Farenheit 451

Question 1

“Are you happy?” Which character asks this question? Who do they ask?

Answer 1

Clarisse asks Montag

Question 2

Why is the book called Fahrenheit 451?

Answer 2

It is the temperature at which books burn

Question 3

When Montag first returns home, what does he see?

Answer 3

He sees that Mildred is lying dead on the bed

Question 4

Who comes to visit Montag while he’s sick?

Answer 4

Beatty

Question 5

Which book of the Bible must Montag memorize?

Answer 5

Ecclesiastes

Question 6

Who are Mildred’s cousins, aunts, and uncles?

Answer 6

The characters she watches on the television

Question 7

What animal is the machine that pumps Mildred’s stomach compared to?

Answer 7

A snake

Question 8

What emblem on the firemen’s suits symbolizes their ability to survive fire?

Answer 8

A salamander

Question 9

Which character loves her TV family more than her own family?

Answer 9

Mildred

Question 10

Which character considers themselves a coward? Why?

Answer 10

Faber, he says he saw the way things were going a long time back yet did nothing

Question 11

How do the firemen know which houses to go to?

Answer 11

Other people inform them by calling in an alarm

Question 12

Which character talks at length about what they know about history, technology, education, and the inner workings of society? Why is this paradoxical?

Answer 12

Beatty, he continues to uphold the laws of society by burning books to take away knowledge, yet seems to have a lot of knowledge himself

Question 13

At what point does Montag worry that Beatty knows he stole a book?

Answer 13

When making a sick call to Montag’s home, Beatty tells Montag that at some point every fireman becomes curious and steals a book

Question 14

What are the earplug radios called? What do they symbolize?

Answer 14

Seashells, they symbolize total government control

Question 15

What did Faber do for a living before he retired?

Answer 15

He was an English professor

Question 16

Why does Montag pity the Mechanical Hound?

Answer 16

It only does what it is programmed to do, it has no thoughts of its own

Question 17

What does Montag stash behind the ventilator in his home?

Answer 17

Books

Question 18

Who calls in the alarm to Montag’s house?

Answer 18

Mildred

Question 19

What do the police do when they can’t find Montag?

Answer 19

They identify another man as Montag and have him killed

Question 20

How did Clarisse die? How does Mildred say she died?

Answer 20

Mildred claims that Clarisse was hit by a car, the family moved away four days prior

Question 21

How is the city destroyed?

Answer 21

A bomb destroys everything

Question 22

What does the phoenix symbolize?

Answer 22

Rebirth

Question 23

What are some paradoxes in this book? What makes them such?

Answer 23

Mildred: alive, but not alive
Montag: in control, but out of control

Question 24

Is Ray Bradbury for or against censorship? Why?

Answer 24

Against, he believes censorship hinders knowledge

Question 25

What effect does Clarisse have on Montag? What function does she serve in the novel?

Answer 25

Clarisse causes Montag to question everything he believed to be true, including his own happiness, and incites the plot

Question 26

How does Montag view his job at the beginning of the book? How has this changed by the end?

Answer 26

In the beginning he says, “it was a pleasure to burn”, but by the end of the book he has realized the value books and knowledge hold