The Hearth and the Salamander
The hearth, or fireplace, is a traditional symbol of
the home, which the firemen burn
the salamander is one of the official symbols of
the firemen, as well as the name they give to their
trucks.
The salamander is associated with ancient beliefs
that it can live in fire and is unaffected by flames
Rebirth, growth, regeneration
SPORTS:
topic of sports, which allow for the organization and therefore subjugation
of the country’s citizens.
The biggest problem with books:
•everyone is so obsessed with political correctness and not offending any
minorities that the materials were over-censored.
•all that was allowed to remain was comic books and porn.
•“Intellectual” became a swear word, because everyone has to be equal,
no one smart allowed to rise above the rest.
Happiness:
•people want to be happy
•everyone is a minority of something (whether race, sexual orientation, or
occupation), everyone was offended by something
•all books are offensive, and all books should be burned
•Montag asks how it is possible that someone like
Clarisse exists.
•The odd duck happens now and then, says Beatty,
which is why they try to take the children off to school
at the earliest possible age – to indoctrinate them, to
stamp out individuality.
SCHOOL FORMULA:
1) stuff the children full of facts, but eliminate the
possibility of argument or disagreement.
2) If they can’t disagree, they can’t possibly be
unhappy.
And happiness is the point of living.
3) Books, says Beatty, don’t say anything. They are
fiction, philosophy, argument, but nothing tangible or
real. They make you feel lost.
•if a fireman accidentally takes a book home. Beatty
responds that the fireman can keep it for a day, but that
then they will come to burn it.
•Montag continues to think aloud regarding his personal
crisis. He wants to smash things, he’s unhappy, he doesn’t
know if he’ll ever work again – he might even start reading
books.
•He wants to do something big, but he doesn’t know
what.He tells his wife he wants to show her something –
something behind the ventilator grill.
•The something turns out to be an entire collection of books
that Guy has squirreled away, one at a time, over the last
year
•He tells Mildred that they’re in this together now; Mildred
responds by shrieking and taking one of the books to the
kitchen incinerator
•Guy stops her and pleads desperately with his wife.
Montag is not the same man he was…he questions.
He wants to read the books just once, to see what’s in them. If there’s
nothing there, he’ll burn them. But people like Clarisse made him curious,
and he wants to know why men like Beatty are afraid of her.
Montag insists they ignore the visitor and start reading the books. He
opens one and, after a dozen pages, comes to this line: “It is computed that
eleven thousand persons have at several times suffered death rather than
submit to break their eggs at the smaller end.” (FYI: This is from Gulliver’s
Travels.)
Mildred doesn’t know what this means, and concludes that it means
nothing – that Beatty was right.
Montag says they should start over, at the beginning.
The Sieve and the Sand
Metaphor
taken from Montag’s childhood memory of trying
to fill a sieve with sand on the beach to get a dime
from a mischievous cousin and crying at the
futility of the task. He compares this memory to
his attempt to read the whole Bible as quickly as
possible on the subway in the hope that, if he
reads fast enough, some of the material will stay
in his memory.
The Sieve and the Sand
Montag's frustration at not being able to immediately grasp
what is true in the world
Millie and others like her are sieves as well
unable and unwilling to grasp information even when it is
made readily available to them
The Sieve and the Sand
Faber
First meeting in the park:
p.75 “I don’t talk things, sir, I talk the meaning of
things. I sit here and know I’m alive.”
represents knowledge
educated and realizes that book banning and
book burning has made people less enlightened
imagery associated with Faber incorporates the
color white pg.80
Faber
•coward for not having stood up in protest back
when they were beginning to ban books.
•Faber explains getting rid of books is not entirely to
blame for society's superficiality.
•it is the quality of introspection, mystery and
wonder found in books that society lacks.
•Faber asserts that books are feared because they
"show the pores in the face of life" and make people
uncomfortable.
•world needs quality of information found in books,
the leisure to analyze and understand it, and the
right to act on that understanding. P. 83
What do we do???
Concoct a plan. P.85
Faber’s reaction? p88
Revised plan? p89
Seashell radio p90
Mobilizing for war
back at the homestead…..
Montag encounters Mildred and her friends.
What are the topics of conversation?
Montag reads a poem to Mildred and her friends.
Explain their strange reaction to this reading.
Mrs. Bowles and Mrs. Phelps arrive to watch
television with Millie.
Mrs. Phelps --third husband, who has gone to fight,
and the women quickly turn to TV
Montag persists, questioning the women about
their children.
Mrs. Phelps has none, and Mrs. Bowles has two, for
whom she obviously feels no affinity.
The conversation turns to politics - voting
Montag then retrieves a book of poetry, the
presence of which a shocked
Millie explains by saying that every fireman is
allowed to bring home one book a year to see how
silly they are.
At Faber's prompting, Montag agrees that this is
true, and proceeds to read a poem, “Dover Beach”,
to the three uncomfortable women.
When he is finished, Mrs. Phelps is crying, though
she cannot explain why, and Mrs. Bowles is angry
with Montag for bringing about trouble.
Mildred tries to calm the group, but the women are
quite shaken and leave. Montag criticizes them as
they go, telling them to think about the quality of
their lives.
Mildred goes to the bathroom to take some sleeping
pills and Montag removes the radio from his ear as
Faber begs him to stop, sure that he has gotten
himself in trouble.
Theme:
--disdain for society
---lack of love
--caring, compassion
--including loss of faith
--the need to care and be cared for
--the destruction of war
Dover Beach poem:
In addition, a "beach" conveys images of sand and
water, two symbols also alluded to throughout the
novel
Montag encounters Beatty back at the Station
Frantic tone:
--Faber vs Beatty
--Good vs Evil
--Competing for attention, sympathy
All this going on in Montag’s mind
Does he have an identity of his own?
The arrival at Montag’s house:
Theme vs Motif Video Link
Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.
----- the message that the author is trying to get across, usually about life, society or
human nature.
They are usually implied rather than specifically stated.
-An example of a theme in a simple book such as "Green Eggs and Ham" could be to
keep an open mind.
Motifs are recurring structures, patterns, contrasts, or literary devices that can help
to develop and inform the text’s major themes
.-These are images that basically are seen throughout the literature that are used to
represent or symbolizes that idea-An example of this could be the use of mirrors. If
mirrors are seen throughout a book, it could be to represent understanding (or
difficulty understanding) oneself.