FAHRENHEIT 451

 “The Hearth and the Salamander” focuses on Montag’s job as a fireman and his home life.  Both of these symbols have to do with fire, the dominant image of Montag’s life—the hearth because it contains the fire that heats a home, and the salamander because of ancient beliefs that it lives in fire and is unaffected by flames. PART ONE

 Montag  30 Years Old  Enjoys his job burning books  Has a daily routine  Married to Mildred (Millie)  Montag’s society has abandoned books in favor of hollow entertainment and instant gratification. SECTION 1

 Montag is leaving work  Sidewalk unused (white, etc)  Very futuristic (trains powered by air, escalators that bring you to your town)  Montag- lives life like he always has  He had a feeling someone was always around the corner.  Meets Clarisse McClellan.  Remembers a time with out electric (him and his mother)  Have you ever burned the books?- No, that is illegal! Burn to ashes then burn the ashes <- official fireman slogan SECTION 2

 Clarisse McClellan  Montag’s new neighbor  “17 and insane”  Very inquisitive and thoughtful  Irritates Montag at first because she challenges the way he thinks (reading, cars, walking)  Family is inside with all of the lights on  Uncle has been arrested on multiple occasions  Always described in the light! (white, etc.) She becomes Montag’s enlightenment  Becomes the catalyst for Montag (Are you happy?) SECTION 2

 Clarisse questions about the past  Fireman’s old job of saving houses instead of burning them  Fast Cars (billboards) SECTION 2

 He realizes he is bothered by what Clarisse has said  His eyes look over at the ventilator  His encounter reminds him of a time when he met an old man in the park.  He thinks Clarisse is able to show him what he is truly thinking, almost like reflecting himself in a mirror  Montag becomes conflicted with himself. He starts to believe he IS NOT HAPPY! SECTION 3

 Montag’s house is like a cold marbled mausoleum  Complete darkness  Chamber tombworld  No sound  “He wore his happiness like a mask and the girl had run of across the lawn with the mask and there was no way of going to knock on her door and ask for it back.” SECTION 4

 He says he did not want to open the curtains or windows because he did not want to let the light in.  He didn’t want to be enlightened! He wanted to stay in the life he had. SECTION 4

 Mildred is sleeping in the bedroom  Bed- cold like a tomb  Her eyes fixed to the ceiling.. Not moving  Little seashells (earbuds playing waves sound to block out the noise and her unsleeping mind)  Montag kicked a pill bottle that was near the bed, finds that mildred has overdosed on sleeping-tablets (30 pills) SECTION 4

 “As he stood there the sky over the house screamed. There was a tremendous ripping sound as if two giant hands had torn ten thousand miles of black linen down the seam. Montag was cut in half. He felt his chest chopped down and split apart. Jet-bombs going over, going over, going over….”  A real war is going on! SECTION 4

 Montag called the men in to pump Mildred’s stomach.  Machines look like a black cobra, like it had an eye. They slid down her throat using a microscope. Suction snake.  They pumped her stomach and cleaned her blood.  Cost $50  They don’t have to be doctors to do it. They are just machine operators.  They get 9-10 cases like this a night. SECTION 5

 Seems he doesn’t love his wife  Finally goes to open the window  2 in the morning  Sees Clarisse’s house… all lights one and laughing  He wants to know what they could be possibly talking about.  Uncle speaks about the “age of the disposable tissue” People are like tissues  Irony at the end… Montag takes a sleep-lozenge… why? SECTION 5

 Mildred doesn’t remember anything from last night  Kitchen is high tech.  He lies and agrees with Mildred- he says that they had a party and she was hungover.  He is grateful she doesn’t remember. SECTION 6

 Mildred has sent away for a script so that she can react to the “family”  A television show where she has a part in the show.  Yet, she doesn’t really know what the story is about.  She argues with Montag that she wants a 4 th parlour wall. A room with walls that are all TVs  Each wall would have cost $2000 (in the 1950’s $2000 was equal to $20,000  They just got the 3 rd wall 2 months ago! SECTION 7

 Dandelion- Montag no in love with anyone.  Clarisse is seeking a psychologist  They make her go  She makes things up as she goes  The Psychologist thinks she is an onion wants to know why she likes to go hiking around and watch birds and collect butterflies. SECTION 8

