11 Orangutans F451 Summaries and quotes
“What-the smell of kerosene? My wife always complains,” he laughed. “You never wash it off completely.” Kerosene,” he said, because the silence had lengthened, “is nothing but perfume to me.”
Do you ever read any of the books you bum?” He laughed. “That’s against the law! burn ’em to ashes, then burn the ashes
If you showed a driver a green blur, Oh yes! he’d say, that’s grass! A pink blur? That’s a rosegarden! White blurs are houses. Brown blurs are cows. My uncle drove slowly on a highway once. He drove forty miles an hour and they jailed him for two days. Isn’t that funny, and sad, too?” Bet I know something else you don’t. There’s dew on the grass in the morning.” And if you look”-she nodded at the sky-“there’s a man in the moon.” But what do you talk about? Are you happy?” she said. “Am I what?” he cried. But she was gone-running in the moonlight. Her front door shut gently. He wore his happiness like a mask and the girl had run off across the lawn with the mask and there was no way of going to knock on her door and ask for it back. In page 9-19, it includes the introduction of two main characters, Montag and Clarisse. At the very start, it describes how Montag has lived his life up until this point, enjoying the burning of books. Shortly after, walks out of the fire station and encounters Clarisse, introduces himself, they start walking along the pavement talking. Clarisse makes Montag ponder about how he’s lived his life. Making him question himself about everyday things such as a man in the moon that Clarisse notices, but Montag has not noticed.
Pg 20-30
“The impersonal operator of the machine could… Gaze into the soul of the person whom he was pumping out.”
“Strangers come and violate you”
“If only they could have taken her mind along to the dry cleaners and emptied the pockets and steamed and cleansed it.”
“I don’t know anything anymore”
Mildred overdoses on sleeping pills so these two People come and gaze into Mildred’s soul and replace the blood in her body. She awakens the next morning without remembering anything thinking that they had a party last night and she was just hungover. Montag tries to have a conversation with Mildred but she just brushes him off quickly.
• “he says I’m a regular onion! I keep him busy peeling away the layers” Clarisse
• “no one has time any more for anyone else”
• Montag avoids describing how and why he became a fireman.
• The bloodhound threatens Montag and he questions it’s character and human-like qualities.
• Montag vividly describes the bloodhound
• Clarisse talks about the feeling of rain and how she sometimes just sits there and drinks the rain as if it is wine.
Page 42.’
“A lot of water poured down the spout and out the bottom, and telling us its wine when its not.” – Beatty pg42
“do you notice how people hurt each other nowadays?” – Beatty pg42
“ ‘People dont talk about anything’ “ – Beatty pg42
“No body says anything different from anyone else” – Beatty pg42
“He was certain if he tried the same route, everything would work out fine.” – pg 44 Montag
“war may be declared any hour. This country stands ready to defend its -“ – Radio pg45
“These men who looked steadily into their platinum igniter flames as they lit their eternally burning black pipes.” Pg 46
“These men were all mirror-images of himself!” – Pg 46
“I’ve been thinking. About the fire last week. About the man whose library we fixed.” – Montag Pg 46
“ ‘was – was it always like this?’ “ -Montag to Beatty pg 47
“didnt firemen prevent fires rather than stoke them up and get them going?” – Clarisse McClellan – Pg 47
RULE – Page 48
1. Answer the alarm swiftly.
2. Start the fire swiftly.
3. Burn everything.
4. Report back to firehouse immediately. 5. Stand alert for other alarms.
“You weren’t hurting anyone, you were hurting only things! and since things really couldn’t be hurt, since things felt nothing, and things don’t scream or whimper, as this woman might begin to scream and cry out, there was nothing to tease your conscience later.” – Beatty pg 50
“The books lay like great mounds of fishes left to dry” – Pg 52
Page 48/52
Montag, Beatty, Stoneman and Black are on another job to find and burn books, they get called to a flaking three-storey house in the ancient part of the city. They begin to abuse and follow their objective to burn the books at whatever cost. After they start to burn the books in huge mounds, Montag agues that they shouldn’t leave the owner of the house in their to die, However Beatty thinks otherwise.
