F451

=toc Summaries =

//The H////earth and the Sal////amander (Sa////rah Shore)//
The main character Guy Montag, the protagonist, is a firemen in the 24th century, who burns down houses with illegal books stored in them; this gives Montag a great sense of enjoyment and satisfaction. As Montag walks home that night, he meets Clarisse McClellan. Montag is quickly drawn into her personality as she questions everything and is curious. She drills him with questions about his view on the world, and leaves him being haunted by one single question, "Are you happy?" After he reflects on their conversation he releases he is indeed not happy. Montag finally gets home, and finds that his wife, Mildred, has overdosed on sleeping pills.He immediately calls the paramedics, where technicians arrive and pump out the contents of Mildred's stomach. Montag soon discovers through conversation with these men that they are not doctors, and that these phone calls are a regular occurrence at night. Once these men finally leave, Montag reflects on the impersonal and tragic nature of his society. The next morning, Mildred goes about her regular day routines without any memory of the previous night, including the overdose. Montag continues to run into Clarisse, who continues to question him about his feelings toward his wife and work. When Montag does reach work, he is caught off guard by the mechanical hound's behaviour, as if it were programmed to hunt him down and annihilate him. Montag confronts his captain, Captain Beatty, on this issue; who dismisses it completely. Montag finds himself looking forward to his run ins with Clarisse, always holding conversations he finds interesting. But, then she stops showing up and he becomes disappointed. Montag becomes increasingly introspective about his job and the people whose books and homes he destroys. One evening, the alarm goes off and they are called to the household of an elderly woman who was hoarding books in her attic. Defiantly, the woman rather die with her books then leave the household. Before she does set the household aflame, Montag is able to salvage a book. This makes Montag question his job at a serious level. Upon returning home from this monumental night, Montag reflects on his marriage with Mildred; realising he cannot remember how they met. He asks Mildred, who also cannot remember, but is not bothered by it. Montag is overcome with thoughts of his loveless, lifeless marriage and the modern technologies his wife spends her days immersed in. Montag questions her about Clarisse, who he has not seen in days, and Mildred says she had forgotten to tell him that Clarisse was struck by a car and killed four days earlier. Montag is very upset to hear this news and can't believe she forgot to tell him. He falls asleep with his stolen book hidden under his pillow. In the morning, Montag decides not to go into work, and is annoyed by the lack of concern Mildred shows for him. Captain Beatty arrives at Montag's home knowing that he would feel ill and need to take some time off. He lectures Montag on how society has evolved into the current technological age. Emphasizing structured routine rather than original thought, Beatty asserts that people are not born equal, but are made equal through laws and regulation. During all this Mildred discovers the book under Montag's pillow as she tries to fix his pillow. Ironically, Captain Beatty also talks about ho every once in awhile Firemen get curious, and are not punished if they take a book and burn it within 24 hours. Once Captain Beatty leaves, Montag confronts Mildred, confessing that he has stolen well over 20 books. Mildred is in hysteria, when a guest arrives at the door causing terror in both characters. Soon, the quest decides to leave; Montag opens up a book and begins to read.

//The Sieve and the Sand (Tom Kitt)//
This is part 2 of 3 in Fahrenheit 451. It begins with Montag discussing his distant relationship with his wife, Millie. He talks to her about her “family”, which is just a few wall to wall televisions. The ignorant society which they live in his very stimulus reliant. If they’re not sleeping, their watching TV on their giant TVs, driving a hundred miles an hour on the highways, listening to constant jibber jabber on their ear pieces, or running around doing meaningless tedious tasks to keep themselves occupied. There is constant stimulus, and constant, to an open mind, boredom. Also in this part, Montag contacts and old friend, Faber, and devises a plan to annihilate the firemen so no more books could be destroyed. They want to preserve knowledge in the society, and they want to become as knowledgable themselves as they can without being caught or oppressed by the strict government. Montag is hoarding books in his house, and gets into an argument with his wife, Millie, about the books. She’s trying to be a “good” citizen and destroy the books, to turn Montag in to the government, and to abide by the rules. However, Montag wants to keep them, wants to read them, wants to try and understand why the government censors books to the point of complete destruction. The argument leads to tension between his wife and himself, and when Millie has her friends over, it really gets ugly as Montag, against Faber’s wishes (through the earpiece... just read it), reads some poetry to the group. It freaks out one member of the group who runs home crying. The rest of the group gains hatred for him and dislike for him. Millie, tries to make it better by trying to tell how ridiculous these books are and tosses it into the furnace... of course it doesn’t help. Faber and Montag will put their plan into place, and you’ll have to read part 3 to see how it ends.

