Set in the 24th century, the novel opens with a description of
the pleasure the protagonist, Guy Montag, takes in his profession
as a fireman. However, his job is not to put out fires - houses
are now fireproofed. Rather, Montag and his fellow fireman are
charged with setting fires to burn books, which are contraband,
and the houses in which they are kept illegally.
As Montag walks home from work late one fall evening, he meets
Clarisse McClellan, his sixteen-year-old neighbor. Montag is at
once taken aback by and drawn to the precocious girl's
inquisitiveness. She questions him steadily, leaving him with the
query "Are you happy?" as the two part company and head for their
respective homes. The meeting leaves an impression on Montag, and
he continues to reflect on their brief encounter, realizing that
the answer to Clarisse's question is, to his surprise, no.
Montag enters his modern home and retires to his bedroom, where
he finds that his wife, Mildred, has overdosed on sleeping pills.
The shocked Montag calls the paramedics - technicians who aloofly
pump Mildred's stomach and give her a complete transfusion with
technological instruments that require no medical training to
operate before moving along to the next of the nine or ten
overdoses they will deal with on the evening. This episode leads
the relieved yet shaken Montag to reflect on the impersonal nature
of his society.
In the morning, Millie robotically goes about her daily
routine, not recalling the previous night's episode. When Montag
attempts to discuss the issue, Millie reacts with dismissive
disbelief, eager to return her attention to the diversions of the
'seashell' radios constantly inserted in her ears and the people
on the three-wall television, to whom she refers as her "family".
On his way to work, Montag again runs into Clarisse, who
questions him incessantly about his feelings for his wife and his
work. Upon arriving at the fire station, Montag passes the
Mechanical Hound - the modern-day robotic police dog which, once
set to an individual's chemical balance, is without fail able to
locate and annihilate his prey. Montag is unnerved when the hound
growls at him, and addresses his concern to his boss, Chief
Beatty, who dismisses him and continues to make patronizing
reference to the hound and Montag's aversion to it daily for a
week thereafter.
Montag runs into Clarisse everyday during the next week, and
finds himself looking forward to his conversations with the
eccentric, curious girl. He is disappointed when Clarisse no
longer appears on his walks to and from work. With whispers of a
possible impending war on the radio and television, Montag becomes
introspective about his job and the people whose books and homes
he destroys.
One evening, an alarm comes in, calling the firemen to an old
house where the owner, an older woman, refuses to abandon her
home, which is to be burned. Defiantly, the woman herself lights
the match that eventually takes her life along with her home and
all her books but one, which Montag squirrels away in the
confusion of the alarm. Montag returns home shaken by the scene he
has just witnessed and nervous about his illegal acquisition.
As he and Millie lie in their respective twin beds, Montag
finds himself unable to recall how and where they met. He is
troubled and questions Millie about their meeting, but she has no
recollection either, though her lack of memory doesn't trouble her
in the least. Montag is overcome with thoughts of his loveless,
lifeless marriage and the modern technologies through which his
wife escapes her life for those of fictional others, thereby
maintaining distance between them. He questions her about
Clarisse, who he has not seen in days, and Mildred responds by
saying that she had forgotten to tell him that Clarisse was struck
by a car and died four days earlier and that her family has since
moved away.
In the morning, Montag wakes up feeling ill and unsure of
whether he can go to work. Millie responds with disbelief and
annoyance rather than compassion, and Montag is in turn annoyed by
her lack of interest in him and his concerns. Captain Beatty
arrives to speak with Montag, somehow knowing that he feels ill
and would be taking the evening off. He lectures Montag on the
evolution of society into the technological specimen that they
live in, with little room for those who deviate from the
structured, homogeneous conformity that has come to be. With
emphasis on structured routine rather than original thought,
Beatty asserts, people are made equal, people are less likely to
offend each other, and thus everyone is better off. Before he
leaves, Beatty makes mention of the fact that firemen are
occasionally overcome by curiosity about the books that they burn
and may steal one to satiate that curiosity. When this happens, he
continues, they are given a 24-hour respite to come to their
senses and burn the book before their coworkers must do so for
them.
Montag becomes paranoid that Beatty knows that he has stolen
not only one, but nearly 20 books over the course of his career.
