Foothill High School
19251 Dodge Avenue, Santa Ana, CA 92705
(714) 730-7464 Fax (714) 573-9376
To: 2016-2017 English 1 Honors Students
From: Teachers of English 1 Honors
Re: Summer Reading Assignment
Congratulations on completing middle school. We have planned an exciting and challenging English 1
Honors class for you next year. You will have a myriad of opportunities to hone your skills in the
academic disciplines of grammar, vocabulary, composition, critical thinking, and literary analysis.
Your summer assignment is to read the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. As one of our goals this
year is to train students to become active, involved readers; working with the text, annotating (writing in
your book) is a practice we will especially emphasize. Consequently, we strongly, strongly recommend
that students purchase their own copies of the books (however, this is not required, nor will it affect your
grade) and begin writing and interacting with them (Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Publisher: Del
Rey, ISBN # 8445074873, $12.74). The book is available at any reputable bookseller, used bookstore,
the FHS library and the public library. If you decide not to purchase the text, you can still annotate it by
using post-it notes.
We will begin class this fall with meaningful analysis and discussion of the text. The novel focuses on the
growth and development of the main character, Montag, within a dystopian society. The ideas and
themes of hopes and dreams, morality, mass media, censorship, conformity versus individuality
corruption of humanity and society, the role and importance of propaganda and the responsibility of the
individual to the self and society are examined and developed through the course of Montag’s personal
journey and evolution. Be prepared for a comprehensive exam on the novel on the second/third day of
class. Again, we encourage you to interact with the text by taking notes, highlighting passages, posing
questions, and monitoring your comprehension. You should read actively, remembering that your purpose
is to study this novel; therefore annotating the text concerning topics such as: the author’s purpose,
literary devices, (e.g. symbolism, figurative language, characterization) themes, conflicts, style, and tone
will help you in your examination of this rich and complex novel. Summer reading is required. Enjoy!
Sincerely,
English 1 Honors Teachers
California Distinguished School
National Blue Ribbon School
Foothill High School
19251 Dodge Avenue, Santa Ana, CA 92705
(714) 730-7464 Fax (714) 573-9376
How to study a novel…
Studying on your own requires self-discipline and a carefully thought out plan in order to be effective.
Keep the following guidelines in mind while you read Fahrenheit 451 this summer:
1) You will need to read the novel more than once. Start by reading it quickly for pleasure, then read
it slowly and thoroughly.
2) If there are any words you do not understand, look them up in the dictionary. Use this as a
learning opportunity to expand your vocabulary.
3) On your second reading make detailed notes on the plot, characters, conflicts, and themes in the
novel. Further readings will generate new ideas and help you to remember the details of the book.
4) Some of the characters will develop as the plot unfolds. How do your responses towards them
change during the course of the novel? What type of characterization does the author use? Are the
characters static or dynamic; flat or round? Do they have an epiphany during the course of the
plot?
5) Think about how the novel is narrated. From whose point of view are the events described? How
does this point of view affect the plot? Does the point of view change? If there is a first –person
narrator, is he/she reliable?
6) A novel may or may not present events chronologically: the time scheme may be a key to its
structure and organization.
7) What types of conflict are present in the work? What do they reveal about the theme and the
author’s purpose? What is the primary conflict?
8) What part does/do the setting/s play in the novel? Are certain events, characters, or conflicts
associated with particular settings? (Remember, setting is the time and location where the novel
takes place.)
9) Are words, images, or incidents repeated so as to give the work a pattern? Do such patterns or
motifs help you to understand the novel’s themes?
10) Identify what styles of language are used in the novel. (e.g. prose, poetry, slang, figurative
language, colloquialisms, imagery, etc.) How does the author’s diction reveal the tone of the
piece?
11) What is the effect of the novel’s ending? Is the action completed and closed, or left incomplete and
open?
12) Does the novel present a moral and just world? What does this reveal about the author’s purpose?
13) Cite exact sources for all quotations, whether from the text itself or from critical commentaries.
Wherever possible, find your own examples (concrete details) from the novel to support your
opinions.
14) Always express your ideas in your own words.
15) Remember, there is no substitute for thoroughly reading the novel and formulating your own
thoughtful opinions. Not only do merely using Cliffs Notes and Spark Notes violate the FHS
Academic Honesty Policy, but also it robs you of the joy of independent reading, discovery, and
learning that is so important to your maturity and academic growth.
