Study Guide Discussion Questions/Answers Fahrenheit 451 Study Guide Discussion Questions/Answers

Characterization #3. How does the author indicate that Montag has a daring or rebellious streak in his character? (page 2) Montag jumps down the hole in the firehouse without holding onto the pole until the very end.

Greek Myth According to Greek Myth, the salamander is able to live in a fire without being hurt, and the phoenix lives for 500 years before dying in a fire and being regenerated from the fire.

Symbolism #4. Why would Montag have these symbols on his clothing? The symbols suggest that he will be safe from the flames and that his role is rooted in history and myth.

Characterization Objective: Inferring character traits based on the techniques of characterization. A trait is a mode of behavior or a state of mind. In literature, a character’s personality traits are revealed the same way they are in life. Authors use these techniques of characterization: Speech and thought, what the character says and thinks Action, what the character does Reputation, what other characters say about the character. Authorial voice, how the author uses the narrator to depict the character (includes physical description and the character’s past.)

Characterization Objective: understanding the development of literary characters. Use the Characterization Chart to document the introduction of each character. This is an ongoing activity; character traits may change or be added, and new characters will be introduced. Student page 37

Character Analysis #5. How is the character of Clarisse McClennan differentiated from that of Montag? (pages 5-7) (differentiated=to perceive the difference in or between)

Characterization Clarisse thinks in terms of feelings, happiness, and freedom. She notices nature, beauty, and the feelings of others! Montag thinks in terms of his job. He does not think like she thinks, but it is unclear as yet whether that is his natural outlook or a conditioned state.

Characterization #6. Montag returns to his house after talking with Clarisse. What hints does the author give about other dimensions to Montag’s character? The author mentions that Montag knows something is behind the ventilator grille. This hints that there are also hidden elements to Montag’s character. Bradbury shows Montag’s preoccupation with thoughts of Clarisse and his recognition that he is unhappy with Mildred.

Characterization #7. Describe Mildred as the reader first encounters her. (pages 9-11) She is asleep on her own bed, deeply unconscious, with tiny Seashells (radio speakers/ear buds) in her ear so she hears programmed music and propaganda even while sleeping. She has taken all the sleeping pills from her bottle.

Rising action #8. What happens when the jets go overhead? (pages 12-13) Montag realizes that Mildred has tried to kill herself with the sleeping pills, and he calls for emergency help.

#9. What kind of medical help is given to Mildred? Page 12 “They had this machine. They had two machines, really. One of them slid down into your stomach like a black cobra down an echoing well looking for all the old water and the old time gathered there. It drank up the green matter that flowed to the top in a slow boil. Did it drink of the darkness? Did it suck out all the poisons accumulated with the years?...It had an Eye. The impersonal operator of the machine could, by wearing a special optical helmet, gaze into the soul of the person whom he was pumping out…Go on, anyway, shove the bore down, slush up the emptiness, if such a thing could be brought out in the throb of the suction snake.”

Literary terms used in the description: #9. Technicians come and pump out her stomach; then they pump out her mind by cleansing her blood. Simile/Metaphor/Personification “Like a black cobra” “the old time gathered there” “The entire operation was not unlike the digging of a trench in one’s yard.” “The woman on the bed was no more than a hard stratum of marble.”

Extended Metaphor A comparison between two unlike things that continues throughout a series of sentences in a paragraph or lines in a poem. This entire paragraph is intended to allow the reader to see how a person is not much more than a part of the machinery of this society and how it holds people in its power.

Characterization #10. What is Mildred’s reaction when Montag tells her about the pills, and why does she react this way? (pp. 16-17) She does not believe that she took all the pills. Since her mind has been cleaned out, she no longer has the feelings that led her to try to kill herself, nor does she remember trying to do so.

#11. What purpose is served by the electronic thimble earpieces and the televisors (talking walls) in the Montag house? (pp. 17-18) Everyone has the earpieces to drown out the sound of individual thought and replace it with music or programmed information/propaganda. The talking walls replace personal interaction with scenes from other people’s lives. “Family” Together, they cut down on the possibility that anyone will think for him or herself, that people could have meaningful conversation or that they could develop a genuine human relationship.

#12. What is the Mechanical Hound? The Mechanical Hound is a piece of equipment that is programmed to search out its prey and kill it by injecting it with drugs.

#12. How does the Hound interact with Montag? (pp. 21-23) It growls at Montag and starts to advance against him, but he escapes it by going up the pole to the second floor of the firehouse.

#13. What is the significance of the Mechanical Hound’s attack toward Montag? (pp.24-25) It indicates that something is going on with Montag that puts his chemical balance outside the range on file at the firehouse. It could also signify that someone has programmed it to track Montag. The Hound signals that Montag has changed, and the altercation is probably known to the authorities.

Closure Write one question you have about the exposition of this book.