He feels compelled to tell Millie his secret and shows her his
collection, which makes her panic, and she insists that they burn
the books. Before the issue is resolved, someone comes to the
door, prompting terror in the couple. The Montags don't answer the
door, and eventually the visitor departs, leaving the couple alone
with their illegal library. Amidst protests and declarations of
the worthlessness of books from his wife, Montag begins to read.
Analysis:
'The Hearth and the Salamander', the first of the three parts
comprising Fahrenheit 451, chronicles Montag's realization that he
is unhappy and unfulfilled and the beginning of his quest for the
happiness and fulfillment that he lacks, while advancing the
larger theme that where there is no freedom to seek truth there is
no fulfillment. This message is crystallized by the contrast
between the three predominant characters we meet in this part.
Millie, unaware of her capacity for original thought, is so
miserable that she must escape from her reality through constant
immersion in the unreality offered her by radio, television, and
addiction to sleeping pills. Sadly, she believes herself to be
happy because no one has told her otherwise and she lacks the
impetus to think for herself. Clarisse, on the other hand, is
content because she is curious and seeks to satiate her curiosity
by questioning the people and social constructs around her. Montag
represents the middle ground between these extremes - he has come
to the realization that the status quo is not inherently righteous
because it is the status quo, has awakened and acknowledged his
curiosity, and has begun on the road to freedom and happiness
through experience and thought.
The main means of suppressing free thought at issue is book
burning, which represents the larger evil of censorship. The state
in which the world is portrayed may well be meant to serve as a
warning as to what may be in store for a society where
anti-intellectualism is allowed to ferment. Copyrighted in 1953
and categorized with Bradbury's post-WWII works, the situation
found in Fahrenheight 451 and revealed in 'The Hearth and the
Salamander' retains a sense of "what might have been" had Hitler
succeeded and Nazi oppression been allowed to overtake the world.
At the same time, the rampant McCarthyism existing in the
political climate at a time when textbooks were being summoned for
examination by the Un-American Activities Committee is being
called into question through Bradbury's work.
'The Hearth and the Salamander' is ripe with meaning. Even the
title of the section conjures images relevant to the issues at
hand. The hearth conjures images of fire, that tool of destruction
used in the novel to censor knowledge and ideas. The salamander is
a lizard that myth holds can survive in flames - thereby fostering
an image of free thought, personified by Guy Montag, surviving
amidst the fires of suppression.
The book, that most feared and reviled enemy of the state, is
quite significant in this section of the novel, as it is
throughout Fahrenheight 451. Books represent knowledge and
awareness. Like the forbidden fruit in the futuristic Eden that is
Montag's society, books are forbidden by the state in its hubris.
Books are referred to metaphorically and in simile as birds, their
pages wings. Transversely, it seems, they represent freedom that
knowledge brings and that freedom's ability to transcend - to fly.
The significance of fire is also manifold. Fire represents
purification as it is used to rid society of that which is
undesirable. Books and the places where they are hidden are
eradicated by fire - they are burned out of existence so as not to
contaminate society, just as dirt is washed from one's hands.
Captain Beatty mentions the standard practice of immediately
cremating the dead so as not to be burdened with decaying bodies
and memorials and the grief associated with them. Later, as Montag
comes to self-realization, fire comes to represent oppression - a
means of subduing the knowledge of books. Fire also represents
awareness. Upon greeting the firemen, the old woman who would
later burn with her books as a martyr for free thought quotes
Bishop Hugh Latimer, who was burned for heresy in the 16th
century, saying, " . . . we shall this day light such a candle, by
God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out!" This
quote rings true with Montag, who later laments, "you ever see a
burnt house? It smolders for days. Well, this fire'll last me the
rest of my life." Fire is important for it's transforming powers
as well. In the opening paragraph of the novel, the author refers
to the pleasure Montag took in seeing things changed by fire.
Similarly, Montag is changing with each fire he sets.
Water, the opposing force to fire, takes on meaning as a
metaphor for escape. Millie, ever in need of escape from the
opportunity to think, uses her seashell radios to occupy her brain
at night, as "an electronic ocean of sound . . . coming in on the
shore of her unsleeping mind. . . Every night the waves came in
and bore her off on their great tides of sound, floating her,
wide-eyed, toward morning. There had been no night in the last two
year that Mildred had not swum that sea". There is also an image
of Montag finding escape through water, though he is escaping not
from himself, but from the mental hold of his oppressive society.
