Fahrenheit 451 Questions

Part I: The Hearth and the Salamander (pages 3-68)

1. What do the "fireman" do for a living?
The firemen all burn books for a living.

2. In the opening scene, why are the books compared to birds?
The books are compared to birds because of their cover. As they are burning, they resemble a bird’s shape.

3. According to pages 3-4, what does Montag think of his job?
Montag loves his job, and really enjoys doing what he does.

4. Who does Montag meet on the way home?
Montag meets a seventeen year old girl name Clarisse McClellan.

5. During his conversation, Montag says that "You never wash it off completely" referring to the kerosene. What could this mean symbolically?
It could mean that once you have burned books, the guilt, feelings, or consequences will stay with you forever, and the thought that you burned books will stay with you forever.

6. Why do you think that Bradbury would introduce Clarisse before Montag's wife, Mildred?
Bradbury would introduce Clarisse before Montag’s wife possibly because Clarisse is more important to the story’s plot and story then Montag’s wife is.

7. Why does Mildred need help when Montag gets home?
She had an overdose on sleeping pills, and fell into a deep irregular sleep.

8. Describe the help that she receives.
Two men replaced her stomach, and took out all her blood and replaced it with new blood.

9. Is there anything unusual about the way the two men go about helping Mildred? How is it unusual?
Yes it was unusual because the two men weren’t doctors and just machine operators. Also, they just walked in then quickly walked back out, without so much as an introduction or such.

10. How is life in Montag's house very different from that of Clarisse's house?
Clarisse’s house is more plain, with little of the modern technology, while Montag’s house is very modern, and has a lot of gadgets.

11. How does Mildred react after she wakes up from her previous night's experience?
She doesn’t have any recollection of what occurred and feels terrible. She thinks the terrible feeling is her having a hangover.

12. What does Mildred do all day?

13. Describe the setup of Montag's TV room.
There are three walls with “TVs” installed, and one normal wall.

14. What is Clarisse doing when Montag sees her on page 21?

15. How is Clarisse different than Mildred?
Clarisse thinks differently then other people, and has thoughts about the world for what it really is, and doesn’t take the world for what people tell her it is.

16. What is the mechanical hound and what is its purpose?
The mechanical hound is a killing machine that is used to kill various things – the people there, for fun, throw cats and mouse’s in there to watch them die.

17. What is the hound's reaction to Montag?
The hound expresses a dislike for Montag, and acts coldly towards him.

18. Why does society consider Clarisse “anti-social” (page 29)?
They consider her that because she thinks differently, and probably doesn’t like talking about the stuff that “normal” people like talking about.

19. At the next fire, what does Montag take?
Montag takes books.

20. On page 40, Beatty reveals something very important about himself and his knowledge. What is it?

21. What technology does Mildred use to go to sleep?
She uses the seashells in her ears.

22. Who is Mildred's "family"?
Mildred’s “family” are the people in the parlour.

23. What has happened to Clarisse? How did it happen?
Clarrise is dead, which, as explained by Mildred, was caused when a car ran over her.

24. What is unusual about the way Mildred told Montag about Clarisse?
It seems like Mildred was content with Clarisse’s death, and didn’t mind about it too much. Normally, when anybody dies, even if you do not know the person, people would still be sad about it, instead of acting like nothing happened like Mildred was when she told Montag about Clarisse.

25. Read pages 55-62 very carefully. They contain great truths about our world. List three things Beatty talks about in his speech to Montag that are true about our world.
Beatty says that knowledge is slowly being lost, by saying school is shortened, discipline relaxed, etc, which is true, because as the world becomes older, people are worrying less about the fine details and are just passing life as it goes. Beatty also says that the bigger the population, the more minorities there are, and explains that people don’t want to offend other people of different various races and descents, even though there are an extreme number of those people around. He also says that if somebody doesn’t like a particular book, they burn it, meaning that whatever what someone doesn’t like, they just simply get rid of it. This is true for today’s society because we don’t really completely solve the problems we are faced with anymore, we just ignore them, such as our problems now with global warming, etc.


