is the double meaning of Burning Bright? Fahrenheit 451 Glossary and Vocabulary
Vocabulary list: 1. Highlight the word in the text so that you can be sure you choose the correct definition. 2. Write a complete definition. Note the part of speech. 3. Be sure you can correctly use the word in a sentence. List 1 (p. 3-68) 1. salamander: 2. stolid: 3. gorging (gorge): 3. flue: 4. waft: 5. phoenix: 6. refracted: 7. cataract: 8. procaine: 9. odious: 10. luminescent: 11. proboscis: 12. ballistics:
13. trajectory: 14. proclivities: 15. cacophony: List 2 (p. 71-110) 16. cadence: 17. suffused: 18. romantic: 19. insidious: 20. parried: 21. perfunctory: 22. phosphorescent: List 3 (p. 113-165) 23. quarry: 24. juggernaut: 25. pedants: 26. incessant: