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Fahrenheit 451
Pathfinders · 7th–9th
Montag tears the Bible to make Faber help him. Was that a fair way to win, or did he act like the fireman he wants to stop being?
The tension Faber calls himself a coward who “did not speak and thus became guilty myself,” and is moved only when Montag rips pages from the Bible and says “I’m a fireman. I can burn you!”; Montag, who wins by force, then worries “I don’t want to change sides and just be told what to do.”
Montag carries the Bible to Faber’s door, hears why books once mattered, rips pages to force the old man’s help, and walks home with Faber’s voice in his ear.
Montag knocks at Faber’s door at night, and the old man lets him in only after Montag swears he is alone. Faber is pale and frightened until his eyes touch the book under Montag’s arm, and he hurries to shut a bedroom door on a desk of tools. Montag says he stole the Bible. Faber calls him brave; Montag says no: his wife is dying, a friend is dead, and someone who may have been a friend was burnt less than a day ago. Faber reads and smells the book, then confesses that he is a coward who saw where things were going and said nothing. Montag says nobody listens any more, and asks Faber to teach him to understand what he reads. Faber says it is not books he needs but some of the things once in them, and names three things that are missing: quality of information, a page that “has pores,” with the legend of Hercules and Antaeus; leisure, which is time to think and not just off-hours; and the right to act on what we learn. Montag says he can get books, and that when you have nothing to lose you run any risk; Faber laughs that he said an interesting thing without having read it. Montag begins a plan to print books, and Faber says he will ask him to leave. Then Faber jokes about hiding books in firemen’s houses, and Montag takes the joke seriously. Faber paces and calls it an insidious plan, but he says the whole culture is shot through: the public stopped reading of its own accord, and the firemen are hardly necessary. Bombers pass over. Faber tells Montag to go home, says he cares so much he is sick, and says good night. Montag’s hands pick up the Bible and start tearing pages. Faber cries out, and Montag says he is a fireman and can burn him. Faber gives in and agrees to teach him, and Montag smooths the pages flat. Faber asks for money, tells of an unemployed printer and of the years when nobody missed the dying newspapers, and hopes the war might break the pattern. Montag says he is afraid Captain Beatty will talk him back the way he was; Faber says those who don’t build must burn, and there is some of it in all of us. At the front door Montag asks for help with the Captain tonight. After a long silence and two deep breaths Faber admits he would have let Montag walk out, and shows him what is in the bedroom: a tiny green radio he built and has kept ready for months. With it in Montag’s ear, Faber can listen from home, the Queen Bee safe in the hive, and give Montag things to say. He asks whether Montag hates him for his cowardice; Montag says, “We all do what we do,” and leaves the Bible with him, meaning to hand in a substitute. Under a sky that feels ready for war, Montag walks home with the money. The radio says a million men are mobilized, and Faber whispers that it is ten million. Montag says he is only doing what he is told, like always, and does not want to change sides just to be told what to do. Faber offers to read to him at night, and begins the Book of Job as the moon rises.
Before reading, ask the student what they would want from a teacher if learning were against the law. Read aloud from the opening to “Faber closed the Bible.” and stop: ask what the old man is confessing, and why now. Read on to “Good night, good night.” and stop again: ask what Montag can do next, now that Faber has said no. Read the tearing slowly, to “All right, all right.”, and let the student sit with it before saying anything. Then read to the end without stopping. Do not make Faber the wise teacher with all the answers; he calls himself a coward, a “cowardly old fool,” and “contemptible.” Do not treat the tearing as either heroic or plain bullying; the reading shows the threat and the pages smoothed flat. Do not say that Beatty is on their side, that the plans work, that the war will come, or how Montag fares at the firehouse; the reading says none of these.
Retell The student tells the reading back in three parts. First the door: the voices, Faber’s fear, the shut bedroom, “I stole it,” and the confession over the Bible. Then the talk: what Montag wants, the three missing things (the page with pores and Antaeus, leisure, the right to act), “nothing to lose,” the printing plan, the joke about firemen’s houses, “The public itself stopped reading,” the bombers, and “Good night, good night.” Last, what Montag does: the tearing and the threat, the pages smoothed flat, the printer, “So that’s what I am,” the plea at the front door, the green radio, the Bible left with Faber, and the walk home with the war in the sky and Job in his ear. Ask for three or four sentences for each part, in order.