California Distinguished School
National Blue Ribbon School
Foothill High School
19251 Dodge Avenue, Santa Ana, CA 92705
(714) 730-7464 Fax (714) 573-9376
2016 – 2017 ENGLISH 1 HONORS STUDENTS
SUMMER READING ASSIGNMENT:
FAHRENHEIT 451 BY RAY BRADBURY
NOVEL STUDY PACKET
Directions:
Dear students, you will be reading Fahrenheit 451 this summer. Please make sure you
mark literary devices, images, symbols, character development, development of theme and any
questions you may have, in your book. Additionally:
1.
Please respond to the following questions as you read the novel. Please use these questions for review and to assess
comprehension of the text. THESE QUESTIONS WILL BE DUE THE WEEK YOU START SCHOOL.
2.
Please take note of the vocabulary. Highlight/mark and understand the words in your book. YOU WILL BE RESPONSIBLE
FOR THE VOCABULARY AND ARE EXPECTED TO KNOW IT.
3.
Remember to be ready to discuss the book and take a test, the first week of school.
Part I: The Hearth and the Salamander:
Vocabulary:
abruptly: suddenly
abyss: a void, emptiness
adders: snakes
ballistics: the science of the motion of projectiles in flight
bestial: beat-like
buckling: yielding, collapsing
cacophony: harsh or painful sounds
centrifuge: a machine that uses centrifugal force to stimulate
Gravitational effects
clarified: made clear
condensations: abridgements
conjure: beg; make, construct
dictum: an order
dike: a dam
fathoms: distances of 6 feet
feigning: faking
gibbering: babbling
gilt: golden
gorging: eating greedily
gullet: the throat
heresy: disbelief in the established religion or rules
igniter: a lighter
intact: entire; complete
jargon: a type of language used by a specific group, vocation, etc
lubricated: oiled
luminescent: glowing
mausoleum: a large tomb
noncombustible: not burnable
objectivity: impartiality
odious: hateful
olfactory: related to the sense of smell
pratfall: a fall made on purpose
proclivities: inclinations; desires
pulverized: smashed to bits
quibble: argue
rasping: harsh sounding
ravenous: extremely hungry
refracted: altered and distorted
sauterne: the color of white wine
stolid: unemotional
stratum: a layer
tactile: related to the sense of touch; inviting to touch
tamped: gently pressed in
theremin: an early electronic instrument
1. What does the author indicate about the importance of the number 451 and the fireman’s job?
2. How does this introduction go against conventional wisdom and signal to the reader that a
different value system will be introduced?
3. How does the author indicate that Montag has a daring-or rebellious- streak in his character?
California Distinguished School
National Blue Ribbon School
Foothill High School
19251 Dodge Avenue, Santa Ana, CA 92705
(714) 730-7464 Fax (714) 573-9376
4. According to Greek myth, the salamander is able to live in a fire without being hurt, and the
phoenix lives for 500 years before dying in a fire and being regenerated from the fire. Why
would Montag have these symbols on his clothing?
5. How is the character of Clarisse McClennan differentiated from that of Montag?
6. Montag returns to his house after talking with Clarisse. What hints does the author give about
other dimensions to Montag’s character?
7. Describe Mildred as the reader first encounters her.
8. What kind of medical help is given to Mildred?
9. What purpose is served by the electronic thimble earpieces and the televisors (talking walls) in
the Montag house?
10. What is the Mechanical Hound, and how does it interact with Montag?
11. What is the significance of the Mechanical Hound’s attack toward Montag?
12. What happens when Montag’s team is called to a fire in an old house? What literary term is the
quotation spoken by the old woman?
13. What does Captain Beatty say about the quotation when they return to the firehouse, and what
does the incident show?
14. What happens when Montag gets home from the fire at the oldwoman’s? What does he sense in
the dark outside, and what does he find inside?
15. What does Captain Beatty tell Montag about history and about the need for firemen?
16. Explain Beatty’s message when he is talking about Clarisse’s disappearance.
17. On whom or what does Beatty put the responsibility for the beginnings of book burnings?
18. What does Montag reveal to Mildred?
19. What is Mildred’s reaction when Montag reads from the first book? What does this indicate about
Mildred’s character?
20. What are some of the science fiction elements depicted in this section of the book?
21. What thematic concepts or thematic ideas have been introduced in the story so far?
Part II: The Sieve and the Sand:
Vocabulary:
arsonists: people who set fires
beatific: blissful
cadenced: rhythmic; measured
certitude: certainty
chaff: worthless things or parts
contemptible: worthy of hate
darkling: dark
discourse: conversation
dispersing: scattering
diverted: turned away
enameled: painted
insidious: treacherous
linguists: those who study language
manifested: asserted; made known
moor: a boggy area
parried: warded off a blow
patronage: financial support
perfunctorily: briefly
phosphorescent: glowing
praetorian: special bodyguards, resembling the Roman imperial bodyguards
profusion: an abundance
rebut: to argue against; to expose
retaliation: revenge
sieve: a strainer
subaudible: below what can be heard
subside: to slow, then stop
suffused: filled; flushed
teem: to abound
televisors: walls with built-in tv’s for entertaining & brainwashing people
verbiage: excessively wordy
welter: a chaotic mess; confusion
1. What is Montag reading just before the Mechanical Hound comes to the house? What should the
hound’s arrival indicate to Montag? What is his reaction?
