Fahrenheit 451 Journal #2

Pages 85-92

“Montag leaned forward. ‘This afternoon I thought that if it turned out that books were worthwhile, we might get a press and print some extra copies—‘ ‘ We?’, page85”

You can tall the Montag really wants to make a difference. He wants to change society and show them that there is more to life. Before he didn’t care much. But after he met Clarisse it all changed. So I think it’s a good thing that he wants to make extra copies of the book.

“Patience, Montag. Let the war turn off the ‘families.’ Our civilization is flinging itself to pieces. Stand back from the centrifuge, page 87.”

Faber should just go do what Montag is telling him. It’s his time to make a difference. He shouldn’t just be sitting there watching the world destroy itself. And he said he wanted it to change. So he should follow what Montag telling him, and stop is being stubborn about it.

Pages 93-100

“What’ve you got there; isn’t that a book? I thought that all special training these days was done by film, page 97.”

Why does Montag take out the book to show to his guests? I mean since him and Faber are trying to change society. I don’t see why he can’t keep it to himself, and just do what Faber tells him. Instead he goes off and telling and showing people. I think that he is making bad choices. I get that he wants to change society but he hasn’t really planned it out.

“The others in the middle of the desert watched her crying very loud as her face squeezed itself out of shape. They sat, not toughing her, bewildered with her display. She sobbed uncontrollably. Montag himself was stunned and shaken, page 100.”

It was rude for Montag to make Mrs. Phelps cry. Yea, she doesn’t get what she’s saying but that doesn’t give him a reason to go snap at her like that. If she was happy he shouldn’t go ruin her happiness. I know he wants to change, but he is going way to fast. And he hasn’t fully planned out what he is going to do yet.

Pages 101-108

“‘Silly words, silly words, silly awful hurting words,’ said Mrs. Bowles, page 101.”

It isn’t the books who are necessarily hurting people its people. I get that Mrs. Bowles is saying that people hurt people but she meant that they are hurting people through books. People hurt people from the words spoken from their own mind. Who state their opinions. People in their society have everything so mixed up. And they don’t even realize it.

“Stop blushing. I’m not needling, really I’m not. Do you know, I had a dream an hour ago…, page 106”

Beatty is needling Montag. He is trying to confuse Montag to tell him the truth. And Montag needs to stay strong and not listen to Beatty at all. He just needs to listen to Faber and take his advice. He shouldn’t let Beatty Pressure him like that.

Pages 109-118

“I can’t do it, he thought. How can I go at this new assignment, how can I go burning things? I can’t go in this place, page110.”

Montag should try to block everything out or ignore the fact he’s is going to go against rules. I think he should just blind fold himself right now for his job. I mean he’s got to do his job without being all suspicious to Beatty. Because if he did, it would blow his cover. So he should at least try to go on with it.

“Oh, no! You weren’t fooled by that little idiot’s routine, were you? Flowers, butterflies, leaves sunsets, oh hell!..., page 113.”

I don’t think that Clarisse fooled Montag at all. I think that she opened his eyes to what life is really about. She changed his prospective on life. And if she didn’t he would’ve been doing the same thing over and over again every night. With out her the book wouldn’t be the same at all.

Pages119-126

“Montag only said, ‘We never burned right’, page 119.”

I didn’t get what Montag meant at first. I got confused a bit there. But if he said they never burned right, what was his idea of burning right. I don’t think it should be killing someone. That is just wrong if he did. They should be putting out fires anyways instead of starting them.

“Beatty wanted to die.

In the middle of the crying Montag knew it for the truth. Beatty had wanted to die. He had just stood there, not really trying to save himself, just stood there, joking, needling, thought Montag, and the thought was enough to stifle his sobbing and let him pause for air, page 122.”

I don’t see why Beatty would want to die. He has a pretty good life. He’s a captain of a firehouse. And he seemed happy throughout the book. Maybe he wanted to do the same thing as Montag, but he never had the guts to do it. He could be jealous of Montag.

Pages 127-134

“A carfull of children, all ages. God knew, from twelve to sixteen, out whistling yelling, hurrahing, had seen a man, a very extraordinary sight, a man strolling, a rarity, and simply said, ‘Let’s get him,’ not knowing he was the fugitive Mr. Montag, simply a number if children out for a long night of roaring dive of six hundred miles in a few moonlit hours, their faces icy with wind, and coming home at or not coming at dawn, alive or not alive, that made the adventure, page 128.”

I think that is crazy that kids raging from twelve to sixteen are driving around town like that. And it’s also crazy that their parents don’t even care where they are. They don’t worry at all if their child dies. In their society it seems as if everyone is a kid. And no one grows up at all or matures over time. They just all act the same.

