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Fahrenheit 451
Pathfinders · 7th–9th
Montag plants books in the Blacks' house and calls in the alarm while Mrs. Black sleeps. Is this a fair blow against the firemen, or the same kind of cruelty he is running from?
The tension Montag is shaken that the drivers would have killed him “For no reason at all in the world”, yet within the hour he hides books in the Blacks' kitchen and phones in the alarm, telling the sleeping Mrs. Black “it’s your house and your turn”.
How one long night of running shows Montag the city’s careless danger and leads him to strike at the firemen in their own homes.
Montag stands in the empty street by the burnt house, with the Hound here and Beatty there and the Salamander still waiting; that will have to go, too. One leg is as dead as a log. He hobbles to the alley and says good-bye to Beatty, who always said to burn a problem rather than face it. He calls himself a fool, blames pride and temper, says there is no excuse, and tells himself to give up; then he decides to save what he can, and if he must burn, to take a few more with him. He goes back for the books: four are still hidden by the garden fence. Down the alley he falls and sobs, and in the middle of the crying he is sure that Beatty wanted to die, since he stood there joking and needling instead of saving himself. Montag had not wanted to kill anyone, and he is sorry. Running feet; he gets up, and the leg comes back to him. He fears he has burnt Faber too, and tells himself: burn them or they’ll burn you. On the Seashell a police alert names him, wanted for murder. The alley opens on a ten-lane boulevard under bright lamps. He sees he is running toward Faber’s, though Faber cannot hide him; he wants to know a man like Faber is alive, and to leave him some money. Police helicopters rise far off. In a gas-station washroom a radio says war has been declared, and Montag tries to feel it, but nothing happens. He washes so he can stroll across like anyone else. Halfway over, a car comes at him at more than a hundred miles an hour. He thinks it is the police, breaks into a run, drops a book, and falls. The car swerves away at the last instant, laughter trailing, and leaves a faint line of tread on his fingertip. It was a carful of joyriders, twelve to sixteen years old, who saw a man walking, a rarity, and decided to get him. They would have killed him for no reason at all. He wonders whether they killed Clarisse, and wants to run after them. Falling saved him: the driver feared that hitting a body might flip the car. The car turns back, but Montag has reached a dark alley. He comes to a silent house from the rear, through the scent of daffodils and roses. In his head he tells the sleeping Mrs. Black that this isn’t good, but her husband burned houses and hurt people without thinking, and now it is her house and her turn. He hides the books in the kitchen, phones in the alarm from a lonely booth, and hears the sirens start, picturing her shivering outside while the roof falls in. For now she is still asleep. Good night, Mrs. Black, he thinks.
Before reading, ask the student what a man on the run would need most on his first night. Read aloud to “Right now it’s as simple as that.” and stop: ask what Montag has decided is simple, and whether it is. Read on through the washroom to “nothing would happen.” and stop again: ask what Montag feels about the war, and leave the question open. Read the crossing slowly, to “That wasn’t the police, he thought.”, and ask who it might have been before reading on. Then read to the end without stopping, and leave a silence before anyone speaks. Do not say the joyriders killed Clarisse; Montag only wonders. Do not say Beatty truly wanted to die; it is Montag’s thought, reached while he sobs. Do not say what happens to Mrs. Black or her house, or whether Faber is safe. Do not treat the planted books as a clever trick: keep the sleeping woman in view.
Retell The student tells the reading back in three parts. First the alley: the burnt street, the dead leg, “Good-bye, Captain”, the fool and the turn to “we”, the four books by the fence, the sobbing and the thought about Beatty, the fear for Faber, the rule about burning, and the police alert. Then the boulevard: the road too wide to cross, the run toward Faber’s, the helicopters, the washroom and the war, the slow walk, the car, the fall, the line of tread, the joyriders, the thought of Clarisse, and the escape into the alley. Last, the Blacks’ house: the porch, the thought spoken to Mrs. Black, the books in the kitchen, the phone booth, the sirens, and “Good night, Mrs. Black”. Ask for three or four sentences for each part, in order.
