I Still Can't Spell Fahrenheit Without Spellcheck

In response to Rachel ~ 

I’ve also been enjoying this book a lot more than I thought I would! Montag is super fascinating to me, and I love the insights into his mind (I also like that you’ve apparently set a precedent to refer to him by his last name only, because it’s much better than his first name). I agree with you about the way his thoughts are written! It’s super cool to read. To answer your question about his guilt, I think he’s the only guilty one, at least in that moment. Maybe the other firemen have had their guilty moments, but they’ve moved past them. And to answer your bonus question, I was TOTALLY surprised! So if you’re dumb, I am too. I also agree 100% about Mildred. She is the WORST! Every time she comes up in the book I actually get angry. She’s so nothing. There’s no structure or substance to her character, and it’s so annoying to read – even more so trying to understand why Montag is married to her. Was she always like this? And if so, why did Montag fall in love with her? Actually, until I read your post I didn’t even consider the possibility that marriage could be something else in the world of F451, so maybe that could explain it. There’s also the possibility that she used to be different, and that’s when Montag fell in love with her, and now that she’s become this empty shell of boring nothing-ness, he’s out of love. The author seems to be hinting at this in that one scene where Clarisse McClellan rubs a dandelion on her chin and says if there’s yellow rubbed off that she’s in love, and if there’s no yellow, she’s not, and then she rubs it on Montag’s chin: “Before he could move she had put the dandelion under his chin. He drew back and laughed…She peered under his chin and frowned. ‘Well?’ he said. ‘What a shame,’ she said. ‘You’re not in love with anyone”’ (Bradbury 19). I also feel like the author is trying to contrast Mildred with Clarisse McClellan, which is an interesting development. Clarisse is so curious and questions everything, and Mildred seems to only ever take things at face value. I personally love Clarisse, and I refuse to believe she’s dead, but I’m kind of worried that she is. Do you think the author is intentionally contrasting Mildred and Clarisse? Also, do you think she’s really dead? 

Comments

Rachel M said…
I TOTALLY AGREE THAT CALLING HIM MONTAG IS WAY BETTER THAN CALLING HIM GUY. I mean not anything against people in real life who are named “Guy”. Also I never thought about the possibility that Mildred used to be different a long time ago and that made Montag fall in love with her. That theory could be supported by how Mildred doesn’t immediately report Montag after he shows her all the books that he has collected over the years. The fact that she perhaps tries to understand Montag’s point of view on the books I think is a sign that she used to be more open and less brainwashed by the society that they live in. However, I do still believe that the whole idea of love is different in this world. Honestly, though, I see the world we live in today becoming more and more like that, you know? People don’t hold marriage as sacred as they used to and they just go from one person to another so easily. To me it’s really sad. Switching subjects, I honestly forgot about Clarisse McClellan for a while there. Obviously I loved her and I think she was a really big catalyst for all this stuff going down, but to be completely real I stopped thinking about her after she died. That’s so weird that I forgot about her. One thing that I have noticed in this book is Montag’s repeated mention of his hands. To me it seems like he almost thinks of his hands as separate from himself, or that the things his hands do are not really his actions. “So it was the hands that started it all… His hands had been infected, and soon it would be his arms… His hands were ravenous” (Bradbury 41). This is just one of the many instances that I can remember where Montag thinks to himself that his hands have done something that he doesn’t really take ownership of himself. I personally believe Montag’s hands to be a symbol or a motif in this story. What do you think? Did you notice the repetitive mention of Montag’s hands?