//Burning Bright (Daisy Murphy)//
Millie rushes out of their home and into a cab and Montag realizes she is the one who turned him in. Beatty then forces Montag to set his own home on fire. All the while, Faber is urging Montag to run but Montag knows he cannot escape because the mechanical hound is waiting for him. Faber is talking to Montag through the earpiece and Beatty catches him tilt his head listening at one point. He hits Montag upon the head and crushes the earpiece which connects Faber and Beatty. Almost as if he is trying to entice Montag to attack him, Beatty taunts him. Montag takes the fire thrower and chars him to a crisp. Montag then knocks out the two other firemen and makes a run for it but the hound manages to stab him in the leg with its needle before Montag burns and kills it. He runs to the back yard and grabs a few books he had stashed away that Millie missed. He is now a criminal and helicopters, police, and the hounds are searching for him. He runs through the streets trying to avoid those searching for him but he is slowed down by his crippled leg. He is forced to cross a boulevard eventually and he begins his dangerous dash across. He is hoping not to be spotted and but a car comes racing at him. He thinks it is the police and while running trips which causes the car to just barely miss hitting him. Montag then hears the whoops and shouts from the passengers of the car and realizes it was just teens trying to run him over for sport. After his near death escape he stops by the home of the Black’s (a fellow fireman). He then places his books in his kitchen. Black had previously suspected Faber had books and had also burnt the homes of many so Montag does this to protect Faber and also as a way to set things right. He sounds the alarm and then continues on his way to Faber’s. Once at Faber’s they devise a plan for both of their escapes. Faber will take a bus to St. Louis to find his printing friend and Montag will make a run for the river, cross it, and follow the railroad tracks out of the city until he meets up with a group of exiles living in the countryside. While making these plans the t.v. announces that a second hound is now searching for Montag and that the whole hunt will be televised. Montag tells Faber to turn on his sprinklers, burn everything he has touched, and rub everything down with alcohol. This will hopefully mask his scent and confuse the hound. He leaves Faber’s home and runs for the river. He covers himself in whiskey and changes into Faber’s clothes before jumping in. He jumps in and lets the river sweep him away. The hound loses his scent at the rivers edge but the police won’t let the public think they failed. Instead they find an innocent man standing outside and the hound kills the man who, according to the public, is Montag.After a while Montag exits the water and continues his journey on land until he spots a fire in the distance. The fire belongs to the outcasts. Montag joins them. They give him a mixture to drink which will alter his scent so that the hound can no longer find him. Granger, the group’s leader, then explains to Montag that each person memorizes a book and becomes that book. After it has been memorized he burns the book to keep them from getting in trouble. The group is forced to move south, away from the city since the war could begin at any moment. While on they see the city pretty much explode, it is completely destroyed. Shaken, the men are compelled to go back to the city and help in any way they can. = Themes =

Censorship (Daisy Murphy)
In this book, censorship is very prevalent. Books are illegal, people have to be careful about what they say, and they have the mass media thrust upon them so much that it greatly influences their thoughts and makes it difficult for them to focus. The society bans books so they can control the people. Books provoke thoughts and can lead to people demanding change and answers. The society does not want this free thinking and have banned books to avoid this. Another way they distract people from thinking too much is by constantly exploiting all forms of media. This constant stream of mindless entertainment keeps people busy and distracted which makes it difficult for them to really focus or think about anything. The society was very controlling and their main reason for all forms of censoring was to keep people from censoring.

Knowledge vs. Ignorance (Tom Kitt)
Knowledge is a good thing. Having knowledge is basically a way of saying you know about stuff. Real professional, huh? Yeah. But in all seriously, in Fahrenheit 451 there is a huge lack of knowledge. Extreme forms of censorship imposed on the people by the government assure that no one knows anything. The government keeps the people stupid, ignorant, and therefore, easily controlled. Books are not aloud. Firemen burn the books that do exist. There is, what, one copy of the Bible left? It is not good, and in the end knowledge triumphs over ignorance. Montag, in meeting a young woman who is rich with knowledge, begins to question what is going on, and in this questioning and his quest to find answers to his questions, he acquires knowledge. Of course, the government isn’t too pleased with this, and the fire chief (also knowledgable, not ignorant like everyone else), tries to defeat Montag because he knows how “harmful” knowledge could be to the ignorant community. In a strike of righteousness, knowledge triumphs over ignorance as Montag kills the fire chief and manages to escape from the ignorant society. The ignorance society attempts to capture him, but he manages to elude the police who kill some completely innocent civilian who they claim is Montag so the ignorant society does not start to gain knowledge is questioning the government’s authority. In the end, ignornace is in fact bliss, however knowledge is power, and with power, comes great responsibility.

= Character List (Sarah Shore) = Guy Montag: The main character, and fireman who realises that books are not evil, but good. Mildred Montag: Guy Montag' wife. She is obsessed with watching her t.v. wall and associating with them, rather than her husband. Captain Beatty: He is the head fireman in Montag's fire department, who is cunning and intelligent. He also seems to be able to read Montag's thoughts. Professor Faber: A retired english professor who helps Montag in bringing down the fire departments. Clarisse McClellan: A 17 year old girl Montag meets one night who is shunned from society because she questions why things happen.

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