Imitate the author After copying, the student writes four sentences built like the first passage, about carrying a hurt: a plain sentence of eight or nine words; a simile with “like” that says what the hurt is carried as, the way the leg is carried “as a penance”; a sentence that opens with a “When” clause and a comma and gives the pain strong verbs, like “gushed up” and “went off”; and a sentence of two words. Then four sentences built like the second, about speaking in your head to someone who cannot hear: a question to them; a sentence that repeats “and never” three times; a long sentence that runs on through commas and trails off; and a five-word sentence in which nothing answers.
Debate Take sides on the last written question. First make two lists together. Reasons it is a fair blow: Mr. Black burned houses and hurt people “without thinking”; the firemen’s own law falls on a fireman’s own house; Montag has a reason, where the joyriders had none; he says “This isn’t good”, so he knows what he is doing; what he pictures is a woman shivering outside while the roof falls, not a body in the road. Reasons it is the same cruelty: Mrs. Black burned nothing, and she is asleep; she cannot answer, and “The house did not reply.”; “your turn” makes it sound like a game, like “Let’s get him”; he strikes from the dark and a lonely phone booth, never seen, the way the joyriders stayed behind their headlights; he does it the same night he was sickened by people who would kill “For no reason at all in the world”. One side argues each, with a reason and a line from the reading, then they switch. No side may say what happens to Mrs. Black or the house, say the joyriders killed Clarisse, say Beatty truly wanted to die, or say whether Faber is safe.
Purpose Close on the reading’s first words and its last. It opens with Montag asking “And now…?” in the empty street, and it stops with the sirens coming and “she was still asleep.” Ask what answer Montag has given to his own question by the end of the night. Then ask why Bradbury stops while Mrs. Black still sleeps, and not when the firemen arrive. Do not say what happens to her or to the house.
Easier Read aloud together from “The house was silent.” to the end, then read again the short paragraph near the start where Montag thinks “Good-bye, Captain.” Talk through the fifth discussion question (whether he means the two goodbyes the same way). Then answer the last written question aloud, starting from what Montag says to Mrs. Black in his head and what he does next.
On level Talk through the five discussion questions in order, then have the student write answers to the three written questions in complete sentences: a claim, evidence from two different parts of the reading, and an answer to the strongest objection.
Harder Ask the student to write the last written question as an argument: a claim, the strongest reason against it, and an answer to that reason. Then give them a puzzle from the reading itself. Bradbury makes the hunting helicopters soft: “someone had blown the grey head off a dry dandelion flower”, “like butterflies puzzled by autumn”, “like the first flakes of snow in the long winter to come”, and, as Montag goes to make his call, “fluttering like torn bits of paper in the sky.” Ask what these gentle pictures do to the hunt, and why the last one is paper. The answer must use only this reading and must not say what happens next.
1. In the alley, Montag tells himself, “If we have to burn, let’s take a few more with us.” A few more what?Inference
What it asks It asks the student to read one sentence two ways. Montag has hobbled into the alley calling himself “a fool, a damn fool”, blaming “Pride, damn it, and temper”, and ordering himself to “go give yourself up!” Then he turns: “No, we’ll save what we can, we’ll do what there is left to do. If we have to burn, let’s take a few more with us. Here!” At once “He remembered the books and turned back.” Later, fearing he has burnt Faber too, he thinks, “burn them or they’ll burn you”. The student decides what the “few more” are: books carried with him, firemen taken down with him, or something else the page supports. It takes up one part of the last written question: what Montag means to do with the rest of the night. Do not say Faber is dead; Montag only fears he has “burnt Faber, too.”
A few more books. Montag has just decided to save what he can, and the next thing he does is turn back for the books. If he goes down, he will take them with him rather than leave them to the fire.