This 10 pages quickly summarised can be described by how Montag is starting to second think his job, When directly confronted with how people react to them burning their personal books.
PAGES 54-64
Pg.54
‘The path of kerosene lay like the track of some evil snail.’ – Montag
‘We shall this day a light such a candle, by God’s grace in England, as I trust shall never be put out’ – Montag quoting a women they burned
Pg.55
‘I’m full of bits and pieces’ said Beatty.‘Most fire captains have to be. Sometimes I surprise myself.’- Beatty
‘His hand had been infected, and soon it would be his arms.’
Pg. 57
‘Why didn’t he buy himself an audio-seashell broadcasting station and talk to his wife late at night, murmur, whisper, shout, scream, yell? But what would whisper, what would he yell? What could he say?’ – Montag
‘He couldn’t believe he knew her at all. He was in someone else’s house.’ – Montag
Pg. 59
‘If she died, he was certain he wouldn’t cry.’ – Montag
‘He had begun to cry, not at death but at the thought of not crying at death.’ – Montag
‘Wasn’t there a wall between him and Mildred, when you came down to it?’ – Montag
Pg. 60
‘The most significant memory he had of Mildred, really, was of a little girl in a forest without trees (how odd!) or rather a little girl lost on a plateau where there used to be trees (you could feel the memory of their shapes all about) sitting in the centre of the ‘living-room’. – Montag
‘He was a victim of concussion’ – Montag
Pg. 61
‘Nothings connected up’. – Montag
Pg. 63
‘I think she’s dead’ – Mildred
‘You’re not sure of it?’
‘No, not sure. Pretty sure’
‘Why didn’t you tell me sooner?’
‘Forgot.’
• Mildred and Montag talking about Clarisse
Pg. 64
‘The Hound, he thought. It’s out there tonight. It’s out there now. If I open the window…’ – Montag
Page 64-74
Montag finds out from wife that Clarise is dead (four days ago)
Captain Beatty arrives at Montag’s house
‘Will you turn the parlour off?’ He asked
‘That’s my family.’
‘Will you turn it off for a sick man?’
‘I’ll turn it down.’ – convo between Mildred and Montag P65
“No not water, fire. You ever seen a burned house? It smoulders for days. Well, this fire’ll last me the rest of my life. God! I’ve been trying to put it out, in my mind, all night. I’m crazy with trying.” -Montag P68
“It took some man a lifetime maybe to put some of his thoughts down, looking around at the world and life, and then I came along in two minutes and boom! It’s all over!” – Montag
“Shut the relatives up” Beatty P70
“Life is immediate” Beatty
“School is shortened, disciplined relaxed, philosophies, histories, language dropped, English and sleeping gradually neglected, finally completely ignored. Life is about immediate, the job counts, pleasure lies all about after work. Apathy learn anything save pressing buttons, pulling switches, fixing nuts and bolts? Beatty P73
“Life becomes one big pratfall, Montag; everything bang, biff and wow!” Beatty P74
“Because they have quality” (Pg 108) “The magic is only in what the books say” (Pg 108) “The more truthfully recorded details of life per square inch” (Pg 108) “s\See why books are hated and feared” (Pg 108) “Books aren’t ‘real’”(Pg 109) “Would books help us” (Pg 109) “The right to carry out actions based on what we learn” (Pg 110) “The whole cultures shot through” (Pg 113) “They will only gather their stones to hurl at each other” (Pg 114) “No one wanted them back” (Pg 115) “In silence, our stage whisper might carry” (Pg 116) “Those who don’t build burn” (Pg 116) “I’m the queen be, safe in the hive” (Pg 118) These pages show Fabre and Montag talk to each other about books there meaning and they way they work and the three key steps of a book, they also talk about dismantling the Fire department and their rule over everyone. Near the end of these pages Fabre shows Montag his listening device and gives it to Montag so he can hear Beatty and make a decision on wether Beatty is after Montag or not8.
