Fahrenheit 451 Summary Chapter 1

Summary Of Fahrenheit 451 Chapters 2 and 3
Montag and Mildred spend the afternoon reading the books, however, however, can’t make sense of what they read.
Introduction of Faber an English professor Montag met years ago.
Montag shows Mildred the bible he stole from the old lady's house and is determined to make a copy of it as he believes it's the last one left
Montag doesn't ‘ want to think. Montag leaves to Faber's house
Montag compares knowledge in society as sand in a sieve
Faber says he is a coward as he conforms to society out of fear
Montag believes the physical books are missing from people's lives but Faber tells him it is what is in the book that is missing
Faber says people are missing quality of information, ability to take in

the information and carry it out in life
Montag gets Faber to agree to help him make a copy of the bible he can give to captain Beatty and also deal with tough situations by communicating to him through a 2-way transmitter.

Faber reads to Montag on the subway while announcements of mobilization of the war occurred
Mildred's friends arrive to watch tv with Mildred and Montag pulls the plug on the TV to have a conversation with them instead. Montag realizes how disconnected and superficial they are like much of society and gets mad and leaves.
Montag reads poetry to Mildred's friends and one cries while the other talks ill of it and Montag tries to get them thinking about their lives but they refuse
Montag searches for his books and finds out Mildred has already burned several of them and hides the rest and leaves for work.
Montag gives Captain Beatty a book and is welcomed back to work while he tells montage “ Contradictory passages” to show him books are useless, While all of a sudden the alarm goes and the fireman rush of to the alarm, Montag's house!
Montag realizes it was Mildred who set the alarm off as she gets into a taxi and leaves
Montag burns his house down as he is ordered to by Captain

Beatty.
Montag kills Beatty with the flamethrower as he was taunting him and knocks the other firemen out and the mechanical hound attacks him with anesthesia before Montag destroys it to with his flamethrower.
Montag grabs his reaming books and listens to the radio about the city-wide manhunt for him as he limps away, he also hears on the radio that war has been declared.

Montag is nearly run down by teenagers he believes did the same to Clarisse.
Montag goes to Faber's house and he tells him to go to the river until he sees tracks and follow them to st. louis where they will meet up soon to see a printer. The new hound is televised in its manhunt for Montag
Montag tells Faber to eliminate his scent from his house and leaves and avoids the hound by tracking its tracks by watching him through windows of houses until he reaches the river.
Montag reaches the railroad tracks and it reminds him of Clarisse due to the natural smells and nature
Montag meets 5 men one named Granger who give a drink that changes his scent and they say the fireman will “scapegoat” someone to reassure the public, which they do as it is declared that Montag is dead on Tv and on the radio.
The men ask Montag about what he can contribute and Montag says he has memorized some of Ecclesiastes
Granger introduces the other men by the authors they have memorized and says that many others have done the same waiting for the right time to write down literature again so society can be intellectual

again
Montag thinks of Mildred again and how he won't miss her as she was never even really there with him
The Jets drop their bombs and the war is over as the cities have been destroyed and Montag remembers he met Mildred in Chicago. Granger says their job now is to educate the survivors and rebuild society.

Quotations:

"Books aren't people. You read and I look around, but there isn't anybody!"(69)

This quotation is said by Mildred as she kicked a book. Mildred says these words out of frustration while reading a book with Montag. This is the aftermath of Montag revealing his big secret that he has been hiding 20 books and both him and a reluctant Mildred agreeing to read them to see what their really about. This quotation is important because it reveals Mildreds and much of societies easily distracted character it also showcases their lack of ability for deep thought. The distracted characteristic trait and lack of ability for deep thought go hand in hand. This is because distractions lead to loss of thought which does not allow for deep thought. In the society of Fahrenheit 451 people like Mildred are easily distracted by quick gratifications such as television and fast cars and etc. Mildred is the product of years of distractions of things such as tv to the point where she considered them her family. This is why it is so hard for her and the majority of society to take the time to read books because it requires thought and imagination while tv does not. This is why she Mildred says "Books aren't people” meaning she is referring that they are not real. Mildred believes this because she can't process the book and imagine it because she is not used to doing that with TV and is why she says “You read and I look around, but there isn't anybody!"