No, we’ll save what we can, we’ll do what there is left to do.
He remembered the books and turned back.
A few more firemen. To “burn” is what is coming for him, and he wants company in it. Soon after, his rule is to burn them before they burn him, and he calls it simple.
You must remember, burn them or they’ll burn you, he thought.
Right now it’s as simple as that.
A strong answer A strong response might say the “few more” are books: in the same breath Montag decides to “save what we can,” and the very next thing he does is turn back for the four still hidden by the fence. Another might say they are firemen: “burn” is what is coming for him, and a little later his rule is “burn them or they’ll burn you,” which he calls “as simple as that.” A careful answer may notice that Montag stops calling himself “you” and starts saying “we,” and may ask who is in that “we”: Montag and the books, or a Montag who has stopped arguing with himself.
2. Sobbing on the gravel, Montag is suddenly sure that Beatty wanted to die. How much should we trust a thought he has while he is crying?Character
What it asks It asks the student to weigh a thought, not a fact. Montag falls in the alley and sobs, “his face pressed blindly to the gravel.” Then the reading gives a line of its own: “Beatty wanted to die.” And: “In the middle of the crying Montag knew it for the truth.” Beatty “had just stood there, not really trying to save himself, just stood there, joking, needling”, and the thought “was enough to stifle his sobbing and let him pause for air.” A little earlier Montag told himself, “No excuse, though, no excuse.” A little later he thinks, “He hadn’t wanted to kill anyone, not even Beatty,” and “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, oh God, sorry…” The student decides how far the thought deserves belief. It takes up one part of the last written question: how Montag explains to himself the harm he does. Do not say Beatty truly wanted to die; it is Montag’s thought, with nothing behind it but Beatty’s standing still and taunting. Do not retell Montag’s grief as excuse-making alone; he is sorry, and he says there is no excuse.
Trust it a good deal. It rests on what Montag saw: a man facing an armed man who stood still and kept taunting. Crying does not make that less true.
He had just stood there, not really trying to save himself, just stood there, joking, needling
you go on yelling at people and making fun of them until you get them mad
Be careful with it. It arrives just when Montag most needs it, and it works on him like medicine. He had only just told himself there was no excuse.
the thought was enough to stifle his sobbing and let him pause for air
No excuse, though, no excuse.
A strong answer A strong response might trust the thought: it rests on what Montag saw, a man who “just stood there, not really trying to save himself”, who kept “joking, needling” in front of an armed man. Another might be careful with it: it comes “In the middle of the crying,” it is “enough to stifle his sobbing,” and only minutes before, Montag told himself “No excuse, though, no excuse.” A careful answer may notice that the thought does not let him off, since he still thinks “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” and may ask whether Montag believes it because it is true or because he cannot get through the night without it.
3. Montag wonders if the people in that car were the ones who killed Clarisse, and then his mind says it again, “very loud.” What changed the second time?Character
What it asks It asks the student to listen to one thought said twice. A car comes at Montag at more than a hundred miles an hour and swerves away only when he falls. It was not the police but a carful of joyriders, “from twelve to sixteen”, who had seen “a man strolling, a rarity” and said, “Let’s get him.” Montag thinks, “They would have killed me”. Then: “I wonder if they were the ones who killed Clarisse?” “He stopped and his mind said it again, very loud.” This time it ends with an exclamation mark. “He wanted to run after them yelling.” “His eyes watered.” The student decides what has changed in Montag between the two. It takes up one part of the last written question: Montag’s anger at the city’s careless cruelty, and where that anger might go. Do not treat the car as a chase scene only; the joyriders picked him out because he was walking. Do not say the joyriders killed Clarisse; Montag only wonders.
Wondering has turned into blame. The question mark becomes an exclamation mark, and he wants to chase them. Someone has to answer for Clarisse.
I wonder if they were the ones who killed Clarisse!
He wanted to run after them yelling.
