Name:

______

Study Questions for

Character List: 1. Give a physical description, 2. Give at least TWO character traits, 3. Give page/quote that exemplifies EACH character:

Guy Montag -

Mildred Montag –

Captain Beatty -

Professor Faber –

Clarisse McClellan –

Granger –

VOCABULARY: We will work with one word each day 

1. Stolid:With his symbolic helmet numbered 451 on his stolid head, and his eyes all orange flame with the thought of what came next, he flicked the igniter and the house jumped up in a gorging fire that burned the evening sky red and yellow and black.

2. anticipate :What incredible power of identification the girl had; she was like the eager watcher of a marionette show, anticipating each flicker of an eyelid, each gesture of his hand, each flick of a finger, the moment before it began.

3. fringe :The breath coming out of the nostrils was so faint it stirred only the furthest fringes of life, a small leaf, a black feather, a single fiber of hair.

4. melancholy :And the men with the cigarettes in their straight-lined mouths, the men with the eyes of puff-adders, took up their load of machine and tube, their case of liquid melancholy and the slow dark sludge of nameless stuff, and strolled out the door.

5. earnestly :Laughter blew across the moon-colored lawn from the house of Clarisse and her father and mother and the uncle who smiled so quietly and so earnestly.

6. capillary :Light flickered on bits of ruby glass and on sensitive capillary hairs in the nylon-brushed nostrils of the creature that quivered gently, gently, gently, its eight legs spidered under it on rubber- padded paws.

7. proboscis :Three seconds later the game was done, the rat, cat, or chicken caught half across the areaway, gripped in gentling paws while a four-inch hollow steel needle plunged down from the proboscis of the Hound to inject massive jolts of morphine or procaine.

8. abstract :And most of the time in the cafes they have the jokeboxes on and the same jokes most of the time, or the musical wall lit and all the colored patterns running up and down, but it's only color and all abstract.

9. proclivity :Were all firemen picked then for their looks as well as their proclivities?

10. alight :Books bombarded his shoulders, his arms, his upturned face. A book alighted, almost obediently, like a white pigeon, in his hands, wings fluttering.

11. flourish :Now, it plunged the book back under his arm, pressed it tight to sweating armpit, rushed out empty, with a magician's flourish!

12. contempt :The woman on the porch reached out with contempt for them all, and struck the kitchen match against the railing.

13. heresy : “A man named Latimer said that to a man named Nicholas Ridley, as they were being burnt alive at Oxford, for heresy, on October 16, 1555.”

14. stagnant :He tried to count how many times she swallowed and he thought of the visit from the two zinc- oxide-faced men with the cigarettes in their straight-lined mouths and the electronic-eyed snake winding down into the layer upon layer of night and stone and stagnant spring water, and he wanted to call out to her, how many have you taken TONIGHT! the capsules! how many will you take later and not know? and so on, every hour! or maybe not tonight, tomorrow night!

15. nomadic :Towns turn into motels, people in nomadic surges from place to place, following the moon tides, living tonight in the room where you slept this noon and I the night before.”

16. torrent :Don't let the torrent of melancholy and drear philosophy drown our world.

17. vacant :The open door looked at him with its great vacant eye.

Directions: As you read each section of the novel, answer the following questions. If the question is underlined – you must provide textual evidence (quote/page number).

“Part I: The Hearth and the Salamander” 1. What do the “firemen” do for a living?

2. In the opening scene, how are books compared to birds?

3. Who does Montag meet on the way home?

4. During his conversation, Montag says that, “You never wash it off completely” referring to the kerosene. What could this mean symbolically?

5. INFER: Why do you think that Bradbury would introduce Clarisse before Montag’s wife, Mildred?

6. Why does Mildred need help when Montag gets home? Describe the help that she receives.

7. What is unusual about the way the two men go about helping Mildred?

8. COMPARE: How is life in Montag’s house very different from that of Clarisse’s house?

9. How does Mildred react after she wakes up from her previous night’s experience?

10. What does Mildred do all day?

11. Describe the setup of Montag’s TV room.

12. COMPARE: How is Clarisse different than Mildred?

13. What is the mechanical hound and what is its purpose?

14. What is the hound’s reaction to Montag?

15. Why does society consider Clarisse “anti-social”?

“Part II: The Sieve and the Sand” 1. In the beginning of “Part II: The Sieve and the Sand,” Montag remembers Clarisse. Analyze his comments about her.

2. Why is Mildred worried about being caught with the books? What can you infer about her character?

3. Determine the meaning of the title of Part II?

4. Analyze the importance of the dentifrice commercial? • What is being contrasted? Why? • Does the commercial exemplify some aspect of society?

5. Explain why Montag goes to see Faber. What does Faber reveal to Montag about the books?

6. What are the three things Faber says are missing from society? Explain how each is indeed missing from the society in Fahrenheit 451.

7. Compare Faber’s and Beatty’s definition of being a fireman.

8. Explain Faber’s metaphor: “Montag, go home…Why waste your final hours racing about your cage denying you’re a squirrel.”

9. Describe the device Faber provides for Montag to help him with Captain Beatty.

10. Faber considers himself a coward. What do you think?

“Part III: Burning Light” 1. Analyze why Mildred turns in Montag.

2. What feelings does Montag have about the burning of his house?

3. What thoughts does Montag have about Beatty after he murders him?

4. Do you think that Beatty wanted to die? Explain.

5. How does Montag get out of the city?

6. How do the wanderers “become” books?

7. What trick do the police use to stop the chase?

8. What book of the Bible does Montag decide to become?

9. What happens to Montag’s city?

Possible ESSAY questions: Find at least TWO examples of textual evidence for each question.

1: Why is the pursuit of knowledge important? Analyze what happens to people when they are not free to pursue knowledge, but are told what to believe? Do you think that as a society today, we often let people tell us what to believe (media, politics) or do we seek our knowledge? - 2: Describe Montag’s development throughout the novel. What causes him to change his viewpoint? Should he have? - 3: This book was written largely as a warning; what was Bradbury, the author, warning us against? Determine if his prediction of the future was accurate in some ways? Defend your opinion. - 4: Throughout the novel, Montag has to make multiple tough decisions. If you were in shoes, would you have been able to make the sacrifices that he did? Analyze at least three major decisions.