Part Three, Reading 3 — Teaching Companion

What it asks It asks the student to read one plain phrase closely. Montag arrives at Faber’s with the captain dead and pours out his week: “Good Christ, the things I’ve done in a single week!” Faber answers, “You did what you had to do. It was coming on for a long time.” Montag agrees: “It saved itself up to happen. I could feel it for a long time, I was saving something up, I went around doing one thing and feeling another. God, it was all there. It’s a wonder it didn’t show on me, like fat.” The student decides what he was saving up. It takes up one part of the last written question: in the river Montag thinks “someone had to do the saving and keeping”, and the word was already his at Faber’s door. Do not explain the river thought for the student, and do not say what Montag will save later or who he will meet along the tracks.

One reading

A fire. What he saved up burst out this week: the captain dead, his house burnt, a book planted in a fireman’s house. It had to come out, and it came out as burning.

• It saved itself up to happen.
• Good Christ, the things I’ve done in a single week!

Another reading

A hidden self. Under the fireman he kept feelings no one saw, and he kept them for years. That is a kind of saving too, and it is what he carries out of the city.

• I went around doing one thing and feeling another.
• God, it was all there.

Listen for

• Notices the word twice in a few lines: “It saved itself up”, and “I was saving something up”.
• Notices “like fat”: something stored up in the body that could have shown, and did not.
• Hears the word come back in the river, “the saving and keeping”, and asks whether it means the same thing there.
• Does not say what Montag will save later, or who he will meet along the tracks.

If stuck

• What has Montag done this week?
• What does he say he went around doing, and what was he feeling?
• Is everything a person saves up worth keeping?

A strong answer A strong response might say he was saving up a fire: “It saved itself up to happen,” and what came out was “the things I’ve done in a single week!”, a dead captain and a burnt house. Another might say he was saving a hidden self: he went around “doing one thing and feeling another”, and “it was all there” the whole time, kept where no one could see it. A careful answer may notice that the word comes back in the river, where “someone had to do the saving and keeping”, and may ask whether what Montag saved up was a fire, a keeping, or both.

What it asks It asks the student to name an uneasy pleasure. Faber lifts a picture frame aside to show “a television screen the size of a postal card”, and it is spelling out Montag’s name. On it are Montag’s burnt house and the crowd. “He watched the scene, fascinated, not wanting to move. It seemed so remote and no part of him; it was a play apart and separate, wondrous to watch, not without its strange pleasure.” He imagines the whole hunt ending at this very window, “a drama to be watched objectively,” with himself caught “in view of ten or twenty or thirty million people,” and wonders what single word could “sear all their faces and wake them up”. He pictures the end as “a splendid fade-out!” The student decides what, exactly, Montag is enjoying. It takes up one part of the last written question: Montag at his most watched, before the river gives him his own thought. Do not skip the pleasure, and do not say it is simply fear.

One reading

Mattering. For once the whole city is looking at him, and a speech from him might reach millions. That is a kind of importance Montag has never had.

• That’s all for me, you thought, that’s all taking place just for me, by God.
• in view of ten or twenty or thirty million people

Another reading

Distance. On the screen the hunt is a show, and a show cannot hurt the person watching it. For a moment he gets to be a viewer and not the man being hunted.

• It seemed so remote and no part of him
• a drama to be watched objectively

Listen for

• Notices “not without its strange pleasure”: the pleasure is admitted, and also held at arm’s length.
• Hears TV words in Montag’s own daydream, such as “necessary commercials” and “a splendid fade-out!”
• Notices that, running later, he has to remind himself “again” that this is “his own chess-game”.
• Does not wave the pleasure away as fear.

If stuck

• How big is Faber’s screen, and what is on it?
• Where does Montag imagine the hunt will end?
• What would it be like to see yourself on every wall in the city?

A strong answer A strong response might say he is enjoying mattering: “that’s all taking place just for me,” and he pictures “ten or twenty or thirty million people” waiting on what he might say. Another might say he is enjoying the distance: on the screen the hunt is “so remote and no part of him”, “a drama to be watched objectively,” and a man watching a show is safe. A careful answer may notice that he even imagines his own death in the network’s words, “a splendid fade-out!”, and that later, running, he has to remind himself “again” that it is “his own chess-game”, so the pull of the show does not let go easily.

What it asks It asks the student to judge how Montag sees the city. The police tell everyone in the Elm Terrace area to open a door or look from a window: “The fugitive cannot escape if everyone in the next minute looks from his house.” As they count to ten, Montag runs. “He felt the city turn to its thousands of doors.” “The people sleepwalking in their hallways.” “He felt their hands on the doorknobs!” At ten he is past the last row of houses, and the page says, “He imagined thousands on thousands of faces”, “pale, night-frightened faces, like grey animals peering from electric caves, faces with grey colourless eyes, grey tongues and grey thoughts”. Earlier the same people were “civilian parlour-sitters who had been wakened from sleep a few minutes ago” by their walls. Until this week, Montag was a fireman who lived behind a door like theirs. The student decides how fair Montag’s picture of them is. It takes up one part of the last written question: Montag seeing for himself, and not the way the walls see.

