An Analysis of Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451

Part 1: The Hearth and the Salamander 

1. What is the significance of Montag seeing his reflection in Clarisse’s eyes? It Dignifies Montag as he remembers the time when electricity had gone out and his mom had lit a candle that in a sense brought them together and made each other feel safe by one. When he looks into Clarisse’s eyes, he feels safe and comfortable being with her with no worries whatsoever. Clarisse causes Montag to recall a childhood memory in which a wish was embedded.
2. What were the significance of the memory and the wish?
3. What two observations does Clarisse make about Montag’s conversational mannerisms? For some reason, Montag decides to laugh at her making her say that it is strange that he is laughing when she has not been trying to be funny and he always answers without thinking about the question that he has been asked.
4. What things do the McClellans do which cause them to be classified as peculiar?
5. What final question does Clarisse ask Montag on the night of their first encounter? Why is the question important to the plot?
6. When Montag enters the home, he stares at the blank wall, but in memory sees Clarisse. What extended simile describes how he sees her? What is significant about the comparison?
7. Find two further similes Montag uses to describe Clarisse. Do the similes have any other purpose other than characterizing Clarisse?
8. Describe the bedroom that Montag enters. Whom does the setting characterize?
9. At this point of realization, what happens to the smile on Montag’s face, and what is his answer to Clarisse’s question?
10. What event occurs that night that provides Montag with an impression of the state of society? What is that impression?
11. In contrast, what does Montag next hear and long for?
12. What test of love does Clarisse give Montag, and how does he respond to it?
13. Describe Clarisse’s personality.
14. What observations does Clarisse make about how Montag differs from another fireman?
15. Describe the mechanical hound.
16. What does “Anti-social” mean? What does it mean in the society of Fahrenheit 451? To whom does this apply?
17. What does Clarisse say people tall about? Find some examples of representative conversations throughout the book.
18. During the car game at the fire station, what question does Montag ask? What does it contribute to the plot?
19. What is the significance of the refrain repeated by the woman whose house was burned? What did it mean? What is its effect on Montag?
20. What does Montag think his feelings were to be if his wife died?
21. What are Montag’s comments about the people on the walls?
22. What does Montag think about the old woman and all the books he has destroyed?
23. Summarize Beatty’s explanation of how the need for firemen arose.

Part 2: The Sieve and the Sand

1. What is the meaning of the title of part 2? 
2. What is the importance of the Dentifrice commercial?
3. Why does Montag go to see Faber?
4. What does Faber tell Montag about books?
5. What are the three things which Faber says are missing from society? Tell how each is indeed missing from the society of Fahrenheit 451.
6. Describe the Parlor woman, their views, and their conversational concerns.
7. Why does Montag read “Dover Beach” aloud to the ladies?
8. How does the woman react?

Part 3: Burning Bright

1. What is Mildred’s main concern as he runs out of the house?
2. What feelings does Montag have about burning the house?
3. While Montag was in flight from the scene of Beatty’s murder, what thought occurred to him about Beatty?
4. What is the explanation that Montag and Faber arrived at with how so very much could have happened in one week?
5. What are Montag’s impressions of the land across the river?
6. When Montag complained about being unable to remember Mildred, what explanation did Granger give?
7. What was Granger’s philosophy of life, taught to him by his grandfather, and handed down to Montag?
8. Describe the effects of war as Montag imagined them.
9. What is the promise at the end of the novel?

Discussion Questions

1. When the story opens, what are the forces acting upon Montag?
2. What is Montag’s dilemma?
3. What other forces help Montag in the recognition of his dilemma?
4. What forces aid Montag in the resolution of his problem or dilemma?
5. How does Montag resolve his dilemma?
6. How is the theme of the book related to how the conflict is resolved?
7. What are the professed and the actual purposes of the lifestyle?
8. What roles do people play in society?
9. What rules must be followed?
10. What assumptions about human character are the basis for the rules?
11. What is the real effect of the rules on the people?
12. Is there any chance of changing the lifestyle?
13. Compare the lifestyle with another lifestyle. 

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