October 27, 2019 at 10:14 PM
Halle said…
I've also definitely noticed the repeated mentions of his hands! Maybe they're supposed to represent some aspect of Montag's subconscious? On page 84, it says, “His hands, by themselves, like two men working together, began to rip the pages from the book.” It’s as if Montag is one character, limited by his indecisiveness and susceptibility to frustration, and his hands are another, acting with the boldness Montag wishes he had himself. I’m interested to see if Montag ever really becomes one with his hands and gains the ability to act on his own strength. I also wonder what role Faber will play in Montag’s character development. Honestly, he just confuses me. I can’t really tell what Faber’s motivations are, and whether or not he’ll end up being a good influence in Montag’s life. He seems more levelheaded than Montag, but that’s not really anything difficult to accomplish—Montag is pretty much the definition of rash. All that to say, I’m not entirely convinced that Faber is good guy, but I guess we’ll see how things end up in the third section. Speaking of the three sections, let’s talk about this second section’s title! It’s called “The Sieve and the Sand,” which is obviously a reference to Montag’s childhood memory (recounted on page 74), in which he tried frantically to fill a sieve with hot sand. He connects this memory to the overwhelming sensation he feels looking at the Bible he holds in his hand, but I’m wondering if there is any deeper meaning in this memory and title. I mean, obviously the author deemed it important enough to title a whole section of the book after it, so I’m trying to figure out what else this memory could symbolize. My working theory right now is that the “sieve” is Montag, and the “sand” is all the knowledge contained in the books. Do you have any other ideas, or can you find any other important meaning in this section’s title?
November 2, 2019 at 6:03 PM
Rachel M said…
I also think that Faber is totally sketchy! To me he honestly seems like he has good intentions, but he is the kind of character that I would expect to go about acting on those intentions in all the wrong ways. Speaking of good intentions going bad, I’m wondering if there’s an act of hamartia in this book. I mean, I guess it’s probably not meant to be a tragedy, but in the modern definition of hamartia being a fatal flaw rather than one single act seems like it could fit right into this book. I’m really excited to see how this all ends up for Montag and if it has a happy ending! Your questions about the title of this second part are really making me think, too. To be completely honest, I can’t really come up with any other ideas of what the title could represent. I didn’t really understand the title of the first section, “The Hearth and the Salamander”, either. Complete change of topic here, but do you not just hate Beatty so much??? I honestly was so mad at him the entire time that I was reading this section. Especially on the last page of the section, page 110, when the firemen stop at Montag’s house and Beatty was just so annoying: “At last Montag raised his eyes and turned. Beatty was watching his face. ‘Something the matter, Montag?’” Why did Beatty have to be so rude about the fact that Montag was going to have to burn his own house down? Or maybe Beatty actually really doesn’t understand why Montag would feel bad about burning his house. Beatty’s character actually confuses me a lot. To me, it seems like he is the most contented character so far in the story. It really feels like he is convinced that their world is exactly as it should be and nothing is wrong with the state of their lives or the system in which they live. At the same time, though, he quotes books all the time! This man is just so strange to me. What are your thoughts on the walking contradiction that is Captain Beatty? Why do you think he knows so much about literature and the Bible if he truly believes that books and literature in general are bad?
November 3, 2019 at 9:26 PM
Halle said…
I absolutely agree with you about Beatty—he’s super confusing. Honestly, he’s even more confusing after reading the third and final section of the book. I think, like Faber, Beatty ultimately wants control of Montag’s mind and tries to manipulate him into doing what he says. I do think that Montag is right when he realizes that what Beatty truly wanted in the end was death. On page 116, Montag is running away from the ruins of his home, and he thinks, “Beatty wanted to die…Montag knew it for the truth. Beatty had wanted to die. He had just stood there, not really trying to save himself, just stood there joking, needling.” Although for most of this book I was convinced that Beatty was the villain, this makes me uncertain, and I almost feel bad for him. I think he once loved books and literature, and tried for so long to compartmentalize and do his duty as a fireman, but in the end the pain caught up to him and he gave in to death. As for everything else that happens in this section…wow. I don’t even know where to start. First of all, I’m disappointed that Clarisse really is just dead. I was so sure she was going to make a triumphant return, but I guess Ray Bradbury had other ideas. I’m also disappointed in Mildred. I thought she was going to take Montag’s side and fall in love with books, but she ends up turning him in to Beatty, which stinks. Were you surprised by Mildred’s final choice, or did you expect her to turn on her husband? On a happier/less disappointed note, I really loved the little ragtag group of literature lovers that Montag runs into along the railroad. I’ve felt like this book has been lacking in cool creative elements, and this part delivered for me. I love the idea of this huge national network, each person representing some specific author or work of classical literature. They even introduce themselves to Montag as the authors or works they’ve memorized, and tell Montag that he is their backup book of Ecclesiastes. I wish we had been able to learn more about this network of people, but I also like the open ended-ness of it because it allows me to create this theory: I think Clarisse McClellan is/was a member of this secret network…I’ll just leave you with that.
