Fahrenheit 451 Reading Notes P. 1-65

Mechanical Hound

a robot type of dog, equipped with a steel needle, copper wire, and electricity that has eight legs and programmed to hunt and kill animals, such as cats, rats, and chickens; would do so by injecting its steel needle into its prey; tested by the firemen every night

Beatty

Captain of Guy Montag's fire department; seems to have the gift of reading Montag's mind

Pale in the face and slender, with mysterious dark eyes; was described as letting the leaves blown by the wind guide her movement

Describe the young girl Montag sees when he first senses her presence.

Fahrenheit 451

Temperature at which paper burns, according to the L.A. Fire Department

Speculative Fiction

A literary genre encompassing any fiction with supernatural, fantastical, or futuristic elements

Dandelions; if they rub off when one puts them under their chin, it means that they are in love, but if it does not rub off, then that person is not in love

According to Clarisse, what symbolizes love and how does it do so?

Kerosene

According to Montag, it is "nothing but perfume"; however, the real world definition is "a mixture of liquid hydrocarbons obtained by distilling petroleum that is used as a fuel or cleaning solvent

Guy Montag begins to read one of the books at his side that is supposed to be outlawed by the firemen. By the time Guy finishes the book, Mildred says that nothing made sense in the book, and that what Beatty said about books being a bunch of utter nonsense was correct. Guy decides to start all over again telling the story as a hope to clarify the story

After the person who rang the doorbell is gone, what does Guy Montag begin to do? When he finishes, what does Mildred say and what does Guy do in response?

A very depressing mood

At the beginning of the novel, Montag's bedroom is composed of his wife's brittle presence and the utter darkness that the room possesses due to Montag's refusal to let light into the bedroom by opening the windows. What type of mood does this create

Ray Bradbury

Author of novel

Captain Beatty basically says that books are no longer of value to people these days because more advanced and more modern technology, entertainment, and forms of reading and learning have developed. He says that people these days are more fascinated with television, radio, public entertainment, and magazines, rather than old-fashioned books that no longer appeal to people this day and age simply because society has turned away from being intellectual and have move towards technology and entertainment to enlighten themselves. Beatty also says that books have no meaning to them

BRIEFLY describe Captain Beatty's lecture to Montag.

Mildred

Guy Montag's wife; described as dull and almost lifeless, with a very bleak face

Mildred does not understand Guy because she questions his words and actions. They do not act like wife and husband in any way, as it seems that there is a wall wedged between them

How can Guy and Mildred's relationship be described?

Over speed and reckless

How can Mildred's driving be described?

He feels extremely depressed and uncertain about his future; he cannot make up his mind if he wants to continue with his job as a fireman

How does Guy feel after his being lectured by Captain Beatty?

He doesn't feel for her at all as he describes her as "unknown" and "empty"; he says that if she died, he wouldn't be emotional at all

How does Guy feel for Mildred?

She feels more hungry than ever before, is very non-talkative, and has poor short-term memory, as she cannot remember what happened the past night.

How does Mildred feel following the medical operation on her the previous evening?

He feels that the meeting was one of the most peculiar meetings he has ever had. He re-visualizes Clarisse's thin, pale face and her unbelievable talent of judging others after being around them for such a short period of time

How does Montag feel when reflecting on the experience he had with Clarisse?

Montag views Clarisse as unique in terms of both appearance and personality, questions her respect, and that she talks very abruptly about very irrelevant and strange topics. Clarisse is fearless of Montag, thinks she is smarter than he is, and is most of all very skeptical of Montag's actions

How does Montag view Clarisse? How does Clarisse view Montag?

Guy feels very ill and can't get out of bed. Mildred refuses to let her husband be sick and refuses to help make Guy feel better since she denies his request for water and aspirin for his fever. Mildred also ignores him by turning on her music in the parlor to full volume

How is Guy feeling the following morning? How does Mildred respond to it?

She is extremely ill; her blood is clogged up and her stomach is filled with harmful bacteria, so she needs special medical treatment

How is Mildred Montag's physical health condition?

She opens her mouth to taste the rain water, claiming that it tastes like wine

In the second coincidence in which Montag and Clarisse meet, what does Clarisse do with the rain that befuddles Guy?

Orange Salamander

Represents the fire that is burning; a badge on Montag's fireman uniform

Stoneman and Black

Two firemen who work as assistants along with Guy Montag

Bradbury alludes to Nicholas Ridley and Latimer to show how important the woman's books were to her and to also demonstrate Beatty's love for books as well. Ridley and Latimer were evangelical Protestants who wanted to deepen the practice and culture of the religion in their home country of England despite the fact that it was against Queen Mary's will to do so

What Allusion does Bradbury make when the firemen go back to the fire station?

That an unknown person was standing there the whole time waiting for him and staring at him

What did Montag's instincts tell him just as he was about to turn the corner of the sidewalk (top p. 3)?

They start talking about Clarisse and where she has been the last few days since Guy has not seen her recently. Mildred says that she thinks Clarisse is dead. Guy is stunned by her answer and asks Mildred why she never told him. Mildred says she simply forgot

What do Guy and Mildred strike up a conversation about? What is Mildred's answer? What is Guy's reaction to this late notice and what excuse does his wife make?

She questions Montag's job of burning houses and books, because she says she thought that she once knew firemen as people who put out fires rather than burn objects. Montag pretends to not hear what she said.

