Part Two, Reading 1 · The Sieve and the Sand

Fahrenheit 451

Pathfinders · 7th–9th

Copywork

His name was Faber, and when he finally lost his fear of Montag, he talked in a cadenced voice, looking at the sky and the trees and the green park, and when an hour had passed he said something to Montag and Montag sensed it was a rhymeless poem. Then the old man grew even more courageous and said something else and that was a poem, too. Faber held his hand over his left coat-pocket and spoke these words gently, and Montag knew if he reached out, he might pull a book of poetry from the man’s coat. But he did not reach out. His hands stayed on his knees, numbed and useless.

Once as a child he had sat upon a yellow dune by the sea in the middle of the blue and hot summer day, trying to fill a sieve with sand, because some cruel cousin had said, “Fill this sieve and you’ll get a dime!” And the faster he poured, the faster it sifted through with a hot whispering. His hands were tired, the sand was boiling, the sieve was empty. Seated there in the midst of July, without a sound, he felt the tears move down his cheeks.

Read both passages aloud. In which one does Montag come closer to getting what he wants?

For the educator Two passages; copy them as shown. The first is Montag’s memory of the park a year ago. Its first sentence is long and loose, the way Faber talks: four clauses chained by “and,” with a participial phrase in the middle (“looking at the sky and the trees and the green park”) whose list is joined by “and” rather than commas. The second keeps the same easy chain of “and.” The third turns on “and Montag knew if he reached out,” with a comma before the result. Then two short sentences, six words and nine, land the choice: “But he did not reach out.” Point out the hyphen in “coat-pocket” and the apostrophe in “man’s.” The passage holds the vocabulary word “cadenced.” The second passage is the memory Montag has on the subway. Its first sentence sets the scene with a long run of places and times, turns on the participle “trying,” and ends with what the cousin said, a quotation with its own exclamation mark inside the closing quotation mark. The next sentence opens with “And” and is built on “the faster …, the faster …”. The third is three short clauses joined by commas alone, which Bradbury chose for the breathless list; point it out as a choice, not a rule. The last opens with a participial phrase, “Seated there in the midst of July,” and sets “without a sound” off with commas. It holds the vocabulary word “sieve.” For imitation, have the student read a passage twice, set it aside, rebuild it from memory, and then compare. The talk prompt has more than one answer. Some students will choose the park: Montag sits still and the poems come to him through a man’s voice. Others will choose the dune: the boy at least tries, and the park ends with his hands “numbed and useless.” Some will notice that his hands fail him in both, kept still in one and worn out in the other. Let them find this for themselves; do not name it first.

Discussion

Narration Tell the reading back in order, from the rainy afternoon in the hall to Montag running up the tunnel. Then pick one sound in the reading, such as the rain, the bombers, the phone or the jingle, and say what Bradbury uses it for.

1. Montag reads aloud in the hall all afternoon, and Mildred says, “there isn’t anybody!” Why doesn’t he count as somebody to her?Character

2. Montag hopes the books can get them “half out of the cave.” Why not all the way out?Theme

3. In the park a year ago, Montag knew he might pull a book of poems from Faber’s coat. What kept his hands on his knees?Character

4. After Montag asks if Mildred’s ‘family’ loves her “with all their heart and soul,” he wants to cry. Who was he really asking about?Inference

5. As a boy, Montag cried over the sieve “without a sound,” but on the train he shouts out loud. What has changed?Author's choice

Make a Connection Think of one thing you learned from a person and one thing you learned from a book on your own. What did each way of learning give you?

Vocabulary

sieve Once as a child he had sat upon a yellow dune by the sea in the middle of the blue and hot summer day, trying to fill a sieve with sand, because some cruel cousin had said, “Fill this sieve and you’ll get a dime!”A tool full of small holes that lets fine things through and catches larger ones. Montag remembers trying to fill one with sand, which ran straight out.

teem He stared at the parlour that was dead and grey as the waters of an ocean that might teem with life if they switched on the electronic sun.To be full of living things, crowded and swarming. Montag sees the dark parlour as a grey ocean that would fill with life only when someone switches it on.

cadenced His name was Faber, and when he finally lost his fear of Montag, he talked in a cadenced voice, looking at the sky and the trees and the green park, and when an hour had passed he said something to Montag and Montag sensed it was a rhymeless poem.Having a steady rise and fall, like music or verse. Faber’s speech has the beat of a poem even before Montag hears one.

monologue An hour of monologue, a poem, a comment, and then without even acknowledging the fact that Montag was a fireman, Faber with a certain trembling, wrote his address on a slip of paper.A long speech by one person while others listen. In the park, Faber talks for an hour and Montag mostly listens.

suffused In the hall Mildred’s face was suffused with excitement.Spread through and filled, the way colour or light fills something. The news that the ladies are coming lights up Mildred’s whole face.

retaliation The train radio vomited upon Montag, in retaliation, a great ton-load of music made of tin, copper, silver, chromium, and brass.Striking back at someone who has struck at you. Bradbury writes as if the radio hits back at Montag for shouting at it.

Critical thinking

1. A line about friendship reaches Montag in the hall, but on the train “Consider the lilies of the field” slips through. What made the difference?

2. Suppose every line of the Bible stuck in Montag’s head, the way the jingle sticks in the passengers’ heads. What would he have then?

3. Montag has the books now, yet he goes looking for Faber. Can a book speak to him on its own, or does he need a person beside him?