Fahrenheit 451

A metaphor is a figure of speech which compares two unlike things to one another. This is not to be confused with the similar but different simile, which also compares unlike things but does so via...

Since its publication in 1953, Ray Bradbury's classic novel Fahrenheit 451 has been censored and banned in several schools in the United States. Over the years, certain schools have banned the...

When Montag plans to call in sick, Beatty comes by to visit, telling him that eventually all firemen question the history of their profession. Beatty claims that everything started around the Civil...

One of the main messages in Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 is that people often trade a meaningful literary experience for the entertainment of television and that the trade often leaves them feeling...

In making these comments, the old lady is emphasizing her martyrdom. The original quotation—“Play the man, Master Ridley”—was made by Hugh Latimer, burned at the stake along with his fellow...

The speech that Beatty delivers to Montag, written by Bradbury in 1953, has many elements that still resonate with today's world. He talks about the condensation of entertainment and media into...

A simile is a figure of speech in which two unlike things are compared using the words like or as. This is not to be confused with a metaphor, which also compares two unlike things but does so...

While Montag is riding the subway to meet Faber, he attempts to read a passage out of the Bible but is continually interrupted by an annoying Denham's Dentifrice commercial blaring through the...

Rather than quotes, you might want to think about what her suicide attempt reveals about her character. Remember, it is not just speech that reveals a character to us but also actions. Mildred's...

In Part Two of Fahrenheit 451, Mildred invites her two friends, Mrs. Bowles and Mrs. Phelps, over to her house. It is around nine in the evening when the ladies arrive and the purpose of their...

Throughout the first chapter of this novel, Ray Bradbury employs some sort of imagery on nearly every page. However, most of this imagery is aimed at proving a contrast between Montag's world—the...

Faber suggests that they plant books in fireman's homes, then call and report them to the authorities, but when Montag shows a strong interest in the idea, Faber says he is only joking. Fireman, he...

Please note: page numbers vary widely among editions so context is provided to aid your search. The eNotes Guide to Literary Terms includes a definition of allusion along with several examples. One...

The Mechanical Hound is a robot dog that was originally designed to help firemen by sniffing out the weak and injured. However, in the topsy-turvy dystopia of Fahrenheit 451, they have a much more...

I envision the "parlor walls" as being similar to massive flat-screen TVs that run floor to ceiling and span multiple walls in a room. Montag and Mildred have three walls in one room that are now...

This quote is from the first part of the book, in which Montag begins to reflect upon the true nature of what he does for the first time. Montag works as a fireman, who in his dystopian society is...

After Clarisse disappears, Montag's conscience begins to weigh heavily on him. As he sits at the firehouse playing cards, he is surrounded by a feeling of emotional and physical coldness. This...

The quotation is from Revelations and is a prophecy about the New Jerusalem. It's clearly meant to be a gloss on the state of Montag's society, which has been destroyed by war. Like Granger's...

The conversation between Mildred and her friends, Mrs. Phelps and Mrs. Bowles, depicts their superficial, callous personalities and highlights the debased values of their destructive dystopian...

As the novel reaches its conclusion, Montag flees into the wilderness and joins the Drifters, who are dedicated to the task of memorizing books. They watch on a portable TV as the authorities stage...

Beatty's explicit reason for destroying books is to maintain social order. Early in the story, shortly after stealing a book from a woman's house that the firemen burn, Montag becomes sick with...

Clarisse explains her typical school day to Montag, which doesn't involve any academics at all. First, she has an hour of a class about TV. She then has an hour-long sports class, after which she...

Mildred's family is the characters in the television shows she watches on her parlour walls. They give her joy and distract her from what is happening in the world. Montag is annoyed by his wife's...

Montag has picked up Gulliver's Travels, written by Jonathan Swift, which remains one of literature's most-revered political satires. In this novel, Swift criticizes mankind's pride and its...

In Montag's dystopian society, the totalitarian government censors literature and promotes mindless entertainment in order to create a passive, ignorant population that is easy to control. Instead...

In Part One of the novel, Montag meets his charismatic, sensitive teenage neighbor, Clarisse McClellan. Clarisse is depicted as a unique, inquisitive child, who has an affinity for nature and...

In part two the sieve and the sand, Montag remembered an event he had with Faber, an old man he met at the city park. The old man hid something and tried to run but Montag stopped him and they sat...

In part 3, Montag responds to a firecall and is surprised when Captain Beatty arrives at his home. Captain Beatty then makes Montag destroy his house using a flamethrower and instructs him to burn...

In part 3, Montag ends up killing Captain Beatty and the mechanical hound using a flamethrower. However, the mechanical hound is able to stab Montag with its long, poisonous needle, which...

As the novel opens, Montag is described as a "minstrel man," suggesting he is playing a part that is not really him, and is twice described as "whistling." But after his encounter with Clarisse, he...

The reader has little opportunity to determine Mildred's feelings about the relationship, since the book focuses on Montag's viewpoint. From the little we see of her, she seems to regard her...

Guy Montag is innately sensitive and imaginative, intelligent but blundering, and quite discontent with his life. As the narrative opens, Montag walks home from work, thinking that "it was a...

The Mechanical Hound is an impressive piece of technology used by the fireman institution to track down political dissidents and incapacitate them. In Part One, Montag arrives at work and walks...

Just before Montag realizes that his wife, Mildred, has attempted suicide, he finds her lying "uncovered and cold" on their bed. And in her ear is the technology that she uses to help her sleep:...

Mildred refers to the characters on the parlor-wall television programs as her "family" and is completely consumed by the mindless entertainment on the massive screens. Mildred's obsession with her...

Both Clarisse McClellan and Mildred Montag are caught up in a society beyond their control, a society that oppresses them and tries to regulate everything they do and say and think. Yet these two...

Montag turns to Faber in frustration, asking him to teach him how to understand what he reads. Montag is desperate to change his world, realizing that "something's missing." Faber surprises him by...

Clarisse's final question to Montag at their first meeting startles him. He is not used to encountering people who think as deeply as she does and who seem intently interested in what he has to...

Mildred tells Montag that she thinks that a man called McClellan hit Clarisse in his a car and killed her. However, when Montag presses her, she says she is not entirely sure if Clarisse actually...

Towards the beginning of part 3, Montag is surprised to arrive at his home during a routine firecall and learns that Mildred called in an alarm on him. Beatty then instructs Montag to use a...

Man vs. Man: Montag struggles against his nemesis, Captain Beatty, who is the fire chief throughout the novel. Captain Beatty represents the authoritarian government, which censors literature by...

In the first paragraph of Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury describes the books as "flapping pigeon-winged books." Bradbury creates this metaphor for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it reinforces the idea...

The main conflict in this novel—the main external conflict, at any rate—is between Montag and the dictatorial regime of the bibliophobic dystopia in which he lives. This external conflict is...

Clarisse pushes against Montag's assumptions about the world. When Montag first encounters Clarisse, she comes off as strange to him. She openly questions the dominant social order with her deep...

When Clarisse and Montag meet early in the novel, they have a long conversation about sociality and what young people talk about. Clarisse contends that ideas about sociality are upside down in her...

In Part Three of Fahrenheit 451, Montag meets a group of men in the woods. These men consist of former college professors who are ostracised from society because of their opposition to censorship....