Grief has broken through. They hunted him only because he was walking, and now that he knows how that feels, the thought of what such people could do to a girl hits him hard.
a man strolling, a rarity
His eyes watered.
A strong answer A strong response might say wondering has turned to blame: the question mark becomes an exclamation mark, his mind says it “very loud,” and “He wanted to run after them yelling.” Another might say grief has broken through: the joyriders chased him only because he was “a man strolling, a rarity,” and now that he knows what it is to be hunted for fun, “His eyes watered.” A careful answer may notice that he cannot know, since he only wonders, and may ask where anger goes when the people who caused it are already gone.
4. Montag moves the books from hand to hand “as if they were a poker hand he could not figure.” What can’t he figure out about them?Inference
What it asks It asks the student to read one comparison closely. On the boulevard the car comes at Montag, he drops a book, falls, and the car swerves away. As he walks on, “Somehow he had picked up the spilled books; he didn’t remember bending or touching them. He kept moving them from hand to hand as if they were a poker hand he could not figure.” To figure a poker hand is to work out how to play it, and what it might win or lose. These are the four books he turned back for in the alley, “Just on the off chance,” after deciding “we’ll save what we can”. On the boulevard the reading has not yet said what he will do with them. Later that night “He hid the books in the kitchen” of the Blacks’ house and phoned in the alarm. The student decides what Montag cannot work out about the books. It takes up one part of the last written question: the books are what make the blow possible. Do not cheer the planting as a clever trick. Do not say what happens to the books or the house; the reading ends before the firemen arrive.
How to play them. A hand of cards is for playing, and Montag does not yet know his move. By the end of the night he makes it: he hides them in a fireman’s house and calls the firemen to it.
He kept moving them from hand to hand as if they were a poker hand he could not figure.
He hid the books in the kitchen
Why they still matter. Books have cost him his house tonight, yet he went back for them, and he gathered them off the road without knowing he did it. He cannot work out the hold they have on him.
He remembered the books and turned back. Just on the off chance.
Somehow he had picked up the spilled books; he didn’t remember bending or touching them.
A strong answer A strong response might say he cannot figure how to play them: a poker hand is something you use well or lose, and Montag does not yet know his move; by the end of the night he has made it, hiding them in the Blacks’ kitchen and phoning in the alarm, so that they work the way the firemen always said books work, as the reason to burn a house. Another might say he cannot figure why they still matter: books have cost him his house, yet he turned back for them “Just on the off chance,” and on the boulevard he gathered them up without remembering “bending or touching them.” A careful answer may ask whether a person can play a thing like a card and still love it.
5. Montag thinks “Good-bye, Captain” as he leaves Beatty, and “Good night, Mrs. Black” at the very end. Does he mean them the same way?Tone
What it asks It asks the student to set the reading’s first goodbye beside its last. Leaving the ruins, Montag thinks: “Beatty, he thought, you’re not a problem now. You always said, don’t face a problem, burn it. Well, now I’ve done both. Good-bye, Captain.” Down the alley he weeps and thinks, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, oh God, sorry…” At the end of the night he hides the books in the Blacks’ kitchen, phones in the alarm, hears the sirens start, and pictures the Salamanders coming “to make his wife stand shivering in the morning air while the roof let go”. “But now, she was still asleep.” Then: “Good night, Mrs. Black, he thought.” Both goodbyes are thoughts; neither Beatty nor Mrs. Black hears them. The student decides whether Montag means the two the same way. It takes up one part of the last written question: how Montag feels toward the woman asleep in that house, set beside how he feels toward the man he killed. Do not say what happens to Mrs. Black or the house; the reading stops while she sleeps. Do not say Beatty truly wanted to die.
The same way. Each is a short, polite word to someone he has just struck, said in his head where they cannot answer. Beatty is no longer a problem, and Mrs. Black is told it is her turn.
