Fahrenheit 451 - Plot Summary

Part 1 - The Hearth and The Salamander

In a distant future United States, Guy Montag works as a fireman. He burns books for a government that no longer tolerates reading unproscribed texts - hence the title, as paper burns at this temperature.   451 is also the number assigned to Montag, his uniform also bearing the fiery imagery of a salamander and a pheonix. At the beginning of the novel, Montag finds great satisfaction in his work, enjoying the physical merits of burning. Kerosene, to him, smells like perfume. He loves to see things burn because he loves to see things change - an irony considering the stagnant society he inhabits. He is, perhaps, a pyromaniac, who thinks little of the repercussions of his actions.    On his return home, Montag meets with a neighbour, Clarisse McClellan, who begins to alter his worldview. Clarisse is an inquisitive and intelligent young woman, qualities very much against the status-quo of this world. We learn that society, in this time, values only instant gratification and the pleasures of speed as well as the dull entertainment of the 'parlor-wall.'She informs Montag that the current role of the 'fireman' is very different from its historical beginnings. She explains how they once protected, rather than destroyed, in the time before properties were fireproofed.    Clarisse goes on to question Montag about his life, while simultaneously telling of her own, and the subversive actions of her family - who commit such anti-social acts as conversations and taking walks.    Talking long and late, Montag is fascinated by this girl, who is quite unlike anyone he has ever met. Clarisse' innocence and insight spurs the beginnings of Montag's own intellectual awakening and, toward the end of the evening, when she asks him if he is happy, he begins to question even the most basic assumptions about himself. The revelation, for Montag, is that he is not.   At home, Montag finds his wife Mildred asleep with her 'seashell' headphones in, as usual. Before leaving her, he discovers an empty bottle of sleeping pills nearby. Realising the danger, Montag calls for an ambulance. Two disinterested technicians arrive to the scene with a snake-like machine. Performing a blood transfusion and stomach pump, they save Mildred's life. Montag is surprised to learn that they perform this service all too regularly. Mildred retains no memory of the event and even denies it happening.   Montag finds Clarisse outside, catching rain-drops upon her tongue, before her appointment with a psychiatrist. Again intrigued, Montag tries this act for himself, symbolically starting to replace fire with water.    At work, Montag is growled at by 'The Mechanical Hound', a hunting robot used to catch readers and radicals. Montage complains to his superior, Captain Beatty, about the machine, which begins to peak the Captain's attention. Beatty is presented as something of a contradiction - an intelligent man serving a regime that loathes intelligence.    The fire-crew are called to a house, where an old woman is found with many books. The books are sprayed with kerosene, but still she refuses to leave. Montag initially tries to talk her down, against the aggression of his colleagues. Beatty offers some insight about the banning of books, attempting to argue the folly of book-knowledge, though again, he proves himself to be well-read. In the end, the woman strikes a match and would rather burn than be separated from her texts. In the confusion, Montag has unconsciously pocketed a book for himself.    Returning home, Montag tries to share his confusion with his wife. Mildred is vacuous and unhelpful. Only when asked does she remember to tell Montag the terrible news about Clarisse, who has been run over and killed. This inspires a depression in Montag. When Captain Beatty comes to visit he explains more about why books are banned. A combination of political correctness and faltering attention spans was to blame for the demise of most print - only comics, trade journals and pornography was exempt. The state encourages the homogenisation of ignorance. Clarisse, he learns, had been under surveillance for her non-conformist tendancies. Beatty seems to know of Montag's dissidence, but offers him time to come back to work. Montag secretly vows never to return and begins to read the twenty (or so) books he has acquired over the years. 