Imitate the author After copying, the student writes five sentences built like the first passage, about a plan in which they stay safe and someone else takes the risk: two short sentences that each name a role and add a phrase after a comma saying what it means; a sentence that opens with a word like “Eventually,” and ends on two -ing words joined by “and”; a sentence that opens with an “if” clause and closes on a matched pair, like “a maximum of comfort and a minimum of chance”; and a last question built on a repeated “how.” Then three sentences built like the second passage, about a moment when their body moved before their mind did: a plain sentence of waiting; a sentence whose subject is held apart from its verb by two phrases set off by commas; and a sentence that moves one step at a time with “and then.”
Debate Take sides on the last written question. First make two lists together. Reasons it was fair: Faber had already said good night, and even after giving in he admits he would have let Montag walk out; he calls himself a coward who “did not speak”; Montag smoothed the pages flat and later put the Bible in Faber’s hands; the threat hurt no one, and it got a frightened man to act. Reasons he acted like a fireman: “Who can stop me? I’m a fireman. I can burn you!”; Faber “sprang up, as if he had been struck”; the book may be one of the last; Montag’s own “So that’s what I am”; and he goes home worried about being told what to do. One side argues each, with a reason and a line from the reading, then they switch. Neither side may say how Montag fares with Beatty.
Purpose Close on where the reading stops: Montag walking home, Faber reading the Book of Job into his ear, and “his lips moving just a trifle.” Ask why Bradbury ends on a quiet voice and moving lips rather than at the firehouse. Then go back to Faber’s hope for the printer: “In silence, our stage-whisper might carry.” Ask whether a whisper in one man’s ear is the stage-whisper he meant. If the student knows the story of Job, ask why Faber might begin there; the reading does not say, and no answer depends on it.
Easier Read aloud together from “Montag’s hands picked up the Bible.” to “All right, all right.” Talk through the fourth discussion question (how much of the tearing is Montag’s own choice). Then answer the last written question aloud, starting from what Montag shouts at Faber and what he does with the pages afterwards.
On level Talk through the four discussion questions in order, then have the student write answers to the three written questions in complete sentences: a claim, two pieces of evidence from 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. Faber says “the firemen are rarely necessary,” because “The public itself stopped reading of its own accord.” Yet the threat that breaks him is “I’m a fireman. I can burn you!” Ask why a fireman’s threat still works on a man who thinks firemen hardly matter, using only the reading. The answer must not say how Montag fares with Beatty.
1. When the firemen started burning books, Faber “grunted a few times” and then went quiet, because no one was yelling with him. What difference could one more voice have made?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks the student to weigh Faber’s confession against his own account of how the books went. Over the Bible he says, “Mr. Montag, you are looking at a coward. I saw the way things were going, a long time back. I said nothing.” He is one of the innocents who “did not speak and thus became guilty myself,” and when the burning came, “I grunted a few times and subsided, for there were no others grunting or yelling with me, by then.” Later the same man says the firemen are “rarely necessary,” because “The public itself stopped reading of its own accord.” The student decides what one more voice could have done. It takes up one part of the last written question: Faber’s silence is the reason Montag has to push him at all. Do not make Faber simply wise or simply a villain; he judges himself harder than anyone else in the reading does.
Very little. Faber says the people gave up reading on their own, before the firemen mattered. When the newspapers died, no one wanted them back. One more grunt would not have changed that.
The public itself stopped reading of its own accord.
No one wanted them back. No one missed them.
A real one. Faber went quiet because the others had gone quiet, and he says most of the few rebels scare easily, as he did. Each voice that stops makes the next one easier to stop.
for there were no others grunting or yelling with me, by then
And out of those few, most, like myself, scare easily.
A strong answer A strong response might say very little: Faber himself says “The public itself stopped reading of its own accord,” and that when the newspapers died “No one missed them,” so one more grunt would have changed nothing outside Faber himself. Another might say a real difference: Faber stopped because “there were no others grunting or yelling with me, by then,” and he says the few rebels mostly “scare easily,” so each voice that goes quiet makes the next one easier to silence. A careful answer may notice that Faber still calls himself guilty, which means he thinks his voice would have counted for something, and may ask what one stubborn voice does at Faber’s own table before the night is out.