One reading

Fair. They open their doors because a voice on the wall tells them to, half asleep, to watch a hunt as if it were a game. Grey is the right colour for that.

• The people sleepwalking in their hallways.
• to come watch the big game, the hunt, the one-man carnival

Another reading

Unfair. He never sees a single face; he makes them up while running for his life. They are frightened people woken in the night, and not long ago Montag lived behind a door like theirs.

• He imagined thousands on thousands of faces
• pale, night-frightened faces

Listen for

• Notices the word “imagined”, and that Montag only “felt” the doors turn.
• Notices “night-frightened”: the faces are afraid, as well as grey.
• Notices that the police plan works on obedience: every door opens at the count.
• Asks whether Montag, a fireman until this week, was once one of those faces himself.

If stuck

• What do the police ask everyone to do, and when?
• Where is Montag when the doors open? Can he see the faces?
• Was Montag ever one of the people behind those doors?

A strong answer A strong response might call it fair: the people are “sleepwalking in their hallways”, opening their doors because a wall told them to, so they can watch “the big game, the hunt, the one-man carnival.” Another might call it unfair: the page says “He imagined” them, he never sees one face, they are “night-frightened”, and not long ago Montag lived behind a door like theirs, so there may be more behind those faces than he can see. A careful answer may notice that Montag paints the city’s people grey at the very moment the city is turning him into a show, and may ask whether either side is seeing the other as it is.

What it asks It asks the student to read one short sentence closely. The river has carried Montag to the shore and his heel touches land, but he has not stepped out. The Hound is not there, and the search has “veered inland”. He listens: “Nothing. Nothing.” Then: “Millie, he thought. All this country here. Listen to it! Nothing and nothing. So much silence, Millie, I wonder how you’d take it? Would you shout Shut up, shut up! Millie, Millie. And he was sad.” At Faber’s, earlier, he said, “there’s Millie gone, I thought she was my wife, but now I don’t know.” The student decides who the sadness is for. It takes up one part of the last written question: what Montag leaves behind as he turns, alone, to what he must do. Do not say where Millie is now or what becomes of her; the reading says only that she is gone and “not here”.

One reading

Sad for Millie. He has come into the first real quiet of his life, and he knows she could not bear it. She would shout it down. She will never have what he has just found.

• So much silence, Millie, I wonder how you’d take it?
• Would you shout Shut up, shut up!

Another reading

Sad for himself. Even here, free and alone, he is still talking to her. The silence shows him how little was ever between them, and how alone he now is.

• there’s Millie gone, I thought she was my wife, but now I don’t know
• Millie was not here and the Hound was not here

Listen for

• Notices that he speaks to her in his head, though she is not there and cannot answer.
• Notices that he answers his own question for her: “Shut up, shut up!”
• Notices that he says her name four times in a few lines.
• Does not say where Millie is now or what becomes of her.

If stuck

• What does Montag hear when the river brings him to shore?
• What does he think Millie would do in that silence?
• Can you be sad for someone and for yourself at the same time?

A strong answer A strong response might say he is sad for Millie: in the first real quiet of his life, he knows she would “shout Shut up, shut up!” and could never have what he has found. Another might say he is sad for himself: he is still talking to her, though at Faber’s he said “I thought she was my wife, but now I don’t know”, and the silence shows him how alone he is. A careful answer may notice that he says her name four times in a few lines, and may ask why the first person he wants to share the silence with is the one person who could not stand it.

What it asks It asks the student to find the fear inside a gift. The smell of hay brings back a farm Montag visited as a boy, and he pictures a night in a barn loft, “hidden and safe”. Below, “he would hear a sound like feet moving, perhaps. He would tense and sit up. The sound would move away.” A young woman braids her hair in a far window; “It would be hard to see her”. In the morning, “there at the bottom of the hayloft stair, waiting for him, would be the incredible thing. He would step carefully down, in the pink light of early morning, so fully aware of the world that he would be afraid, and stand over the small miracle and at last bend to touch it.” “A cool glass of fresh milk, and a few apples and pears laid at the foot of the steps.” “This was all he wanted now. Some sign that the immense world would accept him and give him the long time needed to think all the things that must be thought.” No one is there to give it. The student decides what there is to fear in so small a thing. It takes up one part of the last written question: what it costs a man to begin thinking for himself, once no one is watching. Do not say the woman in the window is Clarisse; her face would only be like that of a girl from long ago. Leave the land and “Too much land!” for later in the lesson.