Beatty, he thought, you’re not a problem now.
it’s your house and your turn
Not the same. He weeps for Beatty, the man who stood there taunting him. Mrs. Black has done nothing to him and is asleep, so his last word to her is softer, or more troubled.
I’m sorry, I’m sorry, oh God, sorry…
But now, she was still asleep.
A strong answer A strong response might say he means them the same way: each is a short, polite word to someone he has just struck, said where no one can answer; Beatty is “not a problem now,” and the Blacks’ house gets “your turn.” Another might say they differ: Montag wept “I’m sorry, I’m sorry” for Beatty, a man who stood there taunting him, while Mrs. Black has done nothing to him and “she was still asleep,” so the last line is softer, or more troubled. A careful answer may notice that people say “good-bye” when they part and “good night” to someone who will wake in the morning, and may ask what morning Montag has pictured for her.
1. Montag hears that “War has been declared” and tries to feel it, but nothing happens. Why does a thin black line of tread on his finger reach him when the war cannot?
What it asks It asks the student to set two moments side by side. In the gas-station washroom, through the wall, a radio voice says, “War has been declared.” Outside, the men talk about “the engines, the gas, the money owed.” Montag stands “trying to make himself feel the shock of the quiet statement from the radio, but nothing would happen.” “The war would have to wait for him to come to it in his personal file, an hour, two hours from now.” A few minutes later he crosses the boulevard, “a vast stage without scenery”; the car swerves, and he finds “a faint sixteenth of an inch of black tread where tyre had touched in passing.” “He looked at that black line with disbelief”. The student decides why the small mark reaches him and the war does not. Write a claim with evidence, in complete sentences, and answer the strongest case for another reading. It takes up one part of the last written question: what makes harm feel real to a person, which bears on how Montag thinks of a woman he never sees. Do not rush past the war; Montag tries to feel it and cannot.
The line is on his own body. The war is a voice through a wall, one more thing the city says to itself; the tread is his own death passing a fingertip away.
Through the aluminium wall he heard a radio voice saying
They would have killed me, thought Montag
The war is too big to take in. A man worn out by this night can hold only one small, near thing at a time, and the war will have to wait.
The war would have to wait for him to come to it in his personal file, an hour, two hours from now.
a faint sixteenth of an inch of black tread
A strong answer A strong response takes a position and tests it. A student might argue that the line reaches him because it is on his own body: the war is only “a radio voice” through a wall, while the tread is his own death passing a fingertip away, and at once he thinks, “They would have killed me.” Another might argue that the war is simply too big for a man at the end of his strength: it “would have to wait for him to come to it in his personal file,” while a mark “a faint sixteenth of an inch” wide is small enough to hold. A careful answer may notice that the men at the pumps go on about “the money owed,” and may ask whether Montag, in that washroom, is any different from them.
2. Montag is a fireman too, but he thinks Mr. Black hurt people and “never asked and never wondered and never worried.” What, if anything, gives Montag the right to judge Mr. Black?
What it asks It asks the student to test the judge as well as the judgment. On the Blacks’ porch Montag thinks, “This isn’t good, but your husband did it to others and never asked and never wondered and never worried.” He blames Mr. Black for “all the houses your husband burned and the people he hurt without thinking”. The police alert on the Seashell names Montag’s own trade: “Occupation: Fireman.” Earlier, in the alley, he tried “to go back to the normal pattern of life a few short days ago before the sieve and the sand”, and called the days since “too much for a few short days, too much, indeed, for a lifetime.” The student decides what, if anything, gives Montag the right to judge Mr. Black. Write a claim with evidence, in complete sentences, and answer the strongest objection. It takes up one part of the last written question: whether the blow is fair. Do not say what happens to Mrs. Black or the house.
Nothing gives him the right. A few days ago he lived the same pattern Mr. Black lives, and the police alert still names him a fireman. He is judging a man for what he did himself.