2. Faber names three things people are missing: real detail about life, time to think, and the right to act on what they learn. Which of them, if any, could Faber give Montag?Theme
What it asks It asks the student to use Faber’s three things as a measure of what help can do, not as a list. Montag has asked, “I want you to teach me to understand what I read.” Faber answers, “It’s not books you need, it’s some of the things that once were in books,” and says books could help “Only if the third necessary thing could be given us. Number one, as I said, quality of information. Number two: leisure to digest it. And number three: the right to carry out actions based on what we learn from the inter-action of the first two.” Quality is the page that “has pores”; leisure is not “off-hours” but “time to think.” The student decides which of the three, if any, one man could hand to another. It takes up one part of the last written question: what Montag wins by force can only be what Faber is able to give. Do not let the three things become a list to recite, and do not say the printer plan works.
Only the first. Faber can find the printer and read to Montag, so he can pass on words worth having. Time to think and the right to act are not things one man can hand to another.
I’ll see the unemployed printer, yes; that much I can do.
I’ll read so you can remember.
None of them. Montag can get books himself and already thinks without having read them. Faber doubts an old man can do much, and the right to act is something Montag has to take on his own.
I can get books.
And I hardly think a very old man and a fireman turned sour could do much this late in the game…
A strong answer A strong response might say only the first: Faber can see “the unemployed printer, yes; that much I can do,” and on the walk home he offers, “I’ll read so you can remember”; time to think and the right to act are not his to hand over. Another might say none: Montag says “I can get books,” he says an interesting thing “without having read it!”, and Faber doubts that “a very old man and a fireman turned sour could do much this late in the game.” A careful answer may notice that Faber has the time Montag lacks (“I go to bed only five hours a night. Nothing to do.”) and still calls himself a coward, that reading Montag “to sleep” may leave him little time to think, and that the right to act is the one thing Montag seems to take for himself when he tears the pages. It may also ask the same question of Mildred, who “listens to the walls.”
3. When Montag takes Faber’s joke about planting books as a real plan, Faber looks at him “as if he were seeing a new man.” What does Faber see?Character
What it asks It asks the student to read Faber’s face at one turn in the talk. Montag starts to tell his plan to print books, and Faber threatens to send him away. Then Faber jokes that if Montag suggested printing books “and arrange to have them hidden in firemen’s houses all over the country,” he would say “bravo.” Montag answers at once: “Plant the books, turn in an alarm, and see the firemen’s houses burn, is that what you mean?” “Faber raised his brows and looked at Montag as if he were seeing a new man. ‘I was joking.’” Soon Faber is pacing and calls it “an insidious plan, if I do say so myself.” The student decides who the new man is. It takes up one part of the last written question: whether the man who will act is still thinking like a fireman. Do not say the plan works; nothing is done yet, and Faber himself asks, “who else will set the fires?”
A man who will act. Faber has only talked and grunted for years, and here is someone who hears a joke and is ready to do it. That is why Faber is soon on his feet.
Faber got up and began to pace the room.
It’s an insidious plan, if I do say so myself.
A fireman. Montag goes straight to alarms and burning houses, the work he knows. Faber sees how fast the fireman in him turns a joke into a fire, and backs away.
Plant the books, turn in an alarm, and see the firemen’s houses burn, is that what you mean?
I was joking.
A strong answer A strong response might say Faber sees a man who will act: he has “grunted a few times and subsided” for years, and here is someone who takes a joke and is ready to carry it out, so Faber gets up and paces and calls it “an insidious plan.” Another might say Faber sees a fireman: Montag’s first thought is “turn in an alarm, and see the firemen’s houses burn,” and Faber answers, “I was joking.” A careful answer may notice that once Faber warms to the plan, he too talks about fires (“You and I and who else will set the fires?”), and ask whether Faber also becomes a new man here.