2. What is Montag’s reaction when he hears the jets overhead?
California Distinguished School
National Blue Ribbon School
Foothill High School
19251 Dodge Avenue, Santa Ana, CA 92705
(714) 730-7464 Fax (714) 573-9376
3. What memory comes to Montag as a source of help in this strange society?
4. Why does Faber refuse to answer Montag’s questions on the phone?
5. What is the significance of the conversation between Montag and Mildred before Montag leaves
the house?
6. What happens on the subway? Why is the advertisement for Denham’s Dentrifice important?
7. What does Faber say about his own history?
8. What does Faber say about Jesus? What does this say about the controllers of the society?
9. Why does Montag think books could make him happy?
10. Faber says that books themselves are not the key to happiness, but three other factors are the
key. What factors does Faber cite as being crucial to happiness?
11. Explain what Faber means by quality of information.
12. What does Faber mean by leisure?
13. What is Faber’s third factor required for happiness?
14. How does Montag coerce Faber into becoming his teacher?
15. How does Faber equip Montag to deal with Captain Beatty?
16. Why does the author weave in reminders that a war is imminent?
17. Describe the confrontation between Montag and the ladies who come to visit Mildred. What does
the scene say about the life women lived in this society?
18. Why does Montag realize about how he will be changed from knowing Faber?
19. How does Captain Beatty behave toward Montag at the firehouse?
20. Where do the firemen go when they receive the alarm? Why would they go there?
Part III: Burning Bright:
Vocabulary:
aesthetic: visually pleasing
allotted: permitted; given
convolutions: complicated curves & windings in the brain
dilate: to widen
gout: a gush
illuminated: lit up
incessantly: without stopping
incite: to spur into action; to urge
incriminate: to show evidence of involvement in a crime
juggernaut: a massive force tht crushes anything in its path
liquefaction: process of becoming a liquid
litterateur: a literary person
oblivion: condition of forgetting everything or being completely
forgotten by others; death
obscure: vague
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
pedants: people who show off their knowledge
plummeting: falling
prattled: chattered meaninglessly
probability: likelihood
procaine: an anesthetic
pyre: a heap of wood on which a body is burned
ricocheted: rebounded
rigidity: hardness, stiffness
scuttling: moving quickly
scythe: a long curved blade for cutting grass; carried by a symbol of
death, the “Grim Reaper”
trajectory: a curving path
vacuum: an emptiness
valise: a suitcase
Beatty realizes what caused Montag to start thinking. What or who was it?
What is Mildred’s role in the opening scene of this section?
What happens to the earpiece that allows Montag to hear Faber?
What does Montag do after Beatty takes Faber’s earpiece?
What happens to the Mechanical Hound?
What does Montag recover from his property?
What does Montag realize about Beatty?
What does Montag learn while he is washing up in the bathroom of the gas station?
California Distinguished School
National Blue Ribbon School
Foothill High School
19251 Dodge Avenue, Santa Ana, CA 92705
(714) 730-7464 Fax (714) 573-9376
9. What does Montag do with the books he has rescued?
10. What plans does Faber suggest to Montag?
11. Describe the manhunt for Montag.
12. What does Montag tell Faber to do?
13. How does Montag know that the Mechanical Hound leaves Faber’s house alone?
14. What technique does the government use to try to find Montag?
15. How does Montag escape?
16. Montag has a vision while he is floating in the river. What is it?
17. What does Montag encounter when he approaches the campfire in the forest? Why is he
expected? Who is in charge?
18. What do the men do to protect themselves from being found with Montag?
19. Montag and the men watch an alarming scene unfold on the TV. What do they see?
20. What has Mr. Simmons developed while living in the woods for 20 years? Why is this important?
Why could it be dangerous?
21. Granger talks about his grandfather. Recount what he says and what the purpose of this section
is to the story.
22. What do the men do when the sun comes up after the city is destroyed? Why is this important in
completing the story?
23. Why is the phoenix an apt symbol and theme in this story?
24. Montag recites several lines to himself as they walk along. What is he quoting, and what is the
importance of the message?
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