Fahrenheit+451


 * Key Plot Events
 * In a city in America, set sometime in the future, the job of "fireman" has changed from someone who puts out fires, to someone who starts them. Firemen are responsible for burning books, and Guy Montag is only one of many. The story opens on a book-burning, and when Guy makes his way home afterwards, he meets a young girl called Clarisse McClellan. She's different from everyone else, avoiding the "fun parks" and TV walls in favor of looking at flowers and actually talking to her family. She talks to him for a little while, and asks him if he's happy before going home.
 * As Montag returns to his own home, he considers what Clarisse said, and realizes that he truly isn't happy. He finds his wife in bed, a bottle of empty pills on the bedside table, and has to call hospital workers to save her. The next morning, she doesn't remember her near-suicide, and instead talks about the television programs she's been watching. He is uninterested, and while on his way to work, he meets Clarisse again. By this point, it's easy to tell that she's had some kind of effect on him.
 * He sees Clarisse every day for a week, just talking with her. On the eighth day, he doesn't see her, and simply goes on to work. They recieve a call about an old woman who has been hiding books, and respond. While they are piling up the books to burn them, Montag catches one as it falls and hides it beneath his coat. The old woman refuses to leave her house and her books, and in the end, strikes the match herself, staying to burn as well. This deeply affects Montag, and he begins to question how he is living his life.
 * Montag learns from his wife that Clarisse was hit by a car and killed, and her family moved away. After the incident with the old woman, he begins to find everything associated with his job unbearable, and realizes that his and his wife's lives, and maybe everyone's, are just empty. He resolves to begin reading the books he's been hiding in his vents.
 * Montag meets a professor of English, Faber, who tells him that what's missing from society isn't the books themselves, but the meaning contained within. Montag comes up with a plan to plant books in the houses of other firemen, to discredit the firehouses. But when he returns home, two of his wife's friends are over, and he becomes so disgusted with how superficial and shallow they are, he brings out a poetry book and reads to them. They denounce him, and he leaves to return to the firestation, where an alarm comes in. It turns out, his wife has betrayed him, and the call is for his own house.
 * He is forced to burn his own house as the captain taunts him, and is then placed under arrest. But he turns his flamethrower on the captain and burns him to death, knocking out the remaining firemen before fleeing. Faber helps him get out of the city and helps throw the police off his trail. Once out of the city, Montag meets a group of "Book Men", former intellectuals who have memorized different books to protect them. The police kill a scapegoat in place of Montag on TV, and the Book Men explain that they are just waiting for society to be ready for books again. The story ends with Montag and the Book Men together, with Montag "reborn" as a whole person for the first time.
 * Key Characters (include a list of their key traits) -
 * Guy Montag – fireman. He burns books as his job instead of putting fires out. After meeting Clarice he begins to rethink his life, wanting to read books and gain knowledge
 * Mildred Montag – Guy’s wife. She watches TV and listens to her Seashell radio all day, like most of the other members of the society. Attempts to commit suicide but then pretends that she did not
 * Captain Beatty – Captain of Guy’s fire department. Has read many books but does not believe they are important.
 * Professor Faber – Still owns books, despite the ban on them. Provide insight on those who are in the minority in a society.
 * Clarisse McClellan – Enjoys hiking, flowers, and questions, so she is an outcast from society. Shows Guy there is more to life than TV, radio, and bookburning.
 * Granger – The leader of the “Book People,” the group of hobos who aim to keep literature alive until the era of bookburning ends
 * Mrs. Phelps and Mrs. Bowles – two of Mildred Montag’s friends who represent typical members of the society, not caring about their husbands or children or anything other than television and radio.
 * Setting (time and place) -
 * Unknown city within the 24th Century.
 * Two atomic wars have taken place since 1990. This adds to the idea of the harmful effects of censorship.
 * Key Symbol(s)
 * **Phoenix** - After the city is destroyed, Granger compares mankind to Phoenix because burns itself and then rebuilds itself back. Granger believes that mankind has the advantage of learning from the past as to not repeat mistakes. Thus he and his group attempt to rise out of the ashes and collectively restore mankind.
 * **Salamander -** Insignia on the firmen's jackets. Salamanders were believed to be born of fire and therefore represent harsh environment.
 * Key Image(s)
 * Key Theme(s) -
 * Censorship, and the ensuing loss of knowledge, will lead to the degradation of an intellectual society into a society of pure pleasure.
 * Key Structural Elements
 * Bradbury uses many literary quotes and phrases throughout the novel, closely tying it to the books that he's actually writing about.