Fahrenheit 451 1 Addeddate 2016-07-09 00:45:56 Emulator apple2ee Emulatorext dsk Identifier fahrenheit4511 Scanner Internet Archive Python library 1.0.5.
- Check out the new trailer for Fahrenheit 451 starring Michael B. Let us know what you think in the comments below.US Release Date: 2018Starring: Mich.
- Book: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury pp. 1 – 7 We participate in the Amazon Associate program. This means that if you use this link to make an Amazon purchase, we receive a small portion of the proceeds, which support our non-profit mission.
From the opening through Montag’s arrival at home
Summary
Guy Montag is a fireman in charge of burning books ina grim, futuristic United States. The book opens with a brief descriptionof the pleasure he experiences while on the job one evening. Hewears a helmet emblazoned with the numeral 451 (thetemperature at which paper burns), a black uniform with a salamanderon the arm, and a “phoenix disc” on his chest. On his way home fromthe fire station, he feels a sense of nervous anticipation. Aftersuspecting a lingering nearby presence, he meets his newneighbor, an inquisitive and unusual seventeen-year-old named ClarisseMcClellan. She immediately recognizes him as a fireman and seemsfascinated by him and his uniform. She explains that she is “crazy”and proceeds to suggest that the original duty of firemen was toextinguish fires rather than to light them. She asks him about hisjob and tells him that she comes from a strange family that doessuch peculiar things as talk to each other and walk places (beinga pedestrian, like reading, is against the law).
Clarisse’s strangeness makes Guy nervous, and he laughsrepeatedly and involuntarily. She reminds him in different waysof candlelight, a clock, and a mirror. He cannot help feeling somehow attractedto her: she fascinates him with her outrageous questions, unorthodoxlifestyle, perceptive observations, and “incredible power of identification.”She asks him if he is happy and then disappears into her house.Pondering the absurd question, he enters his house and muses aboutthis enigmatic stranger and her comprehension of his “innermosttrembling thought.”
Analysis
“The Hearth and the Salamander” focuses on Montag’s jobas a fireman and his home life. The hearth, or fireplace, is a traditionalsymbol of the home, and the salamander is one of the official symbolsof the firemen, as well as what they call their fire trucks. Bothof these symbols have to do with fire, the dominant image of Montag’slife—the hearth because it contains the fire that heats a home,and the salamander because of ancient beliefs that it lives in fireand is unaffected by flames. Montag enjoys his job burning booksand takes great pride in it; at the beginning of the novel, it largelydefines his character. The opening passage describes thepleasure he experiences while burning books. He loves the spectacle ofburning and seeing things “changed” by the fire, and his fire-inducedgrin seldom leaves his face. He even loves the smell of kerosene,which never quite washes off his body, and which he describes toClarisse as “perfume.”
As we later learn, Montag’s society has abandoned booksin favor of hollow, frenetic entertainment and instant gratification.At the beginning of the novel, Montag, like everyone else, disdains whathe does not understand, and by burning books he creates a spectaclethat pleases the frightened masses. He has a position of respectin his society, and Clarisse’s lack of respect or fear of his authorityis one of the ways in which she first distinguishes herself fromthe general population.
Clarisse is extremely inquisitive and thoughtful,and she irritates Montag at first because she challenges his mostdeeply ingrained beliefs with her innocent questioning. In a society wherereading, driving slowly, and walking outside for any length of timeare outlawed and a candid conversation is a rare and suspiciousevent, Clarisse’s gentle love of nature and people is truly peculiar.She is forced to go to a psychiatrist for strange behaviors suchas hiking, catching butterflies, and thinking independently. Herfamily is responsible for teaching her to be so quietly rebellious,especially her uncle. At night, the McClellan house is lit up brightly,contrasting sharply with the darkness and silence of the other houses.Montag is ignorant of the past of which Clarisse speaks and accusesher of thinking too much. Nevertheless, Clarisse opens Montag’seyes to the beauties of the natural world, and she recognizes thathe is not like everyone else and has the potential to be a thinkingindividual like her. Before their meeting, Montag’s familiaritywith nature was limited to his fascination with fire.
Fahrenheit 451 Chapter 3 Quotes
Montag’s feelings toward Clarisse are ambivalent, a combinationof fascination and repulsion. Clarisse removes Montag’s mask ofhappiness, forcing him to confront the deeper reality of his situation,and his discomfort manifests itself in his involuntary bursts of spiteful,confused laughter. She seems like a mirror to him with her “incrediblepower of identification.” He feels that she is profoundly connectedto him somehow, as if she had been waiting for him. Later, lookingback on his first encounter with her, Clarisse’s face seems to presagefurther darkness before a new light.