Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury s1

Fahrenheit 451

by Ray Bradbury

STUDY GUIDE QUESTIONS

PART I: The Hearth and the Salamander

1. What does Montag do for a living?

2. Note elements that are indicative of a futuristic setting. Do you note any

similarities tour world now?

3. How is the role of a fireman different in Montag’s futuristic world that it is

today?

4. What is the name of Montag’s neighbor?

5. What observations can you make about the quality of the relationship Montag

and his wife share?

6. What are ear thimbles?

7. What are parlor walls?

8. What might be hidden in the grille?

9. What happens to Mildred?

10. How old is Clarisse?

11. Who was arrested?

12. Why do you think Clarisse sees a psychiatrist?

13. Why is the Mechanical Hound referred to as “the dead beast, the living

beast”?

14. How does the Hound kill?

15. How does the Hound react to Montag?

16. Why does Montag think that the Hound may have had this reaction?

17. Who is Beatty?

18. Why doesn’t Clarisse go to school?

19. What observations does she make about school and society in general?

(Quotes)

20. Why does Beatty tease Montag about the Hound?

21. How does Montag feel when Clarisse doesn’t meet him?

22. How do the men react to the radio broadcast about the war? Why do you

think they react this way?

23. What does Montag notice about the appearance of the firemen?

24. Who does Montag recall talking to?

25. What do you notice about the names of the other firemen?

26. Who was the first fireman?

27. What is the orange dragon?

What does the woman say?

28. How do the firemen learn about the books?

29. Why is this alarm different? What is Montag’s reaction to the woman being

there? What work is usually done before the firemen arrive?

30. How does Montag respond?

31. What similes does Bradbury use here? Why?

32. What is significant about what Beatty tells the woman? (Quote)

33. What happens to the woman? Why do you think she lights the fire?

34. Why do fires and alarms occur at night? Why do people rush from their

homes?

35. Describe the behavior of the men after the woman sets fire to her own

house. How can you tell they are troubled?

36. What is significant about Latimer’s quotation in relation to the manner in

which the woman died?

37. Where does Montag conceal the book he has taken from the woman’s

house?

38. Why is Montag’s face wet?

39. How would you describe the relationship Montag and Mildred share?

(Quotes)

40. Describe Montag’s experience with Mildred and the parlor walls. How does

it resemble his experience with Mildred in the car?

41. What happened to Clarisse?

42. What different things is the electric thimble compared to? Why are these

comparisons appropriate?

43. Why does Montag think the Hound is outside his window?

44. What does Montag refer to the people on the parlor walls as?

45. How does Mildred respond when Montag asks her to turn the parlor walls

off? Why is this disturbing?

46. How does Mildred react when Montag tells her they burned a woman?

47. What does Montag mean by the phrase “really bothered”?

48. What does Beatty mean by “Out of the nursery into the college and back to

the nursery; there’s your intellectual pattern for the past five centuries or

more”?

49. Who does Beatty blame for the current state of society?

50. What does Mildred find behind Montag’s pillow?

51. According to Beatty, what is it people live for?

52. According to Beatty, why are books burned? (Quote)

53. What happens to the bodies of people after they die? Why?

54. How do you get a person to feel as if he/she is thinking?

55. Why are firemen so essential to maintaining “happiness”?

56. Does Beatty know about the stolen book? How does the reader know?

57. Why were porches eliminated?

58. How does Montag feel? What is he reacting to?

59. What does Montag reveal to Mildred? How does she respond?

60. Relate the first line of the book Montag reads to what you’ve read so far.

61. What is the significance of the title of Part I?

PART II: The Sieve and the Sand

1. What is a sieve?

2. As a child, what did Montag expect to find in the sieve after sifting sand

through it?

3. According to Faber, what three things are needed for happiness? Do you

agree? Why or why not?

4. What plan is proposed?

5. Why is Faber resistant to it?

6. Why won’t the plan work?

7. What does Faber wear when he rides the subway? Why?

8. Why does Montag have an outburst on the subway at the beginning of Part II?

9. What does Montag do to the Bible? Why?

10. How does Faber help Montag deal with Beatty?

11. “I don’t want to change sides and just be told what to do. There’s no reason

to change if I do that”. Who says this? Why?

12. Why does Montag pull the plug on the walls?

13. Describe the women who come to visit Mildred. (Quotes)

14. How does Mrs. Bowles define motherhood? How do you feel about this?

Why?

15. What did the women talk about when they decided to “talk politics”?

16. Why are the women so uncomfortable?

17. What is Mrs. Phelp’s reaction to the poem? Why do you think she reacts this

way?

18. How does Beatty confuse Montag?

19. Why is the alarm at the end of Part II so important?

20. What is the significance of the title of Part II?

PART III: Burning Bright

1. Who was it that actually sent the Hound?

2. Why do you think the fire truck is called the “Dragon”?

3. Who informed on Montag?

4. What does Beatty command Montag to do?

5. Why can’t Montag escape?

6. Why did Montag feel it was “good to burn” his own house? What was he

trying to destroy?

7. What does Beatty find? What does he plan to do with it?

8. What provokes Montag to kill Beatty? How does he kill him?

9. What action does the Hound take?

10. What happens to the Hound?

11. How did Beatty advise people to handle problems?

12. How does Montag choose to handle his problem? What was your reaction to this?

13. Did Beatty want to die? Explain the rationale for your answer.

14. Why does Faber feel alive for the first time in years?

15. Who were the hobos before they became homeless?

16. Who do they send after Montag?

17. What size is Faber’s TV screen?

18. What program do Faber and Montag watch?

19. Why does Faber decide to go to St. Louis?

20. How does Montag try to distract the Hound?

21. How does Montag monitor the progress of the Hound?

22. What methods do the authorities use to try to apprehend Montag?

23. How does Montag escape?

24. Why do you think Montag feels as if he has left “the great séance and all the

murmuring ghosts”?

25. What does the sun burn?

26. Why do you think “the saving and putting away” is so important?

27. How does Montag respond to the country?

28. What does Montag decide to follow? Why?

29. What quality does fire have?

30. What do the voices speak of?

31. How does Granger help Montag to finally shake off the Hound?

32. How does the chase finally end? Why does it end this way, according to Granger?

33. What crime did Granger commit? Why is he on the run?

34. What do the men do with the books they have? Why?

35. How do the men plan to pass the books on to their children?

36. What do you think the significance of the last paragraph before the break is?

37. Why do the men trust Montag?

38. Why do the men laugh at the statement, “Don’t judge a book by its cover…”? Why is it ironic?

39. Why is Montag unmoved at the thought of Mildred’s death?

40. Why are hands so important to Granger (when he talks about his grandfather)?

41. How does the war end?

42. Where did Montag and Mildred meet?

43. How does the tale of the phoenix relate to the novel?

44. Do you think Montag will end up being a leader? Why or why not?

45. Is the conclusion of the novel hopeful or pessimistic? Explain.