After questioning Clarisse about her motivation to walk in the
rain and catch drops in her mouth and she inquiring about his
motivation to be a fireman, Montag begins to question himself, his
career, and his marriage, doing so as he tilts back his head to
drink in the raindrops.
Additionally, there are allusions throughout the section to the
intruding eye of oppression monitoring the people who live in
Montag's dystopia. Captain Beatty seems he personification of
intrusive oppression, knowing Montag is ill and that he is keeping
books without being told. The Mechanical Hound is also a symbol of
the perpetual presence of the totalitarian state, able to track
down and destroy anyone at any time, leaving it's victim no place
to hide. Even when Clarisse reminds Montag that "there's a man in
the moon," an image of a silent, constant watcher arises along
with a sense of childish wonderment. The latter Montag hasn't
realized for a long time, the former perhaps never before.
Part II: The
Sieve and the Sand
Summary:
Montag spends the rest of the rainy afternoon uneasily reading
through the books as Millie sits idly by. Montag is often reminded
of Clarisse as he reads. Meanwhile, the already edgy couple is
alarmed to hear a scratching at the door. Millie dismisses it as
"just a dog" - it is clearly the Mechanical Hound. Millie whines
that there's no reason to read books and that that they're house
will be burned if they're found out. Montag responds with a
passionate rant, asserting that they really have no idea what's
going on in the world and that those who seek to learn quickly
quieted, like the Clarisse and the old woman. He talks of the
ongoing wars and how people all over the world and toiling a
starving while they live well and devote themselves to leisure. He
is interrupted by the ringing phone, which Millie answers and
immediately becomes enraptured in a conversation about a
television program with the caller.
As Millie chats, Montag wonders what he will do now, not only
with the books, but with his life as well. He recalls an encounter
he had with an elderly man in a park a year earlier. The man was a
former English Professor (all the liberal arts colleges had been
closed some 40 years) named Faber. It had been obvious to Montag
that the old man had a book tucked in his coat, but the fireman
did nothing about it. Faber's words echoed in his head - " I don't
talk of things, sir, I talk the meaning of things. I sit here and
know I'm alive." Montag goes to his wallet and pulls out Faber's
address, which the old man had given him. He uses another phone to
call Faber, who is shocked to hear from him, and questions him
about how many copies of this book and that there are left in the
country - the answer is none - and Faber nervously hangs up on
him.
When Millie and Montag finish their respective phone
conversations, she has forgotten about the books in anticipation
of her friends visiting to watch some television, while he is even
more anxious about the books. As Montag deliberates on which of
his books to hand over to Beatty and wonders if there is a
specific title Beatty knows him to posses, Millie entreats him to
get rid of all the books. Later, as he leaves to see about getting
a copy of the Bible made before he turns the original into Beatty,
he questions Millie about her beloved television characters,
asking her if they love her, which they obviously cannot. She is
befuddled by his questions, while he is saddened by her lack of
touch with reality.
Montag gets on the subway, heading for Faber's apartment. On
the way, he realizes how numb to the world he has become and
wonders if he'll ever regain his sense of purpose. He recalls the
frustration he felt as a child when he attempted the impossible
task of filling a sieve with sand. He resolves to read and
memorize the Bible he carries with him before he must turn it into
Beatty, but finds himself unable to retain any of what he reads,
just as a sieve is unable to retain sand. He becomes increasingly
frustrated as his attempts at concentration are foiled by the
toothpaste jingle that is incessantly running through his head.
When Montag arrives at Faber's, the nervous old man is at first
hesitant to let him in, but does so after ascertaining that he is
alone. As Montag tells the old professor that he is the only one
who can help him now, the old man eagerly peruses the Bible. He
muses about the portrayal of Christ on television and recalls that
"there were a lot of lovely books once, before we let them go."
Faber professes himself to be a coward for not having stood up in
protest back when they were beginning to ban books. Montag asks
Faber to help him understand his books, lamenting that society was
missing something necessary to the happiness of it's people and
suggesting that it was the books they had actively rid themselves
of that was the missing link. Faber counters that it is not the
books, but the quality that can be found in them, that society is
lacking. He asserts that books are feared because they "show the
pores in the face of life" and that makes people uncomfortable.
What the word needs, according to Faber, is quality of information
like that found in books, the leisure to analyze and understand
it, and the right to act on that understanding.
