Part Two, Reading 2 · The Sieve and the Sand

Fahrenheit 451

Pathfinders · 7th–9th

Copywork

I’m the Queen Bee, safe in the hive. You will be the drone, the travelling ear. Eventually, I could put out ears into all parts of the city, with various men, listening and evaluating. If the drones die, I’m still safe at home, tending my fright with a maximum of comfort and a minimum of chance. See how safe I play it, how contemptible I am?

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. The hands tore the flyleaf and then the first and then the second page.

Read both passages aloud. Which man seems braver to you in these lines?

For the educator Two passages; copy them as shown. The first is Faber explaining the green radio he has just shown Montag. It is built on one picture, a beehive, and keeps to it: “the Queen Bee, safe in the hive,” “the drone,” and later “the drones.” The first two sentences each name a part and then add a phrase after a comma that says what the part means: “safe in the hive,” “the travelling ear.” Point out that this edition spells “travelling” with two l’s. The third sentence opens with “Eventually,” set off by a comma, and ends on two -ing words joined by “and,” “listening and evaluating.” The fourth opens with an “if” clause set off by a comma, then adds a participial phrase, “tending my fright,” and closes on a matched pair, “a maximum of comfort and a minimum of chance”; have the student hear how the two halves balance. The last is a question built on a repeated “how.” The passage holds the vocabulary word “contemptible.” The second passage is the start of the tearing. The first sentence is plain. In the second, the subject, “His hands,” is held apart from its verb, “began,” by two phrases, each set off by commas; have the student read it without them and hear what is lost. The third repeats “and then” instead of using commas, so the pages go one at a time. Ask the student to notice the first word of the third sentence and say what it does; do not say it first. The passage holds the vocabulary word “flyleaf.” 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 Faber, who names his own cowardice out loud and has built something dangerous. Others will choose Montag, who acts while Faber stays safe at home. Some will notice that Faber calls himself contemptible even as he plans to keep safe, and that the tearing is told as if no one chose it. Let them find this for themselves.

Discussion

Narration Tell the reading back in order, from the voices at Faber’s door to Montag walking home with the Book of Job in his ear. Then pick the moment where the night turns, and say how Bradbury makes it stand out.

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

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

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

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

Make a Connection Think of someone whose advice you often take, such as a coach, a friend or someone in your family. How can you tell whether you are still thinking for yourself?

Vocabulary

saccharine He’s a regular peppermint stick now, all sugar-crystal and saccharine when he isn’t making veiled references to certain commercial products that every worshipper absolutely needs.Too sweet, in a way that feels false. Faber says the parlours have made Christ into a sugary figure who sells things.

intuitively You are intuitively right, that’s what counts.By feel, before you can explain or prove it. Faber says Montag is right about what is missing even though he cannot yet say why.

profusion You’d find life under the glass, streaming past in infinite profusion.A great, overflowing amount. Under Faber’s imagined microscope, a good page pours out more life than anyone could count.

mediocre The mediocre ones run a quick hand over her.Only ordinary; not very good. Faber’s mediocre writers touch life lightly and quickly, and do not stay to look.

insidious It’s an insidious plan, if I do say so myself.Harmful in a quiet, sneaky way that spreads before anyone notices. Faber’s plan would hide books in firemen’s houses so that suspicion grows from inside.

flyleaf The hands tore the flyleaf and then the first and then the second page.A blank page at the very front or back of a book, before or after the printed pages. It is the first page Montag tears.

advantageous And the Government, seeing how advantageous it was to have people reading only about passionate lips and the fist in the stomach, circled the situation with your fire-eaters.Useful; giving someone a gain or an edge. Faber says the Government saw that it helped them when people read only about kisses and fights.

contemptible See how safe I play it, how contemptible I am?Deserving to be looked down on. Faber uses the word for himself, for staying safe at home while someone else takes the risk.

Critical thinking

1. At the front door, Faber admits he would have let Montag walk right out. What made Faber say “Come along” instead?

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?

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?