pg 97-107 Montag recalls his experience of meeting an old, retired literature professor called Faber in a sunny park. In the conversation the duo struck up, Faber mentions “wordless poetry”. Montag for references for any ‘future investigations’, records Faber’s address. Montag, remembering this and relating it to his feeling of ‘missing’ something from his life, heads of with his stolen Bible to seek our Faber at his residence. Faber cautiously lets Montag in and they discuss the books Montag is to return to Beatty later that night. Montag tells Faber about his feeling, and Faber lets Montag know that he’s not missing books, he’s missing whats IN the books. Quotes: “Light the first page, light the second page. Each becomes a black butterfly. Beautiful, eh? Light the third page from the second and so on, chain-smoking, chapter by chapter, all the silly things the words mean, all the false promises, all the second-hand notions and time-worn philosophies.” Beatty “Mr Montag, you are looking at a coward. I saw the way things were going, a long time back. I said nothing. I’m one of the innocents who could have spoken up and out when no one would listen to the “guilty”, but i did not speak and thus became guilty myself. And when finally they set the structure to burn the books, using the firemen, I grunted a few times and subsided, for there were no other grunting or yelling with me, by then. Now it’s too late.” -Faber “Its not books you need, its some of the things that once were in books”. -Faber “How many copies of Shakespeare and Plato?” -Montag “None! You know as well as i do. None!” Faber
108-118 “Because they have quality” (Pg 108) “The magic is only in what the books say” (Pg 108) “The more truthfully recorded details of life per square inch” (Pg 108) “s\See why books are hated and feared” (Pg 108) “Books aren’t ‘real’”(Pg 109) “Would books help us” (Pg 109) “The right to carry out actions based on what we learn” (Pg 110) “The whole cultures shot through” (Pg 113) “They will only gather their stones to hurl at each other” (Pg 114) “No one wanted them back” (Pg 115) “In silence, our stage whisper might carry” (Pg 116) “Those who don’t build burn” (Pg 116) “I’m the queen be, safe in the hive” (Pg 118) These pages show Fabre and Montag talk to each other about books there meaning and they way they work and the three key steps of a book, they also talk about dismantling the Fire department and their rule over everyone. Near the end of these pages Fabre shows Montag his listening device and gives it to Montag so he can hear Beatty and make a decision on wether Beatty is after Montag or not8.
“We do need knowledge. And perhaps in a thousands years we might pick smaller cliffs to jump off” Faber Page 111
“The things you are looking for, Montag, are in the world, but the only way the average chap will ever see 99 percent of them is in a book.” Faber 112
“Patience, Montag. Let the war turn off the ‘families’. Our civilisation is flinging itself to pieces. Stand back from the centrifuge” Faber Page 114
“Who can stop me? I’m a fireman. I can burn you!” Montag Page 115
“Those who don’t build must burn” Faber 116
Pages 119-129
Section Summary Montag returns home from the Professor Faber’s house to find his wife, Mildred, watching each of the wall television screens with her friends. Montag has brought a book into the house and this is causing distress to all of Mildred’s friends. Faber cautions him to not continue pressing the issue of the books but Montag eventually begins to read a poem from a book named Dover Beach. The feeling that war is imminent is also conveyed through a radio news message and a discussion at Montag’s house.