Montag and Faber hatch a plan to bring down the oppressive
system by planting books in the homes of firemen throughout the
country and calling in alarms on them, so as to shake the people's
faith in the men they both fear and revere for "protecting" the
nation from the dangers of books. Faber, though, retreats from it,
saying that people are having too much fun to pick up their noble
cause. Rather, he suggests, they should wait for the impending war
to implode society so that they may start anew. The old man is
obviously frustrated and disheartened by the state of affairs and
feels helpless to do anything about it. Montag, in an attempt to
elicit the passion that is obviously burning, however faintly,
within Faber, begins tearing pages from the Bible. He is
successful and after begging him to stop, Faber agrees to enlist
an old friend to print copies of books for them. Montag worries
that when he returns to the stadium Captain Beatty will, with his
rhetoric, convince him again that burning books is a noble public
service. Faber gives Montag a small, green, bullet-shaped two-way
radio similar to the seashell radios Millie is so fond of. They
will use this to communicate, and thereby Faber will be able to
hear all that Montag does from the safety of his own home and
offer Montag moral support in the face of Beatty's anti-book
orations.
Montag returns home and is eating alone in the kitchen when
Mildred's friends, Mrs. Phelps and Mrs. Bowles arrive to watch
television with Millie. Montag, disturbed by the women's mindless
pleasantries and lack of concern for or even awareness of the
world around them, unplugs the television walls and tries to
engage the women in a discussion about the impending war. Mrs.
Phelps is unconcerned about her third husband, who has gone to
fight, and the women quickly turn the conversation to a recent
television program. Montag persists, questioning the women about
their children. Mrs. Phelps has none; Mrs. Bowles has two for who
she obviously feels no affinity. The conversation turns to
politics, and Montag is disgusted to hear the women talk of how
they voted for the current president because he was the handsomer
of the candidates. Montag retrieves a book of poetry, which a
shocked Millie explains by saying that every fireman is allowed to
bring home one book a year to see how silly they are. At Faber's
prompting, Montag agrees that this is true, and proceeds to read a
poem, Dover Beach, aloud to the three uncomfortable women. When he
is finished, Mrs. Phelps is crying, though she cannot explain why,
and Mrs. Bowles is angry with Montag for bringing it about.
Mildred tries to calm the group, but the women are quite shaken
and say they are leaving. Montag criticizes them as they go,
telling them to think about their lives. Mildred goes to the
bathroom to take some sleeping pills. Montag removes the radio
from his ear as Faber begs him to stop, sure that he has gotten
himself in much trouble.
Before Montag leaves for work, he retrieves his books from
behind the refrigerator and notices that some are missing - he
knows that Millie must have put them in the incinerator. He hides
the remaining books in the backyard and goes on his way. He
returns the radio to his ear and Faber advises him to act normally
and to keep his cool with Captain Beatty when he gets to the
firehouse. Montag is nervous when he arrives at work. The
Mechanical Hound is gone. Montag wordlessly turns over a book to
Beatty and sits down to play cards with him and the other men,
burning with nervousness. Beatty begins to prod at Montag by
disparaging books by quoting from literature. Faber continually
advises Montag to keep his cool and bite his lip, which he does
with some difficulty. An alarm comes in, and they go to answer it.
When they arrive, Montag looks up to discover that they have been
called to his own home.
Analysis:
In Part II: The Sieve and the Sand, we witness Montag's
continued transition awareness. The title of this part provides a
metaphor for Montag's frustration at not being able to immediately
grasp what is true in the world. Through Montag's own recollection
on the train, the reader has an image of a young Montag
desperately trying to fill a sieve with sand - an impossible task.
Likewise, Montag is frustrated to find himself a sieve of sorts,
unable to retain what he reads from the Bible, however feverishly
he may try. On a larger scale, it becomes apparent that it is not
only the words of the Bible, but truth in general that Montag
finds difficult to attain, try as he might. Thus he is frustrated
that he cannot fill himself and make himself whole. Contrastly,
Millie and others like her are sieves of sorts as well, unable and
unwilling to grasp information even when it is made readily
available to them.
The introduction of Faber's character into the novel is quite
significant. The old man represents knowledge in that he is
educated and realizes that the banning of books has made people
less, rather than more, enlightened. Much of the imagery
associated with Faber incorporates the color white - his walls,
skin, hair, beard, eyes, are all described as white. This lends
itself to the portrayal of his character as pure and unspoiled
amidst the technology that has sullied the minds and characters of
so many others. Faber is likened to water, and cleansing, renewing
entity, which, combined with the fire which is associated with and
comes to represent Montag, should, ideally, give rise to the
"wine" of truth and knowledge.