 Montag compare Mildred to Clarisse:  “My wife thirty and yet you seem so much older at times. I can’t get over it”  Clarisse believes Montag is not like the rest.  When she talks, he looks at her.  When she said something about the moon he looked at the moon.  The others would walk off and leaver her there talking or threaten her.  She doesn’t think his profession fits him.  Montag dealing with two sides “his body felt divided into a hotness and coldness, a softness and a hardness, a trembling and not trembling…” Inner Conflict!  Tilt his head back for the rain (something he has never done!) SECTION 8

 The Mechanical Hound  Lived but did not live  Darkness  Made of steel  Eyes that looked like ruby glass  Sensors in his nose  8 legs w/ rubber padded paws  Nightmare  Sleeping evil    SECTION 9

 The hound is supposed to get loose rats in the firehouse.  Firemen play a game where they throw rats, chickens, or cats and see which the hound gets.  Once it gets it, a needle comes out of his mouth and injects the animal with morphine or procaine, then the animal is thrown into the the incinerator.  The Hound growls at Montag… weird SECTION 9

 Hound is threatening to kill Montag- Montag is scared.  Says to The Captain that the hound doesn’t like him… his response was the hound doesn’t feel its just functions  The trajectory was off… did someone mess with it?  Says all of the firemen’s chemical they are made up of is listed and it should never attack or threaten a man.  Captain Beatty asks Montag if he has a guilty conscience. SECTION 9

 Montag is watching Clarisse a lot lately  Mildred didn’t want children  Clarisse is not in school  They don’t like her there  They call her anti-social  She is very social, but they don’t talk SECTION 10

 Classes at school  An hour of TV Class  An hour of basketball or baseball or running  Another hour of transcription history or painting pictures  More sports  No one asks questions SECTION 10

 People are hurting each other  Killing each other  Peers are dying  6 friends were shot last year  10 died in a car accident  For fun they name a lot of cars, clothes, swimming-pools SECTION 10

 Hound didn’t bother him this time, but hear about a Fireman in Seattle.  Purposely set a Mechanical Hound to his own chemical complex and let it loose. (Suicide)  Clarisse is GONE! SECTION 11

 War going on overhead still  Man’s house where they burned his library  Man carried to the insane asylum  Beatty says: “Any man’s insane who thinks he can fool the Government and us.”  Does Montag have books?  There is a list of forbidden books. SECTION 12

 Once upon a time  What kind of TALK IS THAT?  Fool Montag though to himself you’ll give it away. Looked a book at the last burning.  Asks Beatty if firemen used to save houses. SECTION 12

 Firemen of America  Says 1790 it was established to burn English-influenced books in the Colonies. First Fireman: Benjamin Franklin (ironic because he was the author of The First American.  Rules: 1.Answer the alarm swiftly 2.Start the fire swiftly 3.Burn everything 4.Report back to firehouse immediately 5.Stand alert for other alarms SECTION 12

SECTION 13

 Men go to a house, a neighbor told on her.  She has books  She was not trying to get away  Standing, weaving from side to side  “She shouldn’t be here”  Montag picked up a book SECTION 13

 “His hand had done it all, his hand, with a brain of its own… had turned thief”  Smuggled the book out of the fire  Beatty tried to reason with the woman  Montag fighting with her  She stood her ground… she burns with the books. SECTION 13

 Master Ridley and Beatty (quote from the woman before she was killed)  What is key about this quote is that a man named Hugh Latimer said that to a man named Nicholas Ridley as they were being burnt alive at Oxford, for heresy, on October 16, They were both Protestants who wanted to deepen the protestant religion in England, even though it was against the will of Queen Mary. SECTION 14

 Montag wanted to look at the book, but doesn’t want to be caught SECTION 15

 Montag asks his wife “When did we meet. And Where?  She can’t remember, says it was so long ago  It was 10 years ago She swallows more pills If she died he confesses he wouldn’t cry “How did you get so empty?” SECTION 16

 Mildred Calls the TV the relatives- her family  Tries to have a conversation with Mildred about Clarisse  She is gone  Dead- run over by a car, 4 days ago. Family has “moved” Hears the HOUND SECTION 16