Farenheit 451
By Ray Bradbury
By Ray Bradbury
Overview of the Book
In the book Farenheit 451, a fireman by the name of Guy Montag has a job in which he burns books. In his society, having knowledge is illegal or unusual. By burning books no one has more knowledge than another to keep the peace, considering the fact they are trying to live in a utopia. His wife Mildred is miserable to be with and he tries to hide his unhappiness. She has been really sick and treats soap opera shows like her friends. Later on he meets a girl by the name of Clarisse who intellectual inspires him and makes his life somewhat enjoyable. Clarisse enjoys learning about things and being curious which she gets after her uncle. At first Montag questions her, until later he is depressed to hear of her death after supposedly "being hit by a car".
As time persists, Montag begins to collect books and hide them, and soon Captain Beatty of the fire station has supsicions about Montag. Before this, a mechanical hound used at the fire station to hunt down people using books growls at Montag and seems to want to attack him. Considering the fact it is programmable, Montag realizes that someone at the fire station tampered with the robotic beast. Eventually he finds a professor by the name of Faber who is reading a poetry book while sitting on a park bench. This is intriguing to Montag and he wants to learn more about books. At first Faber is hesitant but makes friends with Montag.
Eventually Mildred walks out on Montag because she is not going to be part of knowledge (Montag hiding books). Together, Faber and Montag conspire a plan to plant books in firemen's homes to have suspicion placed on all firemen and so that their houses would be burnt down. As time progresses, Mildred reports Montag and the house is burnt down (Beatty makes Montag do it). This only angers Montag, and leads up to him burning Beatty with a flamethrower. The mechanical hound jabs Montag before he can escape, which only slows him down. Montag runs to Faber's home for protection but quickly realizes that he is endangering Faber. Thus, he stops at the home of Black, a fellow fireman, and hides the books inside the house to incriminate him. Montag then reaches Faber's home, and Faber tells him to escape down the river because another Mechanical Hound is on the search for him.
During his journey, Montag uses whiskey that he obtained from Faber to mess up the hounds senses. He washes off in the river to rid himself of the odor of kerosene, which is the scent that the other firemen and mechanical hounds are following. He finally makes it safely to the other part of the river where he meets some of the other outcasts of society, like himself. He meets the unacknowledged leader of the group, Granger, who welcomes Montag to join them. Although he thought that the search was called off, Montag finds out that it was just rerouted. He watches on television as an innocent man, strolling along the city streets, is purposefully identified as Montag and is killed for the entire television audience to see.
The group decides to move on from their current site, and while they are walking, Granger explains the purpose of the outlaw group (they are preserving books by memorizing their contents and then destroying them). Books can not be forgotten, because each person in the group is a living version of them. Montag becomes the Book of Ecclesiastes from the Bible. As the men continue in their journey, Montag and Granger watch as bombs fall upon the city and destroy everything in their path. The final war has begun. Although the men are escaping the city, they decide, without discussion, to return to the city with Montag in the lead. From here, Montag and the other outcasts begin to try to rebuild society.
As time persists, Montag begins to collect books and hide them, and soon Captain Beatty of the fire station has supsicions about Montag. Before this, a mechanical hound used at the fire station to hunt down people using books growls at Montag and seems to want to attack him. Considering the fact it is programmable, Montag realizes that someone at the fire station tampered with the robotic beast. Eventually he finds a professor by the name of Faber who is reading a poetry book while sitting on a park bench. This is intriguing to Montag and he wants to learn more about books. At first Faber is hesitant but makes friends with Montag.
Eventually Mildred walks out on Montag because she is not going to be part of knowledge (Montag hiding books). Together, Faber and Montag conspire a plan to plant books in firemen's homes to have suspicion placed on all firemen and so that their houses would be burnt down. As time progresses, Mildred reports Montag and the house is burnt down (Beatty makes Montag do it). This only angers Montag, and leads up to him burning Beatty with a flamethrower. The mechanical hound jabs Montag before he can escape, which only slows him down. Montag runs to Faber's home for protection but quickly realizes that he is endangering Faber. Thus, he stops at the home of Black, a fellow fireman, and hides the books inside the house to incriminate him. Montag then reaches Faber's home, and Faber tells him to escape down the river because another Mechanical Hound is on the search for him.
During his journey, Montag uses whiskey that he obtained from Faber to mess up the hounds senses. He washes off in the river to rid himself of the odor of kerosene, which is the scent that the other firemen and mechanical hounds are following. He finally makes it safely to the other part of the river where he meets some of the other outcasts of society, like himself. He meets the unacknowledged leader of the group, Granger, who welcomes Montag to join them. Although he thought that the search was called off, Montag finds out that it was just rerouted. He watches on television as an innocent man, strolling along the city streets, is purposefully identified as Montag and is killed for the entire television audience to see.
The group decides to move on from their current site, and while they are walking, Granger explains the purpose of the outlaw group (they are preserving books by memorizing their contents and then destroying them). Books can not be forgotten, because each person in the group is a living version of them. Montag becomes the Book of Ecclesiastes from the Bible. As the men continue in their journey, Montag and Granger watch as bombs fall upon the city and destroy everything in their path. The final war has begun. Although the men are escaping the city, they decide, without discussion, to return to the city with Montag in the lead. From here, Montag and the other outcasts begin to try to rebuild society.