Fahrenheit 451
“The Hearth and the Salamander”
Questions
1. What is the significance of Montag
seeing his reflection in Clarisse’s eyes?
Cite textual evidence to support your
response. (page 5)
“He saw himself in her eyes, suspended in
two shining drops of bright water, himself
dark and tiny, in fine detail, the lines about his
mouth, everything there, as if her eyes were
two miraculous bits of violet amber that
might capture and hold him intact.”
2. Clarisse causes Montag to recall a childhood
memory in which a wish was embedded. What was
the significance of the memory and the wish? Cite
textual evidence to support your response. (page 5)
“One time, when he was a child, in a power
failure, his mother had found and lit a last
candle and there had been a brief hour of
rediscovery, of such illumination that space
lost its vast dimensions and drew comfortably
around them, and they, mother and son,
alone, transformed, hoping that the power
might not come on again too soon ...”
3. What things do the McClellans do
which cause them to be classified as
peculiar? Cite textual evidence to
support your response. (page 7)
4. What final question does Clarisse
ask Montag on the night of their first
encounter? Why is the question
important to the plot? Cite textual
evidence to support your response.
(page 7)
5. What does the following observation
made by Clarisse about Montag’s
conversational mannerisms indicate
about his personality? Cite textual
evidence to support your response.
"You laugh when I haven't been funny and you
answer right off. You never stop to think what I've
asked you.“
6. When Montag enters his home, he
stares at the blank wall, but in memory
sees Clarisse. What extended
simile describes how he sees her? Cite
textual evidence to support your
response. (page 8)
7. Find two further similes Montag
uses to describe Clarisse. Do the
similes serve any purpose other than
to characterize Clarisse? Cite textual
evidence to support your response.
(page 8)
8. Describe the bedroom which
Montag enters. Whom does the
setting characterize? Cite textual
evidence in your response. (page 9)
9. At this point of realization (when Guy
is in his bedroom), what happens to the
smile on Montag’s face, and what is his
answer to Clarisse’s question? Cite
textual evidence in your response.
(page 9)
10. What event occurs the same night
from question #9 that provides
Montag with an impression of the
state of society? What is that
impression? (page 11)
11. In contrast, what does Montag
next hear and long for? Cite
information from the text to support
your answer. (pages 11-12)
12. What test of love does Clarisse
give Montag, and how does he
respond to it? Cite textual evidence to
support your response. (page 19)
13. Describe Clarisse’s personality.
Cite textual evidence to support your
response. (pages 19-26)
14. What observations does Clarisse
make about how Montag differs from
other firemen? (pages 25-28)
15. Describe the mechanical hound.
Use evidence from the novel to
support your response. (pages 21-22)
16. What does antisocial
mean? What does it mean in
the society of Fahrenheit 451.
To whom is the term applied?
Use evidence from the text to
support your answer. (pages
26-27)
17. What does Clarisse say people talk
about? (page 28) Find some
examples of representative
conversations throughout the book.
(pages 15-18 & 29)
18. During the card game at the fire
station, what question does Montag
ask? What does it contribute to the
plot? (page 31)
19. What is the significance of the
refrain repeated by the woman
whose house was burned? What did
it mean? What is its effect on
Montag? (pages 33-34)
20. What does Montag think his
feelings would be if his wife were to
die? Cite evidence from the novel to
support your response.
21. What are Montag’s comments
about the people in the walls? Cite
evidence from the text to support
your response.
22. What does Montag think about
the old woman and all the books he
has destroyed? Cite textual evidence
to support your response. (page 47+)
23. Summarize Beatty’s
explanation of how the need for
firemen arose. Cite textual
evidence to support your
response. (pages 51-57)