“The Captain’s dead. He found the audio-capsule, he heard your voice, and he was going to trace it. I killed him with the flame thrower, page 131.”

It’s crazy to think that Montag killed his own boss. I didn’t know he was capable of killing someone in the state that he was in. He was confused and scared. I would see him just talking back to his boss, but not killing him. It makes me wonder what will happen to Montag if the police find him.

Fahrenheit 451 Questions

Part One:The Hearth and the Salamander
1. The firemen burn books for a living.
2. In the opening scene books are compared to birds because when they burn the pages look like the wings of birds.
3. Montage thinks he has a great job.
4. On the way home Montage meets Clarisse McClellan.
5. Symbolically I think it means that you never get rid of the guilt you have.
6. I think that Bradbury would introduce Clarisse before Mildred because Clarisse probably has a bigger role in the story more then Mildred.
7. Mildred needs help when Montag gets home because she had an overdose on her sleeping pills.
8. The help that Mildred receives is that two men come to their home and flush out her system of the sleeping pills.
9. Yes, there is something unusual about the two men. It’s unusual because they don’t seem professional and they aren’t listened M.D.
10. Montag’s house is different from Clarisse’s house because her family doesn’t follow the ways of society.
11. Mildred acts as if nothing happened from the night before, she doesn’t remember a thing from that night.
12. Mildred stays home, talks to the walls and to the television, which is her “family”.
13. Montag’s TV room has three walls and it consists of Mildred’s “family”.
14. Clarisse is walking in the center of the sidewalk with her head held up in the rain.
15. Clarisse is different from Mildred because she acts more mature then Mildred.
16. The mechanical hound is an electronic dog mad by the government that burns books
17. The hounds reaction to Montag is that it barks and growls at Montag.
18. The society thinks that Clarisse is “anti-social” because she doesn’t act like the other kids her age.
19. At the next fire Montag steals a book from the house.
20. Beatty reveals that at one point at his life he read a book and it didn’t affect him at all he thought that it meant nothing.
21. Mildred uses shells that have the sound of the ocean in them to go to sleep.
22. Mildred’s family is the walls and the television.
23. Clarisse died and she supposedly got hit by a car.
24. It was unusual because she didn’t act like she cared at all and that it didn’t mean a thing to her.
25. Three things that Beatty talks about in hi speech are that buy putting more cartoons into books makes reading a breeze and less complicated for the mind, bigger population more minorities we have, and people in TV series don’t really represent certain things.

