Part II­ “The Sieve and the Sand” 1. What do Montag and Millie spend the rest of that cold, rainy November afternoon doing? They try to read and understand Montag’s secret books. The weather outside is dismal and depressing. The mood of Montag and Millie seems to match this weather. What is the literary term for this? ​
symbolism 2. What is outside the door while they are reading? ​
The Mechanical Hound How do you know this? ​
There is a blue electric light coming from underneath the door, and that is the color of the Hound’s “eyes.” 3. What foreshadowing clue of impending world doom is heard by Montag and Millie? The huge bombers crossing the sky over their house 4. At this point Montag is thirsting for knowledge, but he realizes that in order to make some sense from these books he needs a teacher. ​
He remembers his encounter with Faber a year before. ​
Montag calls and asks what question? ​
How many copies of the Bible are left in the world? 5. On the way to Faber’s house, Montag is riding on the subway and trying to concentrate on the book he is reading. What is the literary term for the type of writing Bradbury uses in this section? ​
stream of consciousness Explain what this type of writing does. ​
This type of writing is confusing and makes the dialogue, thoughts, and sounds in the novel run together in a chaotic way. The purpose of this is to make reading the description of Montag’s struggles mimic our own struggle reading the text. Montag’s confusion as he tries to memorize one verse of the Bible is similar to our own experience trying to understand the unclear way that the scene is written. 6. It is also on the subway ride that Montag remembers a day at the beach when he was a child. This is where the author takes the title for this section of the novel. In your own words, explain what this section title means. ​
The sieve is like Montag’s brain, as he tries to memorize a part of the Bible, and the sand is the Bible verse he is trying to memorize. He can’t hold sand in the sieve because the sieve has holes in it. Similarly, Montag cannot memorize a verse of the Bible because there are too many advertisements and distractions going on. 7. Montag arrives at Faber’s house. Notice that Faber is an old man. This is no accident. Bradbury has used an old man because age often represents knowledge and wisdom. Age also often represents moral qualities such as goodwill and readiness to help. Notice also that Faber (like Clarisse) is associated with the color white. He himself is very white, the walls of his house are white. There is white in his hair and eyes. White is often a symbol of goodness in literature. List three things Faber says are necessary for us to get something out of books. 1. quality of information 2. leisure to digest it 3. the right to carry out actions based on what we learn from the first two. 8. When Faber tells Montag he will not help Montag with his plan to try to stop the madness in society, what does Montag begin to do? ​
He begins to rip out pages of the Bible until Faber agrees to help him. What does Faber finally agree to do for Montag that starts as soon as Montag leaves? He gives him a little earpiece so that Faber can speak to Montag and give him advice as he faces the dangers of the outside world, like Captain Beatty. 9. Montag then returns home. While there, he becomes enraged at Millie and her friends. Notice the many words Bradbury uses in this section which have burning connotations. Montag imagines the women’s smiles “burning” through the walls of the house. Millie and her friends are characterized with “lit cigarettes,” “sun­fired hair,” and “blazing fingernails.” Montag then does something very bold. He pulls out a book and begins to read it aloud. The section he reads has been carefully chosen by Bradbury. It is a poem written by Matthew Arnold entitled “Dover Beach.” Read it. Then explain why Mrs. Phelps breaks into tears. Link to “Dover Beach”:​
​
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/172844 Mrs. Phelps breaks into tears because she realizes that she has no human connection or meaningful relationships with anyone. The poem is about a dark, chaotic, ignorant world, and it advises everyone to be true to love or to the one that they love, because loving relationships are what’s really important; meaningful, compassionate friends and family make humans able to withstand difficult times. Mrs. Phelps, however, realizes that she does not have anyone like that. She hates her children and only sees them three days a week, and she said that she doesn’t care if her third husband dies in the next war. 10. Later, Montag returns to the fire station. Then Captain Beatty tells Montag about his dream the previous night. In that dream, Captain Beatty and Montag have a “duel.” Explain what kind of duel it is. ​
