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Date
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“If they give you ruled paper,
write the other way.” –Juan
Ramon Jimenez
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Response
Cod
e
The novel begins with this quote,
P
leading me to believe the theme of
the novel will be rebellion and
going against the norm.
p. 1 “It was a pleasure to burn. It
Ray Bradbury starts the novel off R
was a special pleasure to see
by describing the pleasure firemen
things eaten, to see things
get out of their occupation and
blackened and changed. With the compare it to a venomous snake.
brass nozzle in his gift, with this
This is a great simile because the
great python spitting its venomous fireman is like a dangerous snake,
kerosene upon the world, the
spilling fire into people’s homes.
blood pounded in his head, and
He makes another comparison
his hands were the hands of some saying they are like conductors.
amazing conductor playing all the This simile does not seem
symphonies of blazing and
appropriate because society views
burning to bring down the tatters
music as a beautiful, majestic form
and charcoal ruins of history.
of art, while burning books,
With his symbolic helmet
buildings, and human beings is
numbered 451 on his stolid head, destructive and inhuman.
and his eyes all orange flame with
the thought of what came next, he
flicked the igniter and the house
jumped up in a gorging fire that
burned the evening sky red and
yellow and black.”
p.2 “It never went away, that
The main character, Montag,
p
smile, it never ever went away, as openly states that up until this
long as he remembered.”
point, he has always been happy
with his job and took pleasure in
setting fires. He is foreshadowing
that Montag happiness is not
sincere and He will soon realize he
is not content with his occupation,
marriage, or overall view of life.
p.3 “The autumn leaves blew over Montag meets a girl who
r
the moonlit pavement in such a
automatically captures his
way to make the girl who was
attention. The author uses nature
moving there seem fixed to a
elements to describe her. She
sliding walk, letting the motion of seems in touch with nature and
the wind and the leaves carry her represents the good in the world,
forward.”
compared to the firemen who
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p.4 “‘Kerosene,’ he said, because
the silence had lengthened, ‘is
nothing but perfume to me.’”
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p. 5 ‘’’Well,’ she said, ‘I’m
seventeen and I’m crazy. My
uncle says the two always go
together.’”
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p.5 “So many people are. Afraid
of firemen, I mean. But you’re
just a man, after all…”
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p.5 “Do you mind if I ask? How
long have you been a fireman?”
“Since I was twenty; ten years
ago.”
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p. 5 “Do you ever read any of the
books you burn?”
He laughed. “That’s against the
law!”
represent the evil with their
destructive fire.
Clarisse comments on the strong
odor of kerosene to which Montag
responds that it is merely like
cologne to him. It demonstrates
how his occupation consumes his
life and he does not view any
wrong in his doing. The kerosene
represents an igniter, something
that starts something, which can
also represent himself. He starts
the fires out of his own free will.
As a seventeen year old, I can
really relate to this statement.
Between hormones and the
everyday drama, being a teenager
makes you feel crazy. This leads
me to believe that the two do go
handinhand.
This is a very powerful statement
for a young girl to make. Most of
the society fears them because of
the intimidation and authority of
the firemen. For Clarisse to say
‘I’m not scared of you.’ Takes
Montag by surprise because of her
age. Yet she seems to possess all
this wisdom and can see he is just
a man when he leaves his work.
This gives more insight about the
main characters past. He was been
a firemen for ten years and until he
met Clarisse, he had no regrets.
Now, he will begin to question his
actions in the fast ten years and
question if he will continue setting
fires.
She asks if he ever reads. He
laughed as if it was a joke because
reading books is against the law.
Will he ever break the law and
read?
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p.6 “It’s fine work. Monday burn
Millay, Wednesday Whitman,
Friday Faulkner, burn ‘em to
ashes, then burn the ashes. That’s
our official slogan.”
Montag shares the official slogan
with Clarisse. Slogans are
marketing tools to attract
consumers. This slogan does not
inspire me the way it does the fire
men because they almost seem
brainwashed by the “patriotism” in
their work.
p.6 “They walked still further and Clarisse likes to question
the girl said, “Is it true that long
everything while everyone else
ago firemen put fires out instead
lets the simple things fly right past
of going to start them?”
without questioning anything. It is
astonishing she even knows that
firemen used to be once called fire
fighters. Today, the fire
department helps people, instead
of hurting them for reading, a
completely harmless act. They fear
if the people are reading and
educated, then they will begin to
question authority and start a
rebellion.
p.9 “He felt his smile slide away, In the beginning of the novel,
melt, fold over and own on itself, Montag said as long as he
like a tallow skin, like the stuff of remembered, he never stopped
a fantastic candle burning too long smiling. His illusion of happiness
and now collapsing and now
ends when the young girl asked
blown out. Darkness. He was not him if he was happy. He had
happy. He said the words himself. bottled up all his feelings, feelings
He recognized this as the true
he didn't know he had till this
state of affairs. He wore his
point, and suddenly realized he
happiness like a mask and the girl was never happy all along. He
had run off across the lawn with
describes it as wearing a mask, an
the mask and there was no way of object that hides something true
going to knock on her door and
nature, that the girl ran off with,
ask for it back.”