4. Bradbury says Montag’s hands tear the Bible “by themselves, like two men working together.” How much of the tearing is Montag’s own choice?Author's choice
What it asks It asks the student to look at how the tearing is told. Faber says good night twice. “Montag’s hands picked up the Bible. He saw what his hands had done and he looked surprised.” He asks, “Would you like to own this?” and Faber says, “I’d give my right arm.” “Montag stood there and waited for the next thing to happen. His hands, by themselves, like two men working together, began to rip the pages from the book.” Faber springs up and falls against him; Montag holds him off, tears six more pages, and wads them “under Faber’s gaze.” Then: “Who can stop me? I’m a fireman. I can burn you!” The student decides how far the choice is Montag’s. It takes up one part of the last written question: before judging whether the tearing was fair, decide who did it. Do not settle here whether it was fair; that is the last question’s work.
Very little. The hands move first and Montag watches them. He is surprised by what they do and waits to see what comes next, as if it were happening to him.
He saw what his hands had done and he looked surprised.
Montag stood there and waited for the next thing to happen.
Most of it. He asks Faber what the book is worth to him before he tears it, and he wads the pages where Faber can see. The words he shouts are his own.
Would you like to own this?
He picked them up and wadded the paper under Faber’s gaze.
A strong answer A strong response might say very little: Montag “looked surprised” at his own hands and “waited for the next thing to happen,” so the tearing comes out of him before he has chosen it. Another might say most of it: he first asks, “Would you like to own this?”, he wads the pages “under Faber’s gaze,” and “I’m a fireman. I can burn you!” is said in his own voice. A careful answer may notice that the second sentence says “His hands” and the next says “The hands,” as if they stopped being his, and that “two men working together” sounds like a crew of firemen; it may also notice that the smoothing is told differently: “He began to unwad the crumpled paper,” not his hands.
1. At the front door, Faber admits he would have let Montag walk right out. What made Faber say “Come along” instead?
What it asks It asks the student to find the moment Faber changes, which is not as plain as it looks. After the torn pages, Faber sinks into a chair: “Don’t make me feel any more tired. What do you want?” “I need you to teach me.” “All right, all right.” He asks for money and talks of a printer. But at the front door, Montag asks for help with the Captain tonight: “I need an umbrella to keep off the rain. I’m so damned afraid I’ll drown if he gets me again.” Faber says nothing, glances at his bedroom, and breathes twice. Only then: “Come along. I would actually have let you walk right out of my house. I am a cowardly old fool.” Inside is a radio he has had ready “for months.” The student writes a judgment with evidence, in complete sentences, and answers the strongest case for another reading. It takes up one part of the last written question: if something besides the threat moved Faber, the threat did not win the night alone. Do not make Faber simply wise; he calls himself a fool and a coward.
The torn pages. Once Montag showed he would destroy the book, Faber gave in. Everything after, the printer and the radio, follows from “All right, all right.”
Don’t make me feel any more tired. What do you want?
Faber shook his head as if he were waking up.
Montag’s fear. The bedroom door opens only after Montag says he is afraid of drowning, and Faber has to breathe twice before he can move. Pity, not the threat, opened the door.
I’m so damned afraid I’ll drown if he gets me again.
The old man took a deep breath, held it, and let it out.
A strong answer A strong response takes a position and tests it. A student might argue the torn pages: Faber’s “Don’t make me feel any more tired” is a man giving in, and he “shook his head as if he were waking up” before he says another word. Another might argue Montag’s fear: Faber agreed to teach, but the bedroom door, the thing he hid when Montag came in, opens only after Montag says he is “afraid I’ll drown,” and only after two long breaths. A careful answer may weigh a third thing, Faber himself, who has waited “trembling, half a lifetime for someone to speak to me” and says he could not guess whether Montag would come “with fire or friendship”; on this night Montag came with both.
2. Faber tells Montag, “don’t look to be saved in any one thing, person, machine, or library.” Is the voice in Montag’s ear the kind of help Faber warned him against?