November 5, 2019 at 9:38 PM
Rachel M said…
I am also super disappointed in Mildred! I had hope that she would experience a sudden revelation or something about the importance and value of books, but it just never came. It’s interesting because in the beginning she was my least favorite character, then I began to root for her to support Montag, and then she really just failed me in the end and solidified her place in my mind as my least favorite character. I do appreciate the fact that Montag still cares and thinks about her when he sits in the stillness of nature, though. I’m still not too sure of the nature of “love” in this book, as it is not explained and I believe it may be skewed, but it is obvious that Montag cares about Mildred even despite her turning him in to the firemen. When he makes it outside the city, he thinks, “Mille… all this country here. Listen to it! Nothing and nothing. So much silence, Mille, I wonder how you’d take it? Would you shout, Shut up, shut up! Millie, Millie. And he was sad” (141-142). He thinks of her even in his dangerous situation and does not resent her for putting him in that position. Instead, he is sad for her dependence on technology and entertainment, effectively demonstrating that he truly does care for her. On a less important note, I also love that he calls her “Millie”. That’s cute. Changing gears, I can honestly say I did not expect the firemen to kill that random guy instead of Montag. I knew they were bad, but to just pick a scapegoat and let him die for no reason? Were you expecting this turn of events? Although, it can be true for today’s day and age. We are so prideful by nature (thanks, Lewis) and while this is a drastic example of the lengths we will go to to save our image, I think it serves to remind us that even in small everyday instances we can put unnecessary burdens on others out of our own pride. I also agree with your point that the network of book people (yes, that’s what I’m calling them) is super cool. What I thought was most interesting was the fact that despite all their knowledge, they currently are of no use to society as it is. I don’t know why that just hit me so hard, but it really made me think about my place in society and wonder whether I am making others feel as if they have something to contribute as well. And now a fun question for you: if you were a member of the book people, what book would you like to represent??? I am not sure what I’d be myself! Also what book do you think Clarisse represented?
November 6, 2019 at 5:08 PM
Halle said…
First of all, I feel like there shouldn’t even be any question as to what book(s) I would represent…the answer is absolutely Harry Potter (but if I have to pick something more classical, probably Anne of Green Gables. If we’re thinking educational, definitely last year’s APUSH textbook). As for Clarisse, I’m not sure! Maybe books of fairytales or fables—she’s so whimsical and thoughtful. To answer your question about the firemen, I was super shocked when they killed him! I was definitely expecting them to capture him and take him into custody for the sake of the cameras, but it seemed really over the top to murder him. To kind of wrap things up for this month’s MOR, I wanted to talk about the various messages and meanings I picked up on while reading. One of the biggest ones for me was the idea of being dissatisfied. It seems like every single major character in this book is left without satisfaction in some way. Clarisse never gets all the answers she wants, Mildred is an empty shell of a human, Faber’s true love, literature, has been taken from him, and Beatty is torn between his past and present. Montag, however, seems the most aware of his dissatisfaction, although he can’t exactly figure out the cause or solution. He tells Faber, “‘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). However, the rest of Montag’s journey seems to beg an important question: can we ever truly be satisfied? Montag tries to chase what he believes will satisfy him, and ends up alone, an escaped murderer on the run from the government. He has to leave his wife and destroy his home, and for what? For the mere possibility that one day he will have books again? Overall the ending of this was somewhat of a letdown, at least for me. But it does make me wonder if any of us can ever actually find satisfaction. It seems like to Bradbury, the answer is no. So, on that note, I end our very first MOR. It’s been a pleasure reading with you—but I still cannot spell Fahrenheit without spellcheck.
November 6, 2019 at 5:40 PM
Mrs. Disher said…
Halle and Rachel, what a pleasure to join you on this roller coaster. The other seniors are reading F451 now, so maybe you can spread some of the love. Good job tracking the ups and downs of the various characters--MIldred, Faber, etc., have definite tensions that contribute to suspense, hope, and occasionally despair. Good use of quotations to ground your analysis of specific moments. Grade on Portals.
November 21, 2019 at 8:18 AM
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