Fahrenheit 451 Journal #1

Pages 3-10
“he flicked the igniter and the house jumped you in a gorging fire with the thought of what came next…, page 3.”
I don’t see why he lit the house on fire. He is a firemen after all. He should be saving someone or being a hero. He should not be starting the trouble. That is the total opposite of the definition of firemen. And the are killing the ozone layer too.
“You never wash it off completely, page 6.”
I think the meaning of this quote, is that the guilt never goes away. Maybe the book is going to be based on the guilt Montag feels when he burns the books. Or maybe the guilt of an event that is going to happen in the book. I predict that something that Montag does will make him feel guilty later on in the story. Hopefully what I predict comes true. I would like to see what the outcome is.
Pages 11-18
“The operator stood smoking a cigarette, page 15.”
If the operators make house calls to emergencies, they should not be smoking. That makes their job look unprofessional. And I do not see why they are not licensed. What if someone just happens to dress the way they do and acts as if they are operators as well and kills someone because they are faking being an operator. I think that would be really bad. And would make the real operators look like the bad guys, when all they are doing is trying to help.
“Let me come in. I wont say anything. I just want to listen. What is it you’re saying?, page 17.”
Why does Montag want to listen to them. I think that it is weird. Why is their conversation so important to him. They are talking about how society today is different. And I do not see why Montag would want to listen to that. He is a firemen that burns books so how is it that their conversation is so interesting to him.
Pages 19-26
“She watched his lips casually. ‘What about last night’, page 19.”
I find it totally weird that Mildred doesn’t remember anything from the night before. She was rally hungry as well. But she should remember taking the pills. But she denies that she took that many pills. Guy found the bottle and it was empty. So where did the pills go. That is really weird how she doesn’t remember. It is like she doesn’t want to remember because she keeps in denying it.
“I’m still crazy. The rain feels good. I love to walk in it, page 21.”
I think that Clarisse is there to change the way guy thinks. To make him make a difference in the world they are in. In our world you find that normal when like to walk in the rain. But it is totally opposite in their case. What is good here is bad there. And vise versa for bad here is good there.
“How did it start? How did you get into it?…, page 23.”
Right here in this paragraph is where Clarisse really gets into Montag’s head. It seems like brainwash a little bit. It seems that way because she just keeps shooting Montag with questions. But I don’t think she’s is doing it on purpose. It’s just the way she is.
Pages 27-34
“I‘m antisocial, they say. I don‘t mix, page 29.”
I don’t think that Clarisse is antisocial at all. She is more social then a regular person. She is anything but antisocial though. Everyone in thinks that she is weird when she is more normal then anyone else in the book to me. Everyone to me seems weird except her and her family. I don’t see why people do not understand them.
“’I‘ve tried to imagine,’ said Montag, ‘just how it would feel. I mean, to have firemen burn our houses and our books.’, page 33-34.”
I think that it is good for Montag to try to visualize and see how it would feel even though Beatty thinks it is weird. It wouldn’t hurt to try and get to know how it would feel in another person shoes. To Beatty and the other firemen it is like you shouldn’t break your role in society. Like the poem “Not My Best Side” by U.A. Fanthorpe. This story somewhat relates to that poem.
Pages 35-42
“Montag had done nothing. His hand had done it all, his hand, with a brain of its own, with a conscience and a curiously in each trembling finger, had turned theif, page 37.”
I could see why Montag looks at his hand in a way that it would betray him. Even though he doesn’t want to ignite the fire he will because he has done it so many times before. It is like a reflex for him. So he I don’t think he should feel bad. But that is his choice to feel that way.
“He knew when she pulled her hand away from his face it was wet, page 42.”
Why was Montag’s face wet when Mildred touched it? I wounder if he was crying or something. It seems like it though. Maybe his face was wet from washing it or something. I find it weird though.
Pages 43-50
“Only ten years, that’s all, ten years!, page 43.”
I think that is sad that Guy or Mildred can remember how they met. I don’t see how they could forget. Most people don’t forget how they met. I just think that is very weird and said. And that’s when Montag realizes he doesn’t know if he loves Mildred or not.
“No. The same girl. McClellan. McClellan. Pan over by a car four days ago. I’m not sure. But I think she’s dead. The family moved out anyway. I don’t know. But I think she’s dead, page 47.”
It shocked me when Guy found out that Clarisse is dead. It’s really said as well. He probably misses her a lot now, because she is the first person that made him feel like he counted. Clarisse made the story a lot more exciting. And she changed the way Montag looked at life.
Pages 51-58
“She‘s got you going and next thing you know we‘ll be out, no house, no job, nothing, page 51.”
I think that Mildred is getting to worked up about Guy. She should just let him do whatever he wants I guess. Just let him have his time to think about things. Since he is at a turning point in his life.
“…Mildred so deep inside this one, and so bothered, really bothered, that the two women have never met, page 52.”
I think that Guy wants to have the bothered side of Mildred as a wife then the always happy side of Mildred. He seems more interested in that part of her personality. If he got to know that part of her personality maybe he would love her more. And it would help him out a lot too. I think that if she did change it would end the story right there though.
Pages 59-66
“Colored people don‘t like Little Black Sambo. Burn it…, page 59”
I think that is sad and wrong how they are just erasing people’s history like that. I know it might bother them but they should know. By brining those books people would never find out who they are or where they came from. And I don’t see why they don’t want to know about it. I think burning the books is just bad and stupid.
“No front porches. My Uncle says there used to be front porches…, page 63.”
How could they live without porches and gardens? Not only does it make a house or landscaping look good, they are fin to hangout on. They would make people happy. And I thought the government wanted to make them happy all the time. So having porches and gardens would contribute to the happiness of the society.
Pages 67-76
“‘He’ll come in,’ said Mildred, ‘and burn us and the books’, page 68.”
Again Mildred is taking it too far, I think. What the firemen don’t know wouldn’t hurt them. I think she just needs to calm down and give the whole reading books thing a chance. It wouldn’t hurt her to learn a little. The society hasn’t ruled out learning, so she can if she wanted.
“And besides, if Captain Beatty knew about those books…, page 73.”
I think he does already. I don’t think he cares if Montag just took a day to go through some books. And he even said he could. So it wouldn’t be bad he is just trying to prove that once again there is nothing to books supposedly. Montag should go on and just take a day and read them there is no harm to it.
Pages 77-84
"Even the smile, he thought, the old burnt-in smile, that's gone, page 78."
I think that not having the smile is a good thing for Montag. I don't see why he would want to have that fake smile on his face like that. I don't see why he would miss it. He is better without the smile. He doesn't seem to be a real person when he has it. And he knows he feels guilty when he smiles.
"No one listens anymore. I can't talk to the walls because they're yelling a me. I can't talk to my wife..., page 82."
By this you can sort of tell that Montag wants the world to change. I think that him and Faber should try to change the way things are. Since Faber says he wanted to change or stand up for what he thought in the beginning. So they should start now, because Montag seems to want to change the world now. The way Faber did when the book burning first started.