One reading

The world itself. Montag has lived his life behind walls and screens. Seeing the real world clearly, for the first time, is frightening in itself, just as the river felt unreal because it was new.

• so fully aware of the world that he would be afraid
• a reality that was unreal because it was new

Another reading

The answer. The milk is only a sign he hopes for, that the world would take him in. A man who burned things with the firemen may fear the answer is no, so he comes to the gift slowly, and touches it last.

• Some sign that the immense world would accept him
• stand over the small miracle and at last bend to touch it

Listen for

• Notices how small the gift is, and how large the words for it are: “the incredible thing”, “the small miracle”.
• Notices how slowly he comes to it: he would “step carefully down”, “stand over” it, and “at last bend to touch it”.
• Notices that no one is there: the sound of feet “would move away”, the woman is “hard to see”, and no giver appears.
• Does not say the woman in the window is Clarisse.

If stuck

• What is waiting at the foot of the stairs?
• How does Montag come down the stairs to it?
• Why might a good thing frighten someone who has never had it?

A strong answer A strong response might say he fears the world itself: after a life behind walls and a night on every screen, being “so fully aware of the world” is new, and new things frighten, the way the river was “a reality that was unreal because it was new”. Another might say he fears the answer: the milk is only “Some sign that the immense world would accept him”, and a man who “burnt things with the firemen” may not believe he will be accepted, which is why he would “stand over the small miracle and at last bend to touch it.” A careful answer may notice that no one is there to give the gift, so no one watches him take it, and may ask what a man has been missing if a glass of milk and an apple feel like a miracle.

What it asks It asks the student to test what “burning” means. At Faber’s, with the Hound already smelling his flamethrower, Montag says, “There’s no use your being discovered. When I leave, burn the spread of this bed, that I touched. Burn the chair in the living room, in your wall incinerator. Wipe down the furniture with alcohol, wipe the door-knobs. Burn the throwrug in the parlour.” He adds, “With any luck at all, we can kill the trail in here, anyway…” Soon after, floating in the river, “he knew why he must never burn again in his life.” He thinks, “The world was full of burning of all types and sizes”, and that “Somewhere the saving and putting away had to begin again”. The student decides whether the Montag of the river would still give that order. 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 exactly Montag is giving up. Do not explain the sun-and-time idea for the student.

One reading

Yes. The fire at Faber’s saves a man and wipes out a trail; it destroys nothing worth keeping. What Montag gives up in the river is the burning that destroys what should be saved: books, records, what is in people’s heads.

• There’s no use your being discovered.
• Somewhere the saving and putting away had to begin again

Another reading

No. Never means never. His own river thought says the world is full of burning of every size, and a chair in an incinerator is one of them. If someone has to stop, the stopping has to reach the small fires too.

• he knew why he must never burn again in his life
• The world was full of burning of all types and sizes.

Listen for

• Quotes Montag’s orders at Faber’s and the river thought, not only one of them.
• Notices what each fire is for: to hide, to protect, to destroy.
• Notices that “burn” comes three times in Montag’s orders.
• States the strongest case for another reading and answers it, in complete sentences.

If stuck

• What does Montag tell Faber to burn, and why?
• In the river, what does Montag say has to begin again?
• Is all fire the same, or does it depend on what it is used for?

A strong answer A strong response takes a position and tests it. A student might argue he would still give it: at Faber’s the fire saves a man, since “There’s no use your being discovered”, and burns nothing worth keeping, while what Montag gives up is the burning that destroys what must be kept, now that “the saving and putting away had to begin again”. Another might argue he would not: he knew he “must never burn again in his life”, and his own thought in the river says “The world was full of burning of all types and sizes”, a chair in an incinerator among them. A careful answer may ask whether Montag’s promise is about fire at all, or about what fire is used to destroy.

What it asks It asks the student to judge how Bradbury writes the two halves of the night. The chase is full of the body and of noise: “Leg out, leg down, leg out and down.” “His throat was burnt rust and his eyes were wept dry with running.” The police count to ten, and doorknobs turn on five thousand doors. Yet Montag sees it in screen words: “Twenty million Montags running, running like an ancient flickery Keystone Comedy”, a “fascinating seance”, and he must remind himself it is “no fictional episode”. At the river, “He touched it, just to be sure it was real.” Floating, “He felt as if he had left a stage behind and many actors.” He is moving “from an unreality that was frightening into a reality that was unreal because it was new.” “The river was very real; it held him comfortably”. The stars, out for the first time in a dozen years, “threaten to roll over and crush him”, and at the end the land knocks him down: “Too much land!” The student decides which part Bradbury makes more real. 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: whether the river is the right place to trust a thought. Do not treat the river as scenery, and do not end on calm.