Kelson Fung, 25 February 2008



On Part II: "The Sieve and the Sand” (Pages 71-110)

T/F=True or False

26. When was the last liberal arts college shut down?
Half a century ago it was shut down.

27. T/F: Professor Faber thought Montag’s call was some sort of trap.
True, he was very suspicious of Montag.

28. Why did Faber’s fear dissipate when Montag was standing outside his door?
He realized that Montag wasn’t there to burn his house, and that Montag was in possession of books.

29. What did Montag want from Faber?
Montag wanted Faber to educate him about the world and books – about what the world is really like.

30. T/F: Faber reminded Montag that people who are having fun are reluctant to become rebels.
True.

31 How did Montag finally get Faber to consider really helping him?
Montag started ripping out pages of the Bible, as well as coming up with ways in which he could help.

32. T/F The Queen Bee analogy underscored Faber’s cowardice.
False, Faber, I believe, is actually quite brave, and the queen bee analogy doesn’t suit him well.

33. What to items were exchanged before Montag left the professor’s house?
Montag received a headphone in which he could use to communicate with the professor from a distance.

34. What is the volcano’s mouth?
The volcano’s mouth is the incinerator

35. T/F Montag pulled the plug on the living room fish bowl.
False, he pulled it on the parlour

36. T/F Faber objected to Montag’s poetry reading.
True, he called Montag a fool for revealing himself.

37. Which lady was affected by the original intent of the poetry?
Mrs. Phelps was crying after Montag had read the poem.

38. T/F In the late hours of the night, Faber refused to console Montag for foolishly reading poetry to the poor, silly women.
False, Faber did attempt to consol Montag.

39. Listening to Captain Beatty play his harp and needle Montag had what effect upon Guy?

40. What interrupted the poker game?
The alarm call of the Fire Department interrupted the game.

41.Captain Beatty drove the Salamander to whose house?
He drove the Salamander to Montag’s residence.


Kelson Fung 3 March 2008

Part III: Burning Bright (page 111-166)

42. How has Beatty given Montag hints that he is under suspicion?
Beatty went to Montag's home when he pretended to be sick and gave him a lecture about books and how people would be better off without them.

43. Who must have brought the books back from the garden?
Mildred was suspected to have brought the books back from the garden.

44. Who (3) TURNED IN AN ALARM AGAINST Montag?
Mildred and possibly her friends turned the alarm on Montag and reported that he had books.

45. What happened to Montag’s green bullet?
Montag burned the bullet up with the flamethrower.

46. Why did Montag burn Beatty's body?
He burned Beatty because he had made fun of Montag and repeatedly taunted him and told him to do it.

47. What is Montag’s plan to escape?
Montag wanted to run to Faber's house.

48. How much money did Montag give Faber?
He gave him one-hundred dollars.

49. How many scents can the mechanical hound remember?
The hound can remember ten-thousand scents.

50. Why did Montag want Faber to turn on the air conditioning and sprinklers?
So his scent wouldn't be left behind, as a way of protecting Faber, and to insure there won't be a trail leading to him.

51. Interpret “Twenty million Montag's running, soon, if the cameras caught him.”
It means that if the camera caught sight of him, he would be on t.v.'s all over the town.

52. Why did the search for Montag veer inland?
It was because Montag hid his scent and was able to successfully escape.

53. Who died in Montag’s place?
A random pedestrian who was walking around was killed and was put off as Montag to the public.

54. What did Granger mean by “Welcome back from the dead.”
It means he is welcome, and supposedly he was supposed to have died, so he says this as a joke of sorts.

55. When Granger and other like minded people are stopped by authorities, why isn’t any incriminating evidence found?
No evidence is there because they have the knowledge hidden in their minds--they carry no physical books, but instead, the books are in their heads.

56. Do you have a sense that there are other “book chapters” in other towns. What proof do you have?
Possibly, because all the towns seem to be kept separate, and one town never seems to have information about another.

57. What does Granger mean by his quote “You’re not important. You’re not anything.”?
It means that one person is insignificant.

58. Explain the last implications of the events in the last 4-5 pages.
Granger and everybody were talking about how they want to change the world back to what it used to be, and how after something dies, like the town, it'll rise back up soon again and become better.