Part 2 - The Sieve and The Sand

As Montag starts to read, his mind opens. He is exposed to so many new concepts, he hardly knows how to make sense of it all. He needs a teacher. He remembers a man he met a year before, an old professor named Faber. he had been reading covertly and though discovered, Montag had excused him.    The book he had taken from the old woman was The Bible - maybe the last copy in existence. Montag decides he must meet Faber and ask his help in deciphering the text. While attempting to memorise passages, Montag is interrupted by an advertising jingle. In his anger, he shouts at the radio, amid a train of bemused onlookers.    Upon reaching Faber's, Montag must show him the book to gain his trust. They begin to talk of the fireman's malaise. Faber believes that Montag seeks meaning, which these days is absent from popular culture and life-in-general. Banned books raise all sorts of uncomfortable and difficult topics which society no longer has the courage to confront.    Thinking - which is new to him - Montag envisages a plan. He deigns to plant books within the homes of firemen, in order to discredit them. Faber warns him that the firemen are a symptom and not the cause of the problem. Further, he warns of an impending war, which may destroy society before they get a chance. This war has been alluded to earlier in the narrative, by the strafing of fighter-jets.    Montag decides to meet Beatty, who suspects him, and offer a decoy book in lieu of The Bible. Faber agrees to help Montag through this ordeal by means of communication through a two-way radio.   Before meeting the Captain, Montag goes home, where his wife is entertaining her friends. Listening to their banal exchanges, Montag rashly decides to read them some poetry - Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold. Though this poem provokes a desired emotional reaction, Montag is still forced to lie and incinerate the book. Mildred tells the women that, as a fireman, he is allowed to bring home books to show their worthlessness. When Montag discovers that Mildred has burned other books, he replants them in the garden.    Arriving at the fire station, Montag gives Beatty the decoy book, which he immediately discards. A gruelling conversation ensues, where Beatty attempts to catch Montag out on several occasions. Beatty's twisted arguments use literature to denounce literature. With Faber's guidance, Montag seems to survive the interrogation. An alarm sounds. Montag dons his old uniform and proceeds, with the crew, to the criminal's house - his own house. 

Part 3 - Burning Bright

Arriving in his old neighbourhood, Montag's thoughts turn to Clarisse. His attention returns to the moment, however, when Mildred appears with packed cases and speeds away in a taxi. It was she who called in the alarm. Beatty instructs Montag to burn his own home, and warns him that the Mechanical Hound will be watching him.    Montag burns his house and surrenders to Beatty's arrest. But the Captain continues to taunt him. He discovers the radio in Montag's ear and promises to trace his co-conspirator. Montag breaks free and uses his flamethrower to burn Beatty alive. He disables the other firemen and tries to escape, but his shot with a tranquiliser dart from the Mechanical Hound. Montag manages to destroy the Hound and escapes on one feeling leg, the four remaining hidden books with him.   Montag's escape corresponds with a breakdown in society. War has just been declared. Teenagers attempt to run him over in the same way Clarisse lost her life. Montag decides to hide his remaining books in a colleague's home, thus enacting his earlier plan, as a distraction.   Making his way to Faber's home, the pair discuss a plan to escape the city. There is a new Mechanical Hound on his trail, and Montag must disguise his scent to get away. They agree to meet in St Louis and Montag sets off to find a homeless camp of intellectuals in the countryside.    Montag's last moments in the city are spent, ironically, in a high-octane man-hunt, televised and watched by every citizen as the Hound pursues his prey. This sensationalist melodrama is exactly the opposite of the quiet contemplation books offer. Just in time, Montag dives into the river and floats downstream to safety.    In the rich countryside, Montag encounters the rogue intellectuals, led by Granger. This well kept and technologically equipped group help Montag disguise his pheromone trace and watch, on TV, as a scapegoat is killed by the Hound, to serve state propaganda.   Granger and the others tell Montag how they have survived so long in the wilderness. Instead of keeping books, for which they could be arrested, they have instead committed books to memory, in effect becoming the personification of those books. They will be ready to help humanity through this dark age, by preserving knowledge. Montag is to be the Book of Ecclesiastes.   Suddenly, war-planes pass overhead and vaporise the city. Montag thinks of Mildred and the many who died. The 'books' move toward the city, ready to begin their work of reeducation of society.