Stewart Blue F451
Terms
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- Wary
- careful of aware, keen caution, watchfulness (DP)
- What happened when Montag read poetry out loud to the group of women gathered at his home?
- Montag read a happy poem that made the group of women realize how bad their lives were. It made their emotions come through their stone hearts and made them think about their own state of discontentment. They were crying, angry, and scared that Montag was a lunatic. One of the women reported Montag for having books, which lead to Montag having to burn his own house. (DP)
- Why was the first section called the Hearth and the Salamander?
- The hearth represents coming to the edge of the fire, but not falling into it. When Montag is toying with the idea of reading books, he is at the edge of the fire, but he hasn't fallen in yet. The Salamander is rumored to go through fires and survive. Montag throughout the book wants to be able to do what is right without being punished. He wants to "go through the fire and survive." (DP)
- The Technician and the machine
- The technician is the one who operates the machine. The machine is described as having an eye and a hose that goes into a person's stomach to pump out the contents. In Fahrenheit 451 it is used to save Mildred who swallows an entire bottle of pills. When she is taken to the machine Montag asks why they did not receive a doctor. The technician replies that the hospital receives many cases of attempted suicides, and that doctors are no longer required with these highly specialized machines. The way the technician responds indicates that many people attempt suicide in this city every day which helps the reader understand how these people live without feeling for most of their lives and how horrible and dull their lives must be (MH)
- What did the city do when Montag escaped? How did they conclude the chase?
- When Montag escaped from the Mechanical Hound, everybody with a parlor wall was watching the chase. When Montag got away in the river, they reprogrammed the Mechanical Hound to hunt down another man walking on the street at night. They didn't show his face so that the population watching would not know that the Mechanical Hound and the military had failed to capture Montag. They concluded the presentation neatly, dramatically killing the innocent man while Montag got away. BH
- Mildred
- Montag's wife. She stays distant and hardly talks to him. Instead, she listens to her seashell and interacts with the 'family' in the parlor wall (BH)
- Who was the woman who was burnt to death with her books? Why was she important?
- Montag's job as a fireman is one of the few things he enjoys. He likes the feeling of power he gets when he burns down books because he is unable to obtain that anywhere else in his current life. Although he burns books for a living, he never really has to deal with the people who own the books. One night at work the firemen were sent to burn down a house with books in it, but the police had not arrived. When they tried to burn the books the woman would not leave. She eventually lit a match that burned the kerosene that had already been placed around the house. Montag lives for very little. His few enjoyments are Mildred, his wife, and being a fireman. Montag cannot imagine giving up your life for something a person enjoys that much. This event arouses Montag's interest in books because he is already beginning to realize he isn't truly happy, and these books provide a possible alternate source of happiness or interest in his dull life. (MH)
- Salamander
- the firetruck that contains a tank of kerosene to burn houses containing books. Montag finds one in front of his house the last night he is in the city, before he kills Beatty and is chased out by the Mechanical Hound (BH)
- How did Clarisse's questions affect Montag?
- Clarisse constantly questioned Montag throughout Fahrenheit 451. She asks him about menial things that don't seem important to him. Because the nearly everyone in Fahrenheit 451 is desensitized to the world around them, she seems very strange and different. Clarisse is important because she opens Montag's eyes to the world around him for the first time. He realizes that he just goes about his daily life and rarely thinks about what he does is fun or whether or not he is truly happy is. (MH
- Desolation
- act of desolating, to deprive (DP)
- Proclivity
- inclination or predisposition toward something (DP)
- Sieve
- to sift, a device with meshes or perforations to separate finer particles from coarser particles (DP)
- The Family
- a program that appears on the television. Viewers are mailed a script to act out as if part of the program. It is watched on parlor walls, and it is a show that Mildred, Montag's wife, becomes obsessed with. She begins to believe the family is real because she, along with her friends, are desensitized to the point where their only interest lies in the parlor walls. (MH)
- Trifle
- something of little value or importance (DP)
- Books
- banned in Fahrenheit 451 by the government. It is Montag's job as a fireman to burn books and the houses of whoever has any. Books are controversial and make people think, but the government wants to avoid this. The government has books burned and has spread propaganda that books are evil and make people sad pointlessly. One example of how book sensitize people is when Montag reads a poem to Mildred and her friends. One of her friends bursts into tears, but the poem was a happy one. She burst into tears because her life was so dull and devoid of emotion that poem gave her the first true feeling she has had in a long time. Although this didn't make her feel bad, she was overpowered by this emotion. The government banned books so that people would become desensitized, but whenever people read books they return to normal and emotion overpowers them. (MH)
- Instinctive
- prompted by nature or propensity (DP)
- Seashell
- a communication device placed in ones ear. It is used by Montag to maintain contact with Faber in Fahrenheit 451 (MH)
- Kerosene
- the flammable liquid the firemen use to burn houses with books in them. They soak the house and books and ignite it, burning everything, including people who refuse to leave (BH)
- Why did Montag enjoy burning things?
