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Setting
Montag is a firefighter who burns books. One night he goes home and runs into a strange 17 year old girl named Clarisse McClellan who he is mesmorized by. She tells him that firefighters should put out fires, not start them. He has a wife he comes home to but can't get this girl off his mind. -
Disturbance
Montag walks in on his sleeping wife and accidentally kicks over a bottle of empty sleeping pills. He calls the hospital and they have to come and put new blood in her body. His wife doesn't have any remembrance of her attempted suicide. He goes outside and sees Clarisse tasting the rain and comparing it to wine. She rubs a dandellion on her chin and pollen rubs off and she says that means she's in love. Pollen doesn't rub off on Montag and she asks him why he's a fireman. -
The Mechanical Hound
Montag reaches down to touch the mechanical hound at the fire station but it growls at him. Montag tells Captain Beatty about it because he thinks someone set it that way. Beatty tells Montag he'll check it out and that he's sure no one was messing with him. Montag pities the dog. -
Montag's Oppressing Thoughts
Montag begins to see Clarisse and talks to every day for a week. He doesn't see her the eigth day and takes the train to work. He asks Beatty about the the man at library they burned down last week and what it'd be like to be him. He admits he read a line of a fairy tale before they burned it. He asks if firemen actually used to put out fires rather than start them. -
Emptiness
Montag hides a book under his pillow. He asks his wife if she even remembes where the first met. He feels so empty. Monta asks Mildred, his wife, if she has any idea what happened to Clarisse since they haven't talked in four days. Mildred says she heard she was killed. He asks Mildred if it's alright to take a break from his job because he felt bad about burning an old woman -
My Thoughts
I thought this was a very interesting book. It shows a future that is dependant on immediate gratification. No one wanted to use books to obtain information anymore and Montag realized the enjoyment that one can get out of books. In the end, he realized that he had to do what would make him happy instead of living a life of always wondering why. -
Just a Phase
Captain Beatty swings by to check on Montag. He says that he knew he wouldn't be at work today because of the "problem" everyone goes through sooner or later. He explains the faster ways to require information instead of books. Eventually people just started burning books. He doesn't plan to go back to work after Beatty leaves and freaks his wife out when he shows her his book stash. -
The Death of Beatty
Captain Beatty finds out Montag has books. He tells him that he'll let it go if he just gets rid of them soon. Montag doesn't want to get rid of his books and after Beatty tries to talk some sense into him, Montag kills him with a flamethrower. -
A Happy Ending
After Montag escapes from murdering Beatty, he floats up a riverbed to five men sitting around a fire who were expecting him. One man named Granger gives him a drink so the hound can't find him and will capture a scapegoat. It turns out these guys love to read and Montag is invited to join them in finding peace in reading forever. -
The Enjoyment of Books
Montag and Mildred are reading books together but Montag doesn't understand what he's reading. He wants to find a teacher and thinks of an English professer named Faber. Montag brings what must be the last Bible to Faber's house and tries to get him to understand what he's reading.
