Plot

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Introduction The book __Fahrenheit 451__ by Ray Bradbury takes place in a futuristic United States. Books are burned because knowledge is controversial and displeases the minorities. Firemen like Montag are the society-appointed 'janitors' who burn the books and the houses in which they are found. Society in general lives in a fake-happy world where suicide and homicide run rampant and people are content to sit all day and watch their 'parlor walls.'

Four hundred-fifty degrees Fahrenheit is the temperature at which a book burns. It is also the fire department's name and, obviously, the book's title.

Differences in the story's future compared to modern day:
 * Ray Bradbury uses the term 'colored' for African Americans, while five decades later, we use 'African American.'
 * The book mentions 'parlors' instead of family/living rooms, and 'parlor walls' instead of television.
 * The book uses the term 'firemen' instead of 'firefighters.'
 * The fact that we have //not//, indeed, started and won two atomic wars, as in mentioned in the book.
 * Smoking was quite common in the fifties; however, it is not as common today, and most of the characters in the book smoked.
 * In the book, the gas stations still had attendants, while this is not true today.
 * The only cars mentioned were beetles-- today, we have much more variety.

Conflict The primary conflict of __Fahrenheit 451__ is Montag, a fireman, against the world. This begins when Montag realizes just how twisted his society really is. He wonders how he never saw this perspective before. People are looking for fun, fun, and more fun, teens kill each other, and the books are burned to delete any well-read individuals from the community and to please everybody. Montag begins to set himself apart from society and in the end, it saves his life when the city he lived in is destroyed. Complication/ Events
 * Montag meets Clarisse, who makes him realize that he isn't truly happy in his community.
 * Montag's wife, Mildred, accidentally takes an overdose of pills and has to get her blood replaced, while still sleeping.
 * While on the job, Montag witnesses a woman burn herself with her books.
 * Montag steals a book, wondering what they hold that made this woman kill herself.
 * Beatty suspects Montag's treachery and comes to tell Montag about the reason books were banished.
 * Montag contacts Faber and gives the Bible to him. Faber gives Montag an earpiece so that Faber can spy on the firemen via Montag.
 * Montag goes home and finds Mildred with some of her friends watching the parlor. He loses his temper with their happiness and reads them some poetry from a book, causing one of the women to burst into tears.
 * Mildred reports her husband to the Firemen.
 * To Guy's suprise, the Firemen, Montag included, arrive at his house.
 * Beatty discovers Faber's earpiece and promises to trace it.
 * Montag uses his flamethrower on his old captain, killing Beatty and two other firemen.
 * Montag runs to Faber, who gives Montag instructions on how to escape.
 * The Mechanical Hound is sent on Montag's trail, and the chase is recorded by cameras for the entertainment of the citizens of the Elm Terrace area.
 * Montag loses the Hound and escapes the city by jumping into the river.
 * Montag meets the book rememberers, literary nomads waiting for society to destroy itself so that they can help it regrow with books.
 * The distant war finally makes an appearance. The city is bombed, and everything Montag knew is destroyed.
 * Montag begins to travel with the book rememberers, waiting for the day when society will again need books.

Subplots
 * **Clarisse:** Beautiful, inquisitive, different. Too different, and it got her killed by her teenage peers.
 * **Beatty:** Book reading friend? Fireman foe? Why did he purposely get Montag to kill him? Or did he?
 * **What did the Hound have against Montag?** Was it really thinking on its own, actually feeling malice towards the guilty Guy, or did someone tamper with it?
 * **The distant, immediate war:** What was it about, again? They said it would be short, only 48 hours. Quick war...
 * **The equally mysterious government:** What's going on up there, anyway? What makes people who have grown up in the world created for happiness eligible for the job of manipulating society? The people obviously aren't choosing the canidates, so who is?
 * **The outside world:** Apparently, it's not doing as well as the the safe haven of America. What are they suffering through over there?
 * **Mildred:** When did he meet her, and where? How unnerving that neither remembers. Does Montag really love her? (He later remembers they met in Chicago, but cannot tell when.)

Parallel Episodes Near the beginning of the book Montag goes to a woman's house to burn it with the firemen. Usually the people who own the houses are taken away before the firemen arrive, but this is an exception. Instead of fleeing the house to save herself, the woman stays inside with her books and even lights the fire. This makes an impression on Montag.

Later, near the end of the book, the firemen get a special call to a house. It is a call for Montag's house. At this burning, Montag's view has changed. He is now the one cherishing the books. He even burns his house himself, much like the woman lit her own house. He doesn't stay in his house and die, though.

These episodes are parallel because they are similar, but have distinct differences. For example, in both instances the firemen were sent to burn a house with books and the homeowners both played a part in the actual burning. They are different because in the first one it was a woman and the second one was Montag. The woman also died in the first burning while Montag did not. However, Beatty still died at the scene of Montag's house.

Climax The climax of the book occurs when the other firemen arrive at Montag's house. Montag then realizes that the firemen have found out about his stash of illegal books, and that they are there to burn them. When Beatty discovers Montag's hidden earpiece and promises to trace it, Montag sets Captain Beatty on fire, killing him. Montag, now a criminal, runs. The Mechanical Hound tracks him until he arrives at Professor Faber's house. Faber and Montag manage to hide Montag's scent, losing the Hound. Then the radio announces for the public to open their doors and windows at the same time in an attempt to catch Montag. After an epic countdown, Montag barely makes it to the river on the edge of the city. He dives in and his old life is swept away.

Resolution Montag swims away for a while and eventually meets some 'book rememberers,' who have made it their duty to keep certain books in their minds to share with the world once things aren't so dangerous. Because Montag has memorized part of the Bible, he fits in. The police have staged a fake capture of Montag because they cannot find him. A bomb from the war demolishes the city and all Montag has known, and he and his group move on.

Personal Response __Fahrenheit 451__ is an entertaining, thought provoking, and sometimes confusing book. The story is action-packed and exciting, with bombs, manhunts and fire. However, the message it carries is a very serious one. That is, what happens to a society when knowledge is banned. It is rather unsettling to read about a United States full of empty-headed citizens, run by a government that no one knows much about, or cares about. In a way, this book is also sad: it shows the lives of spoiled citizens whose minds are devoid af any //real// joy, and displays an unsettling lack of compassion and humanity. We would not want to live in the world of __Fahrenheit 451.__ Picture made by Natalie