What does Clarisse question about Montag's duty and what is Montag's reaction?

Untrustworthy Strangers

What does Guy Montag view the medical workers as?

The number 451, which symbolizes the temperature in Fahrenheit at which paper burns, which serves as the title of the novel

What does Guy Montag where on his uniform sleeve and why/how is it symbolic in terms of the title of the book?

He considers quitting his job and describes what happened the previous night with the woman and her books, which Mildred does not understand

What does Guy say that upsets Mildred?

She denies it every time, saying that she "would never do a thing like that"

What does Mildred Montag do the several times that her husband questions why she took so many vitamin pills in one day?

Mildred has an obsession for television. She acts very selfishly, constantly demanding that her husband build a fourth wall because that would mean another TV. She is also very ignorant of her husband when watching television

What does Mildred have an obsession for and how does she behave doing it?

A list of millions of forbidden books that he and other rest of the firemen have burned over the years. His mind wanders to Clarisse again, in which he replays her speaking about how she thought firemen were supposed to prevent fires rather than ignite them

What does Montag have a list of in the fire department? Whose voice does Montag hear when he thinks of this list?

He decides to listen in to Clarisse's family conversation from their front porch

What does Montag instinctively decide to do regarding Clarisse and her family after the medical workers leave and after he hears Clarisse's family chattering endlessly?

That she has vanished because when he goes to the corner of the sidewalk to meet up with her like the first time he met her, she was not there

What does Montag realize after a few days since his last conversation with Clarisse?

That he is in fact "not happy"

What does Montag realize of himself after meeting Clarisse and her questioning of whether he was happy or not?

Dystopia

What does the darkness of Guy's bedroom symbolize, following his first meeting with Clarisse?

She refuses to go with them, and instead sets fire to both her own house and the entire neighborhood

What does the owner of the burning house do when the firemen attempt to save her from death?

The fire alarm goes off

What happens as Guy is contemplating what Clarisse said when he first met her?

The Mechanical Hound threatened him after was woken up by Montag when Montag touched it, which caused it to attempt to inject its steel needle into Montag like it is programmed to do to every other animal. Luckily for Guy, he escaped the steel needle. That was the second time that had happened.

What happens between Guy Montag and the Mechanical Hound that makes Montag fear it?

She thinks they are very anti-friendly because they are very pugnacious with each other and according to Clarisse, the other children almost never talk to each other and never strike up an open-ended conversation, while Clarisse herself does

What is Clarisse's view of the other children of her age nowadays?

He burns down a house with an ignitor because he finds pleasure in perceiving objects that are blackened and "changed"

What is Guy Montag doing as the novel opens and why does he do it?

That she can't even remember where and when they first met

What is Guy appalled at with Mildred?

She is frustratingly talking to an announcer on her radio station. She basically ignores Montag and tells him to go for a ride in her beetle car

What is Mildred doing as her husband tells her how he is feeling? How does Mildred respond?

He becomes upset and feigns that he is in love. Clarisse feels sorry that she upset Montag.

What is Montag's reaction to Clarisse's claim that he is not in love? How does Clarisse respond to Montag's reaction?

Montag has been hiding dozens of books in one of the shelf cabinets without his wife or anyone else knowing. His wife backs away from the books, as if they are poisonous and says that she and Montag will be killed when the other firemen find out and that the books will be burned as well. Montag physically slaps and grips her by the face and tells her that they need to keep the books and hide them from the firemen, so Montag needs to count on her to keep the secret between them

What is Montag's ultimate secret that he has kept from his wife for several years? How does his wife respond? What does Guy do in response to his wife's response?

Jet Bombers

What is heard by Montag as the depressing bedroom setting is established?

When Guy looks at them, they all look like identical mirror images to him; they all have black hair, black eyebrows, and blue-colored cheeks

What is ironic about the other firemen's appearances according to Montag (p. 30)?

The doorbell rings while they are arguing, and it is assumed that Captain Beatty is back. Guy makes an executive decision to not answer the door despite his wife's frantic reaction to the doorbell ringing

What noise is heard while Guy and Mildred argue over the secretly kept books? How does Guy respond to the noise?

A series of books fall on Montag's head, with which he shoves them off himself and crushes them, since he bitterly despises books; Beatty argues that all of the woman's books "don't agree with each other" and the characters in the woman's books are fake

What objects fall on Guy Montag as he and his companions try to save the house and what does he do with them? How does Beatty explain Montag's destruction of the novels?

They run into an old woman that happens to be the neighbor of the house that the firemen are looking for. She is timid and stagnant.

Who do the firemen run into as they approached the house for inspection? How can this person be described?

The mysterious young girl whom Guy Montag discovers on the street due to his instincts. She is 17 years of age and associates craziness with her age

Who is Clarisse McClellan? How old is she and what does she associate with her age?

Because Clarisse states that Montag has been the only fireman that she has known that has truly listened to her and put up with her words and actions, whereas all of the other past firemen that she knew completely ignored her and ditched her when she talked.

Why does Clarisse find it peculiar that Montag is a fireman?

Because his wife never wanted to have any

Why does Montag not have any children?

Because the other students, teachers, and administrators say that she is "antisocial", even though Clarisse thinks she is the complete opposite of "antisocial". Clarisse views being "social" as talking to other people about strange and interesting realities of life, and not going to school everyday just to sit in a classroom and have the answers spoon fed to you

Why is Clarisse not going to school? What is Clarisse's definition of "social"?