Fahrenheit 451 Part 1

Who is Guy Montag? What is his job?

Guy Montag is the protagonist of the story. He is a fireman whose job is to burn books.

What bit of news about their neighbors is tremendously important to Guy, but is something Mildred forgets about for several days?

Guy asks Mildred if he has seen their neighbor Clarisse. Mildred says that her family has moved away and she thinks she's dead. Clarisse has been hit by a car and Mildred forgot about it for 4 days.

What does Montag discover his wife has done when he gets home?

He discovers that she has overdosed on her sleeping tablets.

When Guy finally decides to watch TV with his wife, what upsets him about it? Why do you think he refers to the characters on screen as "aunts" and "uncles" or "nephews" and "cousins"?

He is upset because none of the show makes sense. He refers to them as "the relatives" because television is the only thing Mildred cares about. She doesn't even care about him.

Beatty reveals that books were destroyed by the fear of offending someone. He also states that removing books from the public makes people equal and makes them feel better (pg. 51-60). How does doing such a thing make the public equal? How does it make them feel better?

If everyone understands the same things, then everyone is equal. If everyone is equal, then no one can feel better than anyone else. If that is the case, then everyone is happy and that is the ultimate goal of this society: create a society where everyone is happy.

Reviving Mildred is a two step process. What are those steps? Why is Guy so upset once the "cleaners" leave his house? What has he realized about his world?

The "cleaners" have to "clean" the blood and the stomach. Guy is upset because he realizes that people have become somewhat disposable and no one actually cares about each other. He realizes that no one is actually "happy" because they are all medicated.

How does Mildred respond when Guy tells her what she did?

"Why would I do a silly thing like that?" She doesn't believe him.

What is school like for Clarisse? What do the other kids do for fun after school?

Clarisse doesn't like school because she finds it boring. They go from class to class every hour but aren't really learning anything and aren't actually socializing. She wants to talk to people about real things and she finds that the kids at school aren't having real conversations. The kids after school go and race cars on the highway.

Who is Clarisse McClellan? Why does she make Guy uncomfortable? What does she reveal about the world that has changed over time?

Clarisse is Guy's neighbor. She is "17 and crazy". She is free thinking and asks questions which makes Guy uncomfortable. She reveals that the society in Fahrenheit 451 is not a utopia, but rather a dystopia and its aim is to control all aspects of people's lives.

Re-read the last two paragraphs of Part 1. Why does Mildred give up on the book right away? Why does Montag persist?

Mildred is paranoid about getting caught. Montag persists because he wants to understand what the book is talking about.

How do the firemen fail to perform their job one night? What goes wrong.

One night, a woman refused to leave her house and the firemen burn her with her books. Someone was supposed to come and arrest her, but they failed to do so.

Describe what it is like when Mildred watches television. What kind of show is she about to watch? What does this tell you about her intelligence?

She sits in her parlor with three TVs surrounding her. She watches TV on all three and wants a fourth put in. She watches soap operas and refers to the TV as her "family". This says that she has a very low intelligence.

Why does Clarisse think Guy is different? How has she already started to change him?

She thinks he is different because he actually talked to her instead of walking away and when she mentions things like "look at the moon" he looked up at the moon instead of ignoring her. She has begun to change him because he begins to question the "why" in the way that his society is.

Beatty gives a very long talk about the American attention span (pg. 51-60). How did it change over time? What did the changes do to literature and writing ?

The American attention span got shorter and shorter over time. Literature changed because of it. Instead of having to read an entire book or play, magazines would print a brief summary of it so that people would be able to have discussions about it with their neighbors.

What is the Hound's job? Why is Guy afraid of it? Why does he pity it?

The Hound's job is to sniff out books and people who break the law. Guy is afraid of it because he has seen it attack small animals and believes that the Hound is programmed to come after him. He pities the Hound because it is a machine.

How has the history of firemen been changed?

The history of firemen has been changed saying that firemen have always STARTED fires rather than put them out. The firemen have handbooks that give this "history" all the way back to the beginning of America with Benjamin Franklin as the first firemen.

What is the only way possible for Captain Beatty could be familiar with that quote from the 1500s? Why does this make Montag suspicious of his captain?

The only way that Captain Beatty would be able to recite a quote is if he read it. This would make Montag suspicious of him because that would mean that he reads books.

What are the seashells?

They are ear plugs. Today, we call them "head phones" or "ear pods"

Guy and Mildred have a discussion about their marriage. What is it that they cannot remember? What does Guy realize about his feelings for her as she continues to take more and more sleeping pills, yet again?

They cannot remember how they met. He realizes that he does not actually are about Mildred. He realized that if she died, he wouldn't cry. That realization makes him want to cry.