What it asks It asks the student to test Faber against his own advice. Early in the night he says, “Don’t ask for guarantees. And don’t look to be saved in any one thing, person, machine, or library. Do your own bit of saving, and if you drown, at least die knowing you were headed for shore.” Later he gives Montag a green radio “no larger than a 22 bullet” and says, “I’m the Queen Bee, safe in the hive. You will be the drone, the travelling ear.” On the walk home Montag says, “I’m not thinking. I’m just doing like I’m told, like always,” and Faber answers, “You’ll have to take me on faith.” Montag: “I took the others on faith!” and “I don’t want to change sides and just be told what to do.” Then, a moment later: “Keep talking.” The student writes a judgment with evidence, in complete sentences, and answers the strongest objection. It takes up one part of the last written question: what Montag has won, once he has won Faber. Do not say how Montag fares with Beatty using Faber’s voice, or that Beatty is on their side; Faber only says “He could be one of us. God knows.”
Yes. It is one man, through one machine, asking Montag to follow without seeing. Faber even says he must travel blind. That is the kind of saving Faber told him not to look for.
You’ll have to take me on faith.
You’ll have to travel blind for a while.
No. Faber tells him he has already started thinking, and praises him for doubting. The voice is for a while, and Montag is the one who has to walk into the firehouse.
You’ve started already, by saying what you just said.
You’re wise already!
A strong answer A strong response takes a position and tests it. A student might argue yes: Faber offers himself through a machine, promises “I’ll give you things to say,” and asks to be taken “on faith,” to “travel blind for a while,” which is what Montag did with “the others.” Another might argue no: Faber tells him “You’ve started already” and “You’re wise already!”, he corrects the radio’s easy “one million” to “Ten million men mobilized,” and what he offers on the walk home is to read to Montag. A careful answer may notice that Montag asks for the voice himself, “Keep talking,” right after saying he does not want to be told what to do, and ask whether choosing a voice to listen to is still doing your own bit of saving.
3. Montag tears the Bible to make Faber help him. Was that a fair way to win, or did he act like the fireman he wants to stop being?
What it asks This is the last question the student meets, and it gathers the earlier ones: what difference one more voice could have made when Faber went quiet; which of Faber’s three missing things, if any, Faber could give Montag; what Faber sees when Montag turns a joke into a plan; how much of the tearing is Montag’s own choice; what made Faber say “Come along” after admitting he would have let Montag walk out; and whether the voice in Montag’s ear is the kind of help Faber warned against. Now the student judges the whole of it. Faber has said good night. Montag tears the flyleaf and eight more pages while Faber cries, “Don’t, oh, don’t!” He says, “Who can stop me? I’m a fireman. I can burn you!” Faber gives in. Then Montag “began to unwad the crumpled paper and flatten it out as the old man watched tiredly.” Later Montag tells Faber that a week ago, pumping kerosene, he thought, “God, what fun!”; Faber says, “Those who don’t build must burn,” and Montag answers, “So that’s what I am.” The student writes a judgment with evidence, in complete sentences, and answers the strongest objection. Do not treat the tearing as simply heroic or simply bullying; the reading shows both the threat and the smoothing. Do not say how Montag fares with Beatty, or that the plans work.
Fair enough. Faber had said good night to a man asking for help, and even after giving in he admits he would have let Montag walk out. Talk had failed. Montag smoothed the pages and later gave the book away. A threat that hurts no one and gets a coward to act may be fair.
Montag put the book down. He began to unwad the crumpled paper and flatten it out as the old man watched tiredly.
I would actually have let you walk right out of my house. I am a cowardly old fool.
He acted like a fireman. He used the one power a fireman has, the power to burn, against an old man who was afraid, and he destroyed pages of a book that may be one of the last. Montag himself sees it later.
Who can stop me? I’m a fireman. I can burn you!
So that’s what I am.
A strong answer A strong response takes a position and tests it. A student might argue it was fair enough: Faber had said “Good night, good night” to a man who came asking to be taught, he admits he “would actually have let you walk right out,” and once he gives in, Montag flattens the pages and later puts the Bible in his hands. Another might argue Montag acted like a fireman: “Who can stop me? I’m a fireman. I can burn you!” uses the badge’s power against a frightened old man, and when Faber says “Those who don’t build must burn,” Montag answers, “So that’s what I am.” A careful answer may notice that Faber does not let that stand (“There’s some of it in all of us”), and that Montag ends the night worried that he will “change sides and just be told what to do,” which asks whether winning by force leaves him any freer than before.