forcing him to face his true
feelings.
p.11 “The small crystal bottle of
Montag returns from work to find
sleeping tablets which earlier
his wife lying in their bed,
today had been filled with thirty
appearing to be sleeping. He
capsules and which now lay
describes her as pale as snow with
uncapped and empty in the light
her breathing labored, “not caring
of the tiny flare.”
if it comes or goes.” This context
clue leads the reader to believe she
is troubled and attempting to
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commit suicide. He then finds the
empty pill bottle, confirming his
suspicions, and rushes her to the
emergency room.
p.12 “’Got to clean them out both When he takes his wife to the
ways,’ said the operator, standing hospital after she tries to overdose,
over the silent woman. ‘No use
the doctors use two different
getting the stomach if you don’t
machines. One pumps her stomach
clean the blood. Leave that stuff
to remove the toxins. The other
in the blood and the blood hits the cleans her blood because if it
brain like a mallet, bang, a couple entered her bloodstream, then it
thousand times and the brain just can affect the brain regardless. It is
gives up, just quits.’”
a sad truth that in today's society,
suicide is the second leading cause
of death among teenagers, while
everyday 5,400 kids in grades
seven to twelve attempt suicide. .
p.14 “Someone else’s blood there. Montag is in the hospital,
If only someone else’s flesh and
reflecting on his wife’s experience
brain and memory. If only they
of being cleaned out by the
could have taken her mind along
machines. He compares it to
to the dry cleaner’s and emptied
taking laundry to a dry cleaner. He
the pockets and steamed and
is resentful that they could not
cleansed it and reblocked it and
“clean” her mind of her suicidal
brought it back in the morning. If thoughts, like a dry cleaner
only…”
emptying the pockets, cleaning,
and returning it all I. The morning.
p.17 “’Yes,’ he said. ‘I wanted to In the morning, Montag attempts
talk to you.’ He paused. ‘You
to talk to his wife about her
took all the pills in your bottle last accident. She immediately denies
night.’
her actions and acts obvious. Is
‘Oh, I wouldn’t do that,’ she said, she playing dumb or does she
surprised.”
really not remember?
p.19 “ ‘What do you do, go
This simple conversation provides
around trying everything once?’
a valuable life lesson to me.
he asked.
Clarisse always tells Montag to try
‘Sometimes twice.’”
new things that he was oblivious
to in the past, such as the way
people talk, the rain, and nature in
general. So he asks how she
knows about all these random
things in a joking manor, “what do
you do, go around and do
everything once. Her response is
the life lesson. She simply
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p.19 “’What a shame,’ she said.
“You’re not in love with anyone.”
’Yes, I am!’
‘It doesn’t show’”
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p.21 “How did it start? How did
you get into it? How did you pick
your work and how did you
happen to think to take the job
you have? You’re not like the
others. I’ve seen a few; I know.
When I talk, you look at me.
When I said something about the
moon, you looked at the moon,
last night. The others would never
do that. The other would walk off
and leave me talking. Or threaten
me. No one has time any more for
anyone else. You’re one of the
few who put up with me. That’s
why I think it’s so strange you’re
a fireman, it just doesn’t seem
right for you, somehow.”
p.23 “The Hound half rose in its
kennel and looked at him with
greenblue neon light flickering in
its suddenly activated eye bulbs.”
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responds, ‘sometimes twice.’ This
reminds me to try new experiences
every opportunity, while trying old
things over again because tastes
change. Life is too short to not
enjoy all it has to offer.
Clarisse claims if you run a
dandelion under your chin and it
stays, then you are in love. When
Montag does it, it does not stay.
Her last statement has a double
meaning. The dandelion did not
show on his chin, but it also meant
his love for his wife doesn't show
in his mannerisms. Montag has a
hard time registering his emotions
and expressing them because he
has suppressed them for so long .
Clarisse is a vital character
because her inquisitive nature
forces Montag to reexamine his
life. She questions his entire
career, what led him to it and why
he stayed, because he is different
from the other firemen. When she
talks, he truly listens. She feels his
occupations does not fit his
personality because he connects
with her, while other firemen
would ignore her and possibly hurt
her. Montag is intrigued by their
conversations as he starts to be
more selfconscious and change
his life around.
The firemen use a mechanical
“dog” to hunt down book
hoarders. Montag is afraid of the
dog because of the way it looks at
him. He thinks it's been
programmed to dislike him. This is
foreshadowing that the hound and
Montag will have a conflict.
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p. 24 “’What, the Hound?’ The
Captain studied his cards. ‘Come
off it. It doesn’t like or dislike. It
just ‘functions.’ It’s like a lesson
in ballistics. It has a trajectory we
decide on for it. It follows
through. It targets itself, homes
itself, and cuts off. It’s only
copper wire, storage batteries, and
electricity.’”