In his dream, they have a verbal argument, where each person starts quoting literature. Beatty quotes literature in an attempt to prove to Montag that books are useless. Montag quotes literature to Beatty to try and prove that books do have value. What does Captain Beatty say is the result of the duel? ​
Beatty says that he defeated Montag by proving that books were evil nonsense. 11. Before Montag can respond to Captain Beatty’s tirade, the fire alarm sounds. Where does this run take them?​
To Montag’s house. Part III­ “Burning Bright” 1. What does Montag find out Mildred has done? ​
She called an alarm on their own home so that Montag would be caught. What does she do when he arrives? ​
She leaves the house with a packed bag, gets into a cab, and drives away. 2. What does Captain Beatty force Montag to do about the house? ​
He forces Montag to burn his own house down. 3. Explain what Montag does about the following: a. Captain Beatty­ he kills him by burning him with the flamethrower. b. the mechanical hound­ he “kills” the hound with the flamethrower, but the hound still got a chance to numb Montag’s leg with its syringe. c. Stoneman and Black­ he hits them on the head, knocking them unconcious 4. When Montag is running down the alley behind his house to escape, he suddenly falls down because he realizes something. What is it that he realizes? ​
He realizes that Beatty wanted to die. How does he know this to be true? ​
Because Beatty knew that Montag had a deadly weapon in his hands, and Beatty kept taunting him, as if he were inciting Montag to kill him. 5. Montag then heads to Faber’s house. On the way there what does he do at Black’s house? He plants books in his house. 6. Montag is in a restroom at a gas station when he learns that war has been declared. However, Montag has too much going on in his own life at the moment to worry about that. What immediate obstacle must Montag overcome in order to continue to Faber’s house? ​
He must cross the dangerous road. What happens when he proceeds? ​
A car almost hits him and kills him, but they narrowly miss. He hears a bunch of kids laughing in the car as it speeds away. They purposely tried to hit him, but decided to swerve at the last minute when Montag fell. 7. When he arrives at Faber’s house, Montag douses everything with whiskey to eliminate his odor in the house. Why must Montag run now? ​
To lure the mechanical hound away from Faber’s house, so that it won’t track him there. He’s running to the river to throw off his scent and to escape the city. 8. Explain Montag’s dash for freedom. ​
Montag had to run as hard as he could to get to the river in time. ​
​
The TV program just ordered everyone watching to open their doors on the count of ten so that one of them will spot the running Montag. When the TV counted to ten, Montag had to dive towards the River in order to escape before anyone saw him. He then took off his clothes and let the river current take him into the dark wilderness. 9. Montag then discovers Granger and his men. Who are they? ​
They are old professors and people who valued books. Some are on the run after trying to rebel against society. 10. How does the hunt for Montag end? ​
The government killed someone who they said was Montag, but it actually wasn’t. Why does it end that way? ​
Because the people watching the chase wouldn’t be able to pay attention long enough to see them track down the real Montag. They just chose some random pedestrian to target and claim was Montag so that the people would be satisfied with the “snap ending.” 11. How have Granger and his people done what Montag has wanted to do? ​
They have been able to read, understand, and memorize books. 12. What finally happens to the city? ​
It is destroyed by a bomb. To Mildred? ​
She is killed in the bombing To Faber? ​
He survived, since he is on a bus to St. Louis to see about a printer when the bomb hit. 13. There is a lot of symbolism at the end of the novel. Explain the symbolic meanings in the following things: a. the Phoenix­ the Phoenix represents rebirth. This signifies the society, which has been completely destroyed, but out of its destruction, a new society will be reborn (much like the Phoenix). b. the time of day­ Montag travels with his companions early in the morning. The sunrise at the end of the novel signifies hope, rebirth, and a new beginning. c. the Biblical quotation­ the quote from Revelation also signifies the end of the world as they know it, but also holds a promise of a rebirth of society. The reference to the “tree of life” is reminiscent of the book of Genesis, which the is the first book of the bible. He ends the story with a reference to the apocalypse (destruction of the city) but also with a reference to a new beginning.