Ms. Hamden
Fahrenheit 451
NAME:
Burning Bright Questions
p. 113-139
Pgs. 113 – 115
1. What character from mythology does Beatty compare Montag to? Is this fitting?
2. What hint does Captain Beatty say he sent to Montag that he must not have picked up on?
3. What does Montag suspect Mildred of doing? Where is she going? Is this out of character for her?
4. What does Beatty say is the real beauty of fire?
5. Fire eliminates the problem, but what about the consequences?
Pgs. 116 – 118
6. Instead of using kerosene, Captain Beatty wants Montag to use what to burn down his house?
7. Discuss how the rooms that Montag burns are symbolic of his marriage.
8. What does Beatty say to Montag as he is finishing burning the house?
9. Who actually called in the alarm?
10. What does Beatty say and do to Montag at this point?
11. What happened to the “green bullet” radio that Faber gave to Montag? What does Beatty say he will do
with the radio?
Pgs. 119 – 121
12. What does Montag mean by “we never burned right…”?
13. What does Montag do to Beatty? What was the reaction of the other two firemen?
14. Why is Montag injured? How is the Hound involved?
Pgs. 122 – 124
15. What does Montag find in his backyard? What does he do with them?
16. Montag thinks to himself that Captain Beatty probably wanted to do what? Why might this be true?
17. Why is Montag having a difficult time getting up? How does he feel about his actions toward Beatty?
What emotion is portrayed?
18. What information does Montag hear in the Seashell? Why would this be a good way to track a fugitive?
Pgs. 125 – 134
19. What information does Montag hear at the gas station? Why is this important?
20. Why was Montag having such a hard time crossing the street? What connection does he make here?
21. What does this say about the youth of society?
22. What does Montag do to the Black family?
23. What does Faber say there are a lot of along the railroad tracks? Why is this ironic?
24. Where does Faber say he is going? Why is he going there?
25. What has been brought from a different district to track down Montag?
Pgs. 135 – 138
26. What do Faber and Montag do to prevent the Hound from coming to Faber’s house?
27. What does Montag imagine will be on the parlor walls?
28. What do the police suggest everyone do at the same time?
29. What does Montag do when he gets to the river?
Pgs. 139 – 142
30. Discuss river and water imagery—why is this an important component to the story?
31. What are Montag’s first thoughts as he floats down the river?
32. What does Montag realize about burning? How does it affect everything?
33. What does Montag think of when he smells the hay on p. 142?
Pgs. 143 – 145
34. What is waiting for him at the base of the hayloft steps? Why are these important symbols?
35. What does Montag think was still looking for him, still hunting him? What actually is in the forest on
p.144?
36. Describe the smells surrounding Montag. Why include this description?
37. What does Montag hit with his foot? How does this parallel an earlier scene in the novel? How is this
different?
38. What was the single fact that Montag could not prove on p.145?
Pgs. 146 – 149
39. How is this new fire different from all the other fires Montag has ever seen?
40. What does Montag see around the fire as he approaches? Who else does this group remind you of?
41. What does Granger give to Montag? What is it supposed to do?
42. Why is the chase still going on if the police have lost Montag? What does Montag see in the portable
viewer? How does the hunt end?
43. How was it possible that not even Montag’s friends would recognize that the man they caught wasn’t
him?
Pgs. 150 – 160
44. Where is Montag keeping the Book of Ecclesiastes?
45. What does each man represent? Does it make sense that people are books? Why?
46. Granger says that “we’re book burners too,” (152) but how are these men different from the firemen?
What do they plan to do with their knowledge?
47. What advice did Granger’s grandfather give him? How does this apply to Transcendentalism? What is
identity tied to?
48. What does Montag see happening in the city? How long does the war last?
49. How does Montag feel about Mildred still being in the city? What does he suddenly remember?
50. In what condition is the city in after the war? How does this affect the group?
Pgs. 161 – 165
51. On page 163, Granger relates the story of the phoenix to men. How is the city now like the phoenix—or
civilization for that matter? What is mankind’s advantage?
52. Discuss the mirror imagery on p.164. How does this also apply to Mildred on p.159?
53. How is Montag like a phoenix at the end of the novel? How is his quote a fitting end for the story?