- He liked to destroy things because it got his mind off of his everyday problems. It made him feel as if the problems in society were being burned away, even when he wasn't positive what those issues were at the beginning of the book. It gives him the power to control life, which he doesn't receive elsewhere. (DP)
- Why was the Phoenix important?
- The phoenix is a metaphor for the city. Montag first mentions the phoenix after the city is blown up. The phoenix in mythology was a bird who died and was reborn from its own ashes. Nearly everyone he knows is dead, and he no longer values himself as a person but as a book. He is the final copy of the Bible. When he refers to the phoenix being reborn he probably means his life being reborn as well as the city. The people who live on the rails will rebuild the city and value the books they still have memory of, but his life will be harder to rebuild. Everyone he knows is dead, but he isn't completely sad. His life was dull, and he was desensitized. He rarely thought about whether he was having fun or not until he began reading. With his new life he can live and enjoy life in the way he chooses (MH)
- Firemen
- group of people whose job it is to burn books and often houses that contain books. Montag is a fireman whose division is led by Beaty. (MH)
- Clarisse
- Montag's thoughtful seventeen year old neighbor that questions everything. She is from a family different from most others and is later killed by a speeding car. (BH)
- Beatty
- Montag's boss, the fire chief. Somehow he knows that Montag is hiding books. Montag later kills him with a flame thrower (BH)
- Bomb
- the result of the war that was going on distantly during the story. The enemy bombed the city and it was destroyed completely. Montag escaped the bomb while he was escaping from the Mechanical Hound (BH)
- What did Montag think of the Mechanical Hound?
- Montag is both fascinated and terrified by the beast. He is amazed at its complexity while not being truly alive, yet terrified that it reacted to him when he touched it. He claims that it doesn't like him, while his boss claims that it has no feelings and only does what it is programmed to do. BH.
- Cacophony
- harsh or discordant sound specifically in the sound of words and phrases (DP)
- Insidious
- seductive, harmful but enticing (DP)
- Plummet
- to fall (DP)
- Mechanical Hound
- a beast made of metal, armed with a needle that injects a poison to paralyze and kill its victims. It chases Montag out of the city the night he kills Beatty and his house and books are burned (BH)
- Reading
- illegal in Fahrenheit 451. It is illegal because the government is desensitizing people by showing them television (MH)
- Exhalation
- an act of something given off (DP)
- The Phoenix
- The Phoenix is a metaphor for the city. It is mentioned by Montag after he is outcast and the city explodes. The Phoenix in mythology is reborn from its own ash which is referring to the city being destroyed and how it will be reborn in the future by the people roaming the old railroads. (MH)
- Faber
- an old man who helps Montag in his quest to change society- to make people think and feel. He helps Montag talk to Beatty about burning books (BH)
- Railroad Tracks
- what Montag follows after he escapes the Mechanical Hound. Following the tracks, he finds the other survivors of the bomb who have 'become' books by memorizing them (BH)
- Contemptible
- worthy of being despised, obsolete (DP)
- Montag
- the fireman protagonist who after much questioning, changes his mind about burning books. He fights against his coworkers and boss to keep them from burning his books (BH)
- Simultaneous
- occurring at the same time (DP)
- Television
- broadcasted on parlor walls in Fahrenheit 451. The programs are simplistic and appear interactive. Viewers are mailed a copy of scripts in advance so that they may act like an actor. This desensitizes Mildred to the point where her only positive activity is to watch these programs. She starts to truly believe she is a member of the family which she plays. The programs are not really interactive. They are very like children's shows where they expect an answer then move on. The shows aren't really active, but appear to be interactive. They mesmerize people into believing what they are told to do. For example- when the Montag is getting chased and everyone goes outside because of their TV's telling them to. (MH)
- Mrs. Blake
- the nervous woman Mildred invited over to her house the day Montag came home and read poetry to them. Either she or Mildred called the firemen to come burn the house and books (BH)
- The war
- It is in the background of Fahrenheit 451. Although very little is discovered about itself, it is an ever looming threat to the city. It is very rarely mentioned throughout the story which serves to show how desensitized all the inhabitants of the city are. Whenever it is mentioned the people rarely seem to worry, or even care, about it. Near the end of the book a bomb is dropped on the city and everyone who still lived there dies. (MH)
- Convolution
- a complication of form (DP)
- Parlor walls
- walls in a room that act like televisions. Mildred becomes obsessed with the parlor walls. (MH)
- Praetor
- ranking below a consul and having chiefly judicial functions (DP)
- How was Clarisse's family different from most other families?
- Clarisse's family did not spend their time watching the television, or the parlor walls. They stayed in their house, talking to each other and thinking. They drove slowly to look at the scenery around them and were penalized. Clarisse was later killed by a speeding car. BH