It is ironic that Faber should tell Montag that the world
necessitates leisure, in addition to information and the right to
act on free thought, because leisure is one entity that no one
seems to be lacking. Here there is a distinction made between the
free time afforded by technology and the will and knowledge to use
it productively.
The theme of self-destruction can be found throughout the Sieve
and the Sand. The reader sees Millie through the eyes of her
husband as "a wax doll melting in it's own heat." By using the
familiar images of heat and fire, Bradbury relates that Millie is
fostering her own self destruction by choosing to ignore and
abandon reality rather than seek out truth, as her husband aspires
to do. Despite his intentions, we see Montag himself display a
self-destructive streak when he insists, despite Faber's
admonishments, on engaging Millie and her friends in an argument
and reading poetry to them. The theme of self-destruction is also
visited during Montag and Faber's initial conversation in Faber's
apartment, when Faber speaks of the proposed plot to undermine the
authority of firemen by planting books in their homes by saying,
"the salamander devours its tail." This image incorporates both
the established symbol for firemen, and the idea of
self-destruction present throughout the second part of the book.
Montag's disdain for Millie's friends is a microcosm of that
which he is developing for the entire society that they represent.
The women's selfishness, revealed through their nonchalance about
the upcoming war in which their husbands will fight and disregard
for children is in keeping with the prevalent attitudes of a
society where maintaining one's own illusion of happiness is the
only priority. This 'happiness' is advertised through the 'Chesire
Cat" smiles the women wear. The reader is cognizant of the fact
that personal happiness in this society is, in fact, only an
illusion, having been reminded of this earlier in the section,
when Montag realizes that his own "burnt-in" smile no longer
contorts his face. He has discovered that he is not truly happy
and is no longer keeping up the façade that he is.
The poem that Montag chooses to read to his guests, "Dover
Beach", deals with themes found throughout the book - those of
loss of faith, the need to care and be cared for, the destruction
of war, and the desire for happy illusions to be true.
At work, Montag must deal with a barrage of quotes, spewed out
of context by Beatty to disparage books and their value.
Meanwhile, Faber chirps in Montag's ear via radio, urging him to
bite his tongue and not to accept what Beatty says as truth. This
scene, in which you can almost picture the angel Faber and the
devil Beatty competing for Montag's sympathy and attention,
encompasses the ongoing struggle between good and evil that has,
until now, been raging, for the most part, in Montag's head.
In keeping with it's frantic tone, Part II ends with the
story's climax - the arrival of the firemen at Montag's house. At
this point he is stripped of is former life - he will certainly
lose his home and livelihood. He has deviated from the norm,
choosing books and truth over the illusion of happiness he once
embraced.
Part III:
Burning Bright
Summary:
Montag is numb with disbelief as his coworkers rush into his
house and Millie rushes out and by him without a word. Captain
Beatty needles him, chiding his hubris in thinking he could keep
his books concealed and asking why he didn't wizen up when the
Hound came sniffing around. He continues as Faber's voice asks
Montag through the radio what's happening and advises him to run
away. Montag knows he cannot, and says so - it is because of the
Hound. Beatty orders Montag to take care of the house on his own,
which he does as if in a nightmare. Afterward, as he stands numb
and dejected with his flame-thrower, Beatty questions him as to
why he felt the need to keep books. When Montag doesn't answer,
Beatty hits him, knocking the radio from his ear. Beatty picks it
up and comments about having to trace it and "drop in on your
friend" Montag reacts by switching the safety catch on the
flame-thrower. Beatty is taken aback at first, but quickly
recovers and continues to berate Montag, demanding that he turn
the weapon over. Montag refuses, and burns Beatty to death.
The Mechanical Hound is soon at the scene, and Montag burns it,
too, but not before it is able to stab its long needle into his
leg. Montag takes of running, but is hobbled by the immense pain
in his leg. Remembering the books in the garden, Montag returns to
find that there are four left. He gathers them up and flees the
scene, but soon falls to the ground. He begins to cry
uncontrollable, and realizes that Beatty had wanted to die - he
tried to make Montag kill him. His thoughts are interrupted by the
sound of hurried footsteps - obviously in pursuit of Montag, and
he rises to his feet and stumbles off into the night. Hearing
police bulletins about his flight through the seashell radio in
his ear, Montag heads off toward Faber's house.