Occupation: Fireman.
to go back to the normal pattern of life a few short days ago before the sieve and the sand
What he has been through gives it. He knows the work from the inside, and tonight he has done what Mr. Black never did: asked, wondered and worried, to the point of tears.
too much for a few short days, too much, indeed, for a lifetime
I’m sorry, I’m sorry, oh God, sorry…
A strong answer A strong response takes a position and tests it. A student might argue that nothing gives him the right: the alert on the Seashell still lists “Occupation: Fireman,” and only “a few short days ago” Montag lived the same pattern Mr. Black lives, so he is judging a man for his own past. Another might argue that the change itself gives him the right: all night he has done what Mr. Black “never” did, asking, wondering and worrying until he weeps “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” and he knows the work from inside. A careful answer may ask whether a fair judgment of Mr. Black settles anything about the house where his wife is sleeping.
3. Montag plants books in the Blacks' house and calls in the alarm while Mrs. Black sleeps. Is this a fair blow against the firemen, or the same kind of cruelty he is running from?
What it asks This is the last question the student meets, and it gathers the earlier ones: what the “few more” are that Montag would take with him; how far to trust the thought that Beatty wanted to die; what changed when Montag’s wondering about Clarisse came back “very loud”; what Montag cannot figure out about the books he turns over like a poker hand; whether Montag means his “Good-bye, Captain” and his “Good night, Mrs. Black” the same way; why a line of tread reaches him when a war cannot; and what, if anything, gives a fireman the right to judge Mr. Black. Now the student judges the act itself. On the boulevard a carful of joyriders, “from twelve to sixteen”, see a man walking and say, “Let’s get him.” The car swerves so close that its tyre marks the tip of his finger, and Montag thinks, “For no reason at all in the world they would have killed me.” Later that night he creeps onto the Blacks’ back porch through the scent of daffodils and roses and speaks to the sleeping Mrs. Black in his head: “This isn’t good, but your husband did it to others and never asked and never wondered and never worried. And now since you’re a fireman’s wife, it’s your house and your turn, for all the houses your husband burned and the people he hurt without thinking…” “The house did not reply.” He hides the books in the kitchen, phones the alarm from “a lonely phone booth”, and pictures the Salamanders coming “to make his wife stand shivering in the morning air while the roof let go”. “But now, she was still asleep.” The student writes a judgment with evidence, in complete sentences, and answers the strongest objection. Do not cheer the planted books as a clever trick, and do not forget the sleeping woman. Do not say what happens to Mrs. Black or her house, that the joyriders killed Clarisse, that Beatty truly wanted to die, or whether Faber is safe.
A fair blow. Mr. Black burned houses and hurt people without a thought; now the firemen’s own law falls on a fireman’s own house. Montag is not like the joyriders: he has a reason, he names what he is doing, and what he pictures is a woman shivering outside, not a body in the road.
for all the houses your husband burned and the people he hurt without thinking…
For no reason at all in the world they would have killed me.
The same cruelty. Mrs. Black burned nothing, she is asleep, and she cannot answer. Calling it “your turn” makes it a game, like the joyriders’ “Let’s get him,” and Montag strikes from the dark and a phone booth, never seen, the way the joyriders stayed hidden behind their headlights.
it’s your house and your turn
Let’s get him
A strong answer A strong response takes a position and tests it. A student might argue that it is a fair blow: Mr. Black hurt people “without thinking,” and Montag turns the firemen’s own law on a fireman’s house; unlike the joyriders, who would have killed him “For no reason at all in the world,” he has a reason, he admits “This isn’t good,” and what he pictures is a woman shivering outside, not a body in the road. Another might argue it is the same cruelty: Mrs. Black burned nothing, “she was still asleep,” and “your turn” makes a home into a game, the way “Let’s get him” made a walking man into one; Montag, too, strikes from the dark at someone who never sees him. A careful answer may grant both sides and ask whether having a reason makes an act just, or only makes it easier to do.