Quotes “They say you retain knowledge even when you’re sleeping, if someone whispers it in your ear.” (p120)
“The images drained away, as if the water had been let out from a gigantic crystal bowl of hysterical fish.” (p122)
“The three empty walls of the room were like the pale brows of sleeping giants now, empty of dreams.” (p124)
“I plunk the children in school nine days out of ten. I put up with them when they come home three days a month; it’s not bad at all. You heave them into the “parlour” and turn the switch.” (p125)
“The room was blazing hot, he was all fire, he was all coldness; they sat in the middle of an empty desert with three chairs and him standing, swaying,” (p129)
130-140 Quotes “Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, when ignorant armies crash by night.” “…poetry and tears, poetry and suicide…” “Go home.” Montag fixed his eyes upon her, quietly. “Go home and think of your first husband divorced and your second husband killed in a jet and your third husband blowing his brains out, go home and think of the dozen abortions you’ve had, go home and think of that and your damn Caesarian sections, too, and your children who hate your guts! Go home and think how it all happened and what you ever do to stop it? Go home, go home!” He yelled. “Before I knock you down and kick you out the door!” ‘He carries the books into the backyard and hid them in the bushes near the ally fence.’ ‘Already in a few short hours, it seemed that he had known Faber a lifetime.” ‘They don’t know this is all one huge blazing meteor that makes a pretty fire in space, but that some day it will have to hit. They see only the blaze, the pretty fire, as you saw it.’ ‘If you hid your ignorance, no one will hit you and you’ll never learn.’ ‘Truth is truth, and the end of reckoning, we’ve cried.’ “Words are like leaves and where they most abound, much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found.” ‘Read a few lines and off you go over the cliff.’ “Knowledge is more than equivalent to force!” ‘He is no wise man that will quit a certainty for an uncertainty.’ “What traitors books can be! You think they’re backing you up, and then they turn on you.” ‘…most dangerous enemy of truth and freedom…’ Summary During this 10 pages, we start at the end of Montag reading a poem, after he finishes, Mrs Phelps begins crying, as she is not able to comprehend everything she has just heard. Mrs Bowles then begins attacking Montag, accusing him of hurting people and poising the world. Montag try’s his best to calm her down, however, Mrs Bowles does not stop. This causes Montag to snap. Montag yells at her all her life fails and demands her to leave. After this, Montag goes to hid the rest of of the books that he had in his house, and hides them in the bushes in the ally. When he comes back, Montag calls out for Mildred, there is no answer, she had taken more sleeping pills. Montag then goes to the fire station and begins playing poker with his colleagues, Captain Beatty asks him why he is so nervous, and then begins quoting lines from famous novels and poets. Captain Beatty keeps pushing Montag to make a statement, however Faber is telling him not to react. Montag almost begins commenting on what Beatty is saying, however, the bell goes and they all begin getting ready to go burn a house with books.
Tuesday, 28 April 2015
Pages 141-151 Quotes – “Like trying to put out fires with water pistols, how senseless and insane” Montag page 141 – “Wanted to fly near the sun and now that he’s burnt his damn wings, he wonders why.” Beatty page 147 – “It’s real beauty is that it destroys responsibility and consequences.” Beatty page 150 – “If there was no solution, well now there was no problem, either. Fire was best for everything!” Page 151 – “The books leapt and danced like roasted birds, their wings ablaze with red and yellow feathers” Page 151 – “The great idiot monsters lay asleep with their white thoughts and their snowy dreams.” Page 151
Summary Montag is being called onto another job after the alarm has sounded, he notices that it is unusual that Beatty was driving but didn’t take too much notice to it. Once they arrive Montag is at a stand still as he looks up at his house, Beatty stares at Montag with “dry satisfaction” as he taunts him and threatens him with the hound if he tries anything rash. Montag realises that since there was “no solution”, there is now “no problem”. Montag is made to burn his house down by himself with a flamethrower, as he is doing so he looks over everything he had made for himself and decides he wants to burn everything as he has realised he had spent his life with a woman who betrayed him and conformed to the rules of society even if it meant she had put his life at risk to protect hers.
1
152-162 • Montag lights a house on fire, as punishment for freely quoting poetry • Beatty finds out about the listening device • Montag kills Beatty using the flame thrower • Montag also kills the Hound with the flame thrower • Montag feels guilt for his actions • Collects the four remaining books • Televised police hunt for Montag • War is declared • Montag is a fugitive QUOTES “burn them or they’ll burn you”
Welcome back from the dead’ – 192
‘We’re used to that. We all made the right kind of mistakes, or we wouldn’t be here.’ – 193
‘And we are out here, can’t the city is there, all wrapped up in its own coat of a thousand colours’-195
‘We’re nothing more than dust-jackets for books, of no significance otherwise’ – 196
‘But that’s the wonderful thing about man; he never gets so discouraged or disgusted that he gives up doing it all over again, because he knows very well it is important and worth doing’ -197
‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’ – 198