With police helicopters circling above and declarations of war
echoing from the radio, Montag slips into a gas station restroom
and washes up. As he runs across the boulevard, a car trains it's
headlights on him and speeds toward him. Thinking it to be a
police car, Montag begins to run, dropping a book in the process.
Just as the car catches him, he falls to the ground and it veers
away, running over the tip of his finger. It is not the police at
all, but a group of children, that goes speeding off into the
night, not running him over because that may have caused the car
to roll over. Had he not fallen, though, it seems they would have
run him over, all the while having no idea that he was the
fugitive the radio was screaming about. Montag, shaken, continues
on his way, stopping to break into a fellow fireman's home and
hide the books in his kitchen.
Upon arriving at Faber's, Montag tells the old man that he has
killed Beatty and confesses that he doesn't know what to do next.
He apologizes for putting Faber in danger by coming to his home,
but the old man thanks him for making him feel alive again. He
advises him to follow the river down to the old train tracks and
walk along them, in the hope that he will come across one of the
hobo "walking camps" which provide refuge for the aging, hunted
intellectuals deemed dangerous to society. For his part, Faber
plans to go to St. Louis to track down a retired printer friend
and use money given to him by Montag to print books. They turn on
Faber's tiny television for news on the chase, and learn that
another Mechanical Hound has been dispatched to find him. To mask
his trail, Montag takes Faber's oldest, dirtiest clothes and
instructs the man to burn what he has touched, wipe down his home
with alcohol, and to turn his air-conditioning and sprinklers on
full-blast.
Montag takes off running, but pauses to peer into a house
window to see how the search is progressing on the television. He
sees the hound running through town and stopping in front of
Faber's house for a nervous moment before bounding away. Slightly
relieved, Montag continues on as the radio announcer prompts
everyone in the area to simultaneously look outside their homes
for Montag. Luckily, by the time the given count has expired,
Montag has reached the river, where he strips, douses himself in
alcohol, and changes into Faber's dirty clothing before floating
off down the river, thinking about fire and burning.
Montag floats ashore, and the smell of hay wafting through the
air brings back a childhood memory of visiting a barn and a
fantasy of sleeping on a bed of warm, dry hay in the loft of a
barn and awaking to a cool glass of milk and some fruit left for
him by a lovely young women reminiscent of Clarisse. His daydream
is interrupted when a deer moves nearby. The nervous Montag at
first thinks it to be the Mechanical Hound, and is relieved when
he is not attacked.
Montag wanders until he comes to train tracks, which he follows
as Faber advised, unable to shake a distinct feeling that Clarisse
had once followed the same path. After a half-hour, he sees the
flicker of a fire in the distance. When he finally reached the
fire, he finds a group of scruffy-looking men gathered around it,
engaged in discussion. He is invited to join them and given some
coffee by the group's unofficial leader, a man named Granger, who
addresses him by name, having recognized him from the search the
men have been following on a small portable TV. Granger gives
Montag a bitter drink to change his chemical balance so that the
Hound will be unable to locate him. The men watch the small
television together, and Montag is shocked to see the Mechanical
Hound swoop down on and kill another man. The announcer then
proclaims that Montag has been caught and killed, ending the
search. The police, not wanting to lose face or the confidence of
the people, have targeted a random citizen and passed him of as
the fugitive Montag.
After a few moments, Granger introduces the shaken Montag to
his companions. They are all old intellectuals: authors,
professors and clergymen who have take to hiding out along the
tracks rather than being imprisoned by authorities who think them
dangers to society. Each of the men, Montag learns, has memorized
a work of literature, so they may keep the ideas found in these
books alive until it is safe to have them printed again. Granger
says that they will pass down their knowledge until such a time
when people are again enlightened enough to seek out ideas and
opportunities to learn.
The men move downstream a ways and wait. In the morning, enemy
bombs annihilate the city. Watching the distant explosion, Montag
finds himself unmoved by the fact that Mildred is there amongst
the rubble. Granger talks of being saddened when his grandfather
passed on because he would no longer be around to continue his
many good works. Montag cannot think of a single way in which
Millie had an effect on the world or anyone in it, and is
saddened. Amidst visions of the war's destruction and Millie's
fate, Montag finally remembers where he met his wife - Chicago.
