Fahrenheit 451
Part II
“The Sieve and the Sand” Vocabulary
Harlequin
Buffoon,
comic,
clown
cadenced
With a rhythmic
flow of a
sequence
of sounds
or words
patronage
Financial
support or
assistance
Aesthetic
Relating
to
beauty
teem
Abound or
swarm; be
plentiful
intuitively
Seemingly;
reasonably;
most likely
praetorian
Related to
elected
magistrates
charged chiefly
with the
administration of
civil justice
insidious
Artful;
clever;
crafty
sieve
An instrument
with a meshed
bottom used for
separating coarse
from fine parts of loose
matter or for straining
liquids
trifle
Article or thing
of very little
value
oblivion
The state of
being
forgotten
welter
Clamor;
commotion
falter
To be unsteady;
to stumble
Linguists
Persons who are skilled in
several
languages
arsonists
Persons who willfully set
fire to buildings, or other
property, for
an improper
use
Contemptible
Shameful; despicable;
disgusting
Suffused
Was spread through or over,
as with
liquid,
color,
or light
Quotes from Part I
Censorship
“The home environment can undo a lot you try
to do at school. That’s why we’ve lowered the
kindergarten age year after year until now we’re
almost snatching them from the cradle” (64).
Beatty is explaining how the government keeps
what kids learn at home in check by censoring
what they learn in school.
Knowledge vs. Ignorance
“And if there is something here, just one little
thing out of a whole mess of things, maybe we
can pass it on to someone else”
Literature and Writing
"Come on, woman!"
The woman knelt among the books, touching the
drenched leather and cardboard, reading the gilt titles
with her fingers while her eyes accused Montag.
"You can't ever have my books," she said. (1.346-8)
This woman recognizes what Montag will not
realize for some time – the value of books is not
physical and doesn’t lie in the tangible pages.
That’s why, although they burn this woman’s
books, they never really take them from her.
Technology and Modernization
• "Will you turn the parlour off?" he asked.
"That's my family."
As a term of any meaning and significance, "family"
has gone by the wayside in this world. Montag has
already admitted that he might not cry if his wife
died. By this definition of family – as a relationship
without emotion or love – the TV characters
actually do fit the bill.
Rules and Order
• “We must all be alike. Not everyone born free
and equal, as the Constitution says, but
everyone made equal. Each man the image of
every other; then all are happy”
Beatty cites many different reasons for the abolishment
of books, but this one is perhaps the most terrifying.
Fear and jealousy imagine intellectualism as a weapon.
Bradbury reminds us that those who can not fight with
words or ideas use violence as a substitute.