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p.24 “’This isn’t the first time it’s
threatened me,’ said Montag.
‘Last month it happened twice.’”
p.25 “It doesn’t think anything we The captain comments that the
don’t want it to think.”
Hound is programmed to only
think what they want it to think.
Again, this can be said for the
people as they removed books
from society so they would not
think and form their own opinions.
They wanted tto limit what the
people know so there would be no
competition in their rulings.
p.29 “And, then, Clarisse was
Montag immediately notices
gone. He didn’t know what there clarisse missing presence
was about the afternoon, but it
throughout his day. To say the
was not seeing her somewhere in least, he misses her. But he gets a
the world. The lawn was empty,
sinking feeling in his stomach
the trees empty, the street empty, because she knows she is not just
and while at first he did not even
gone on vacation, but that she has
know he missed her or was even
been hurt. It's demonstrates how
looking for her, the fact was that
when someone begins to ask to
by the time he reached the
many questions or think something
subway, there were vague
they don't want you too, you get
stirrings of disease in him.”
taken away, possibly tortures, and
then killed
p.31 “Suddenly it seemed a much Montag is with the firemen and he
younger voice was speaking for
feels the need to speak out what s
him. He opened his mouth and it
on his mind. He realizes when he
was Clarisse McClellan saying,
asks about firemen that it is really
‘Didn’t firemen prevent fires
clarisse asking. she opened his
rather than stoke them up and get mind to new ways of thinking and
them going?’”
he begins to question life on his
own. This is the first example of
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When Montag tells the captain that
the Hound seems to not like him,
he responds saying that it just
“functions” based on its
commands. This can be compared
to the society they live in as they
want people to be told what to do
and then see it executed. They
want everyone to act without
thinking so their authority will not
be questioned.
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him stepping away from his old
mold because of the young girl.
p.32 “Established, 1790, to burn
The firemen keep the rules on the
Englishinfluenced books in the
wall where they can see it every
Colonies. First Firemen:
day to remind him. The author
Benjamin Franklin.
references Benjamin Franklin as
Rule 1. Answer the alarm quickly. the first firemen in 1790 which
2. Start the fire swiftly.
also is ironic because of Franklin’s
3. Burn everything.
influences in modern day
4. Report back to firehouse
technology. The rules state they
immediately.
must respond quickly , start the
5. Stand alert for other Alarms.”
fire, burn everything to ashes, and
report back. This seems like an
normal, even day routine to them
which bizarre because in today'
society they would be charged
with arson.
p. 35 “Montag had done nothing. Montag returns to work and
His hand had done it all, his hand, quickly is swept away by an
with brain of its own, with a
Alarm. They arrive at a woman's
conscience and a curiosity in each house that has hundreds. Of books.
trembling finger, had turned thief. Montag states his body acted on
Now, it plunged the book back
his own and he quickly stole a
under his arm, pressed it tight to
book from the stacks because he
sweating armpit, rushed out
knew they had no chance of telling
empty, with a magician’s flourish! if one was missing. Raybury
Look here! Innocent! Look!”
compares it to a magician using
hand tricks to conceal the book.
Montag is so curious that he is
willing to risk his job and life by
stealing a book. How much further
will he go to find what he's
looking for and how long will it be
before other people start noticing
this new Montag?
p. 35 “The woman knelt among
This a powerful moment in the
the books, touching the drenched novel as this woman bravely
leather and cardboard, reading the stands her ground against the
gilt titles with her fingers while
firemen. Montag is trying to
her eyes accused Montag.”
convince the woman to leave the
“’You can’t ever have my books,’ house before they ignite the books.
she said.”
She refuses to leave because the
books she collected were
everything she stood for. She
would rather die them to watch
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p.36 “Always at night the alarm
comes. Never by day! Is it
because fire is prettier by night?
More spectacle, a better show?
The pink face of Beatty now
showed the faintest panic in the
door. The woman’s hand twitched
on the single matchstick. The
fumes of kerosene bloomed up
about her. Montag felt the hidden
book pound like a heart against
his chest.”
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p. 47 “Aren’t you going to ask me
about last night?”
“What about it?”
“We burned a thousand books.
We burned a woman.”
“Well?”
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p.48 “You weren't there, you
didn't see. There must be
something in books, things we
can't imagine, to make a woman
stay in a burning house; there
must be something there. You
don't stay for nothing.”
them go. The captain orders
Montag to leave, not caring if the
woman lived or died.
Montag calls the reader’s attention
to the fact that all the fires are
started at night. It is a show to the
neighborhood instead of a tragedy.
While still fighting to get the
woman out of the house, Beatty
pulls Montag from the house. The
woman walks out on the porch
solemnly preparing for her fate.
Before any of the firefighters
could do anything, the woman
lights a match and seals her fate.
The woman would rather kill
herself than let them take the
books. This is scene causes
Montag to have an ephinany about
his life and actions and will cause
him to reexamine everything.
Montag returns homes startled by…