"It was pretty silly, quoting poetry around free and easy like that. It was the act of a silly damn snob. Give a man a few lines of verse and he thinks he's the Lord of all Creation. You think you can walk on water with your books. Well, the world can get by just fine without them. Look where they got you, in slime up to your lip. If I stir the slime with my little finger, you'll drown!" (111-112)

This quotation is said by Captain Beatty to Montag after Mildred alarms the Firemen to her and Montag’s house essentially betraying and turning Montag her husband in for having books. Also for reciting poetry to her and her friends that left them all in distraught. This quotation is significant because it reveals Beatty's paradoxical character trait, it also highlights his hypocrisy. The quotation shows Beatty's paradoxical trait because Beatty is an intellectual who admits was interested in books before to Montag. However, what makes it paradoxical is that he wears and is the Captain of the enemy of intellectual’s, which are Fireman. This is also perhaps why Montag suggest Beatty wanted to die because he was tired of being apart of both worlds that are oh so opposite to each other. On the other hand, the quotation also highlights Beatty’s hypocrisy. This is because in the quotation Beatty says “ "It was pretty silly, quoting poetry around free and easy like that.” to Montag when Beatty is seen throughout the book quoting classical novels and the Bible. In Fact, Beatty is seen quoting the bible as he says “Give a man a few lines of verse and he thinks he's the Lord of all Creation. You think you can walk on water with your books.” while he is telling Montag in the passage that he was silly for quoting poetry around freely. Beatty’s hypocrisy is also shown as he says “Look where they got you, in slime up to your lip. If I stir the slime with my little finger, you'll drown!" referring to again Montag quoting poetry. Beatty’s hypocrisy is shown here because he is essentially telling Montag there will be consequences for quoting poetry when he does not receive any punishment for his “wrongdoing” of quoting literature as well.

Literary analysis:

In the novel Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, Distraction vs. Happiness is a key theme around which the book revolves. The novel which takes place in a dystopian future highlights how people only go for quick gratifications such as the viewing of mass media, which serves as a distraction in many people's lives. As a result society in the novel has become “shallow” and society has lost the ability for deep thought which in turn results in conformity and loss of individuality. It is implied in the book that true happiness can only come from deep thoughts and experience. This philosophy is shown as Montag says “We have everything we need to be happy, but we aren't happy. Something's missing. I looked around. The only thing I positively knew was gone was the books I'd burned in ten or twelve years. So I thought books might help.” (78) This quotation shows that when Montag said we have everything we need to be happy he was referring to distractions in the society, but by realizing books are the something that was missing, stopping people from happiness he proved the philosophy of deep thought which books provide lead to happiness. The theme of Distraction vs Happiness arises again as Faber says “Those who don't build must burn. It's as old as history and juvenile delinquents."( 85 ) This passage shows that the fireman don't build for society meaning contribute anything that benefits society as a result of deep thought and is why they do the job of burn and most of them are not actually happy in life but are simply distracted by their jobs, as was the case of Montag. The passage also highlights how firemen symbolize in society as the reason for unhappiness as they are the ones who censor information which results in people's inability for deep thought which ultimately results in true happiness as mentioned before. Towards the end of the novel when talking about rebuilding society after the destruction of it by the war the theme of Distraction vs Happiness come up again as Granger says “We're going to build a mirror factory first and put out nothing but mirrors for the next year and take a long look in them."(157)This quotation is significant because it shows that the society needs to take a long look at themselves so they will be away from distractions. This will allow people to face and common into terms with their issues through deep thought and reflections and ultimately build a better society to live in where people deal with their issues so that can lead them to true happiness as a pose to quick gratifications as distractions. Overall, distraction vs happiness is one of the main themes that is present throughout the novel.