Fahrenheit 451Part I

Ignorance is bliss . . . ?

Guy Montag Represents the possibility for change

1 conversation with Clarisse makes him question his life

He has been squirreling away books for a long time

Old woman’s suicide is an epiphany

Beatty’s speech confirmed his feelings

Wants to hold on to his feelings of anger & turmoil

Begs his wife to read with him (she recoils) Will burn them if Beatty was right Will pass them on if they are worth sharing

Mildred She is the “norm” in this society (stereotype? Antagonist?)

“The room was indeed empty” (p. 12)

Burnt hair, pouty lips, too thin (p. 48)

Oblivious to her own suicide attempt

Thimble radio in her ears OR

In the TV parlor (desperate for 4th wall) OR

“Visiting” (watching TV with others)

Lacks empathy AND sympathy

Disregard for life (animals & humans)

Clarisse McClellan Foil: She is the holdout . . . But is she us?

Labelled crazy and anti-social “Against the basic principals of society”

Afraid of peers: kids are killing kids

Likes to sit & talk/think

Pays attention to the world around her

Misses front porches & 20’ billboards

She is a product of her family

Beatty His speech explains how they came to be

Books appealed . . . Until the age of motion pictures

What was written was “muddled to a norm” & shortened

“If you don’t want a house built, hide the nails & wood.”

Claims that “Books say nothing, you come away lost.”

So how did it happen? Intellectuals were beaten down by those in their shadow (p.

58)

Now there is no one and nothing to make you feel small

Created “artificial intelligence” (p. 61)

“Out of the nursery, into the college, back into the nursery” (p. 55)

Responsibility is no longer a valued principle

Life is immediate; about nothing but job & pleasure

Population explosion – no one knows anyone anymore (p. 57)

More people, more “minorities” to offend (p. 57)

We give people fun, they’re happy (p. 59)

NO DICTATORSHIP OR CENSORSHIP WAS REQUIRED (p. 58)