One reading

The river. Bradbury writes the chase as a show, a comedy, a seance; the river is the first thing Montag has to touch to believe. There his heart slows and he thinks his own thought.

• He touched it, just to be sure it was real.
• The river was very real; it held him comfortably

Another reading

The chase. It is written in his body, in a burning throat and dry eyes and the count to ten. The river is so new it feels unreal, the stars frighten him, and the land knocks him flat.

• His throat was burnt rust and his eyes were wept dry with running.
• a reality that was unreal because it was new

Listen for

• Uses words from both the chase and the river.
• Notices that Montag himself calls the river’s reality “unreal because it was new”.
• Hears the screen words in the chase: “stage”, “actors”, “seance”, “Keystone Comedy”.
• States the strongest case for another reading and answers it, in complete sentences, and does not stop on calm: the reading ends with “Too much land!”

If stuck

• What does Montag do first when he reaches the river?
• What words does Montag use for the chase while he is running it?
• Can something feel unreal because it is new, and still be real?

A strong answer A strong response takes a position and tests it. A student might argue the river is more real: Bradbury writes the chase as “a stage” with “many actors”, a “Keystone Comedy,” a “seance”, while at the river Montag “touched it, just to be sure it was real”, and “The river was very real”. Another might argue the chase is more real: it lives in his body, “His throat was burnt rust and his eyes were wept dry with running”, while the river is “a reality that was unreal because it was new”, the stars threaten to crush him, and the land knocks him down. A careful answer may notice that the realest moment of all may be the last one, “Too much land!”, and may ask whether something can be real and still be more than a person can take in at once.

What it asks This is the last question the student meets, and it gathers the earlier ones: what Montag was saving up all those years; what Montag enjoys as he watches his own hunt; how fair his picture of the grey faces at the doors is; who his sadness at the shore is for; what there is to fear in a glass of milk and some fruit; whether the Montag of the river would still order the fire at Faber’s; and which part of the night Bradbury makes more real. Now the student tests Montag’s own reasoning. The river “held him comfortably and gave him the time at last, the leisure, to consider this month, this year, and a lifetime of years.” “His thoughts stopped rushing with his blood.” He looks at the moon and asks what lights it, and what lights the sun: “Its own fire.” Then: “The sun burned every day. It burned Time. The world rushed in a circle and turned on its axis and time was busy burning the years and the people anyway, without any help from him. So if he burnt things with the firemen, and the sun burnt Time, that meant that everything burned!” “One of them had to stop burning. The sun wouldn’t, certainly.” “Somewhere the saving and putting away had to begin again”, “in books, in records, in people’s heads, any way at all so long as it was safe, free from moths, silver-fish, rust and dry-rot, and men with matches.” The student writes a judgment with evidence, in complete sentences, and answers the strongest objection. Do not explain the sun-and-time idea for the student; let them test it. Do not say the Hound has lost Montag for good, that Faber reaches St. Louis, that the woman in the dream is Clarisse, or anything about the people along the tracks.

One reading

A good reason. If time already burns everything, the firemen only add to the loss, and nothing is left unless someone keeps it. The sun cannot stop, so a man can, and must. It is also the first reason Montag has reached on his own, with time to think.

• One of them had to stop burning. The sun wouldn’t, certainly.
• Somewhere the saving and putting away had to begin again

Another reading

Not a good reason, or not enough of one. The same facts could argue the other way: if time burns everything anyway, what Montag does makes no difference. He did not need the sun to know that burning books and houses was wrong; the reasons are in the people this reading has shown.

• time was busy burning the years and the people anyway, without any help from him
• The world was full of burning of all types and sizes.

Listen for

• Follows the steps of Montag’s thought in order: the moon, the sun, time, everything burns, someone must stop.
• Notices “anyway, without any help from him”, and asks which way it points.
• Notices what the river gave him first: “the time at last, the leisure”, and says whether that makes the thought more or less trustworthy.
• States the strongest objection and answers it, in complete sentences.

If stuck

• What does Montag say the sun burns?
• If everything burns anyway, why does someone have to stop?
• Is a good reason the same thing as a true one?

A strong answer A strong response takes a position and tests it. A student might argue it is a good reason: time already burns “the years and the people”, so every fire the firemen light only adds to a loss nobody can undo, and since “The sun wouldn’t, certainly”, someone has to begin “the saving and putting away”; it is also the first reason Montag has reached on his own, given “the leisure” to think. Another might argue it is not enough: the same facts could say his choice makes no difference, since time burns everything “anyway, without any help from him”, and he did not need the moon and the sun to know that burning books and houses was wrong. A careful answer may grant both and notice that the thought turns from stopping to keeping, “in books, in records, in people’s heads,” and may ask whether Montag’s real reason is the sun, or the saving that the sun makes urgent.