Later, the men cook some bacon for breakfast, during which Granger
compares society to the mythical phoenix, who would, every so
often, burn himself to death only to spring to life again, born
anew from the ashes. He hopes that eventually, man will learn the
lessons of history and stop destroying his society and having to
rebuild it. The men then set off toward the city to begin the
rebirth.
Analysis:
Part III is entitled "Burning Bright" for good reason - there
are many references to fire and burning included herein. The first
is of Montag burning his home and his possessions, room by room.
While the flames are destructive, Montag does not really grieve
the loss of his home or possessions - in fact, he derives joy from
ridding himself of the intrusive television walls and what they
represent. The fire that Montag dispenses from the flame-thrower
encompasses dual entities of destruction (when it burns books) and
cleansing (burning the television).
Before ordering him to burn down his own house, Beatty baits
Montag, metaphorically referring to him as Icarus and thereby
alluding that he did himself in with the hubris that made him
believe he could get away with harboring books. The message is
clear - those who defy the powers that be will meet their end,
fittingly, by fire. Little does Beatty know that the tables will
soon be turned when, ironically, Montag takes his advice to burn,
rather than face, a problem - the problem, in this instance, being
Beatty.
When Montag kills Beatty with the flame-thrower, the chief is
referred to in simile to be like a charred wax doll. This is
reminiscent of an earlier description of Millie as a wax doll
melting under it's own heat. Beatty, too, it becomes apparent, has
been the victim of self-destruction. Montag realizes soon after
that the man had wanted to die. He needled Montag rather than beg
for his life when it became apparent that the young dissident had
the power to end the old chief.
As Montag flees, having been stabbed by the Mechanical Hound,
his leg is injured, "like a chunk of burnt pine log he was
carrying along as a penance for some obscure sin." His sin,
however, does not seem so obscure. Perhaps this penance has been
forced upon him for all the books he had burned, the truth he had
destroyed.
While Montag flees, he hears the announcement that war has been
proclaimed. This comes at a time when he himself has just made his
first blatant act of war against his society - killing Captain
Beatty and fleeing the scene. Throughout the book, whispers of war
have resonated with Montag's increasing internal turmoil. That the
two come to a head at the same time is only fitting. The chase for
Montag is dramatic as the entire city tunes in and looks out for
him, Montag is nearly killed by a reckless driver, and the Hound
pauses at Faber's house before turning around and running off.
Montag's immersing himself in the river is significant in that
he is escaping his old life. The river, in this instance,
represents renewal and rebirth. It carries him along to a new
place - the country, as opposed to the city - and like-minded
people. Montag emerges from the river a new man, wearing the
clothes of the intellectual Faber, ready to face the new challenge
of helping to rebuild a better, stronger, freer society. Montag's
transformation is completed when he drinks the elixir offered him
by the men on the tracks. He is no longer Montag the fireman or
Montag the fugitive. He is now Montag the intellectual, keeper of
truth.
The men that Montag meets on the tracks, led by Granger, are
the antithesis of those he left behind in the city. They are
educated men who love books and learning rather than fearing them.
Their fire serves as a beacon to him, representing warmth and
nurturance rather than the destruction he is used to.
When the man set up to look like Montag is killed, it is
symbolic not only of the dishonesty perpetuated by society, but of
the death of Montag the fireman. Having completed his
metamorphous, Montag is no longer the person that he was - he is
now curious and aware. Thus, when Granger says, "welcome back from
the dead," he is actually welcoming the new Montag to a life of
thinking and awareness, as opposed to the illusion of happy
existence he had previously known.
Granger refers to the lessons of history indirectly in two
ways. He talks fondly of his grandfather, from whom he took the
lesson that one must strive to contribute to the world and leave
something behind. He also talks of the mythical phoenix and how it
continually burned itself and was reborn, only to make the same
mistake again and again for lack of memory. It is apparent that
too many took after the phoenix rather than Granger in learning
history's lessons. After the city is destroyed, those left along
the tracks set out to rebuild it. There is hope in this, as these
are men who mind the lessons of history.
The book concludes with Granger, Montag, and his newfound
friends walking toward the destroyed city. There is hope, as both
the city and the lessons of its destruction, and hope for the
future of man are burning bright in the hearts and minds of these
men.
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