Honors Satire
Fahrenheit 451 – Part 2 Analysis
20 Points
You will not be answering all of the questions on your own. Some of the questions
are assigned for homework, while others are for class discussion. Please complete
the required questions I assigned to you during class and submit the file to
turnitin.
1. Analyze TV’s impact on feelings, knowledge, and truth in the following
quotes:
a. “’Books aren’t people. You read and I look all around, but there isn’t
anybody!’ . . . ‘Now, my “family” is people. They tell me things: I laugh,
they laugh! And the colors!” (73).
b. “’The televisor is “real.” It is immediate, it has dimension. It tells you
what to think and blasts it in. It must be right. It seems so right. It
rushes you on so quickly to its own conclusions your mind hasn’t time
to protest’” (84).
2. Discuss the following quote’s relevance regarding personal worth and being
“counted” in society: “’But Clarisse’s favorite subject wasn’t herself. It was
everyone else, and me. She was the first person in a good many years I’ve
really liked. She was the first person I can remember who looked straight at
me as if I counted’” (72).
3. During his conversation with Faber, Montag states, “’That’s the good part of
dying; when you’ve nothing to lose, you run any risk you want” (85). Using
Montag’s philosophical statement, what is Bradbury really stating about our
society’s tendency to take risks and really put ourselves out there for a belief
or cause?
4. During a heated discussion between Mildred and Montag, Mildred asks,
“’Why should I read? What for?’” (73). Through Montag’s observations and
insights, how does Bradbury answer Mildred’s question? Be sure you look at
pages 73, 74, 75, and 83 before answering the question.
5. Examine the overall purpose of Faber’s character and its impact on Montag’s
views and transformation. Be sure you consider the following when
analyzing Faber:
a. Faber’s initial reluctance to help Montag begin the revolution
b. Faber’s description of the “Three Things Missing” for reading (83-85)
c. Montag’s explanation on why he began to change (82)
d. The fact that out of all books Bradbury could’ve had Montag bring to
Faber, he brought him the Bible
e. Faber’s suggestion to read to Montag prior to bedtime
f. Faber’s opinion of Captain Beatty and the “majority” in society
6. Explain the literal and symbolic meanings of Part Two’s title, “The Sieve and
the Sand.”
7. Bradbury describes the impact his futuristic society has had on religion when
he states, “’It’s been a long time. I’m not a religious man. But it’s been a long
time.’ . . . ‘Lord, how they’ve changed it in our “parlors” these days. Christ is
one of the “family” now. I often wonder if God recognizes His own son the
way we’ve dressed him up, or is it dressed him down? He’s a regular
peppermint stick now, all sugar-crystal and saccharine when he isn’t making
veiled references to certain commercial products that every worshiper
absolutely needs’” (81). According to Faber’s observations, how has society
drastically altered the focus and messages of religion?
8. Faber states, “’Remember, the fireman are rarely necessary. The public itself
stopped reading of its own accord. You firemen provide a circus now and
then at which buildings are set off and crowds gather for the pretty blaze, but
it’s a small sideshow indeed, and hardly necessary to keep things in line’”
(87). How did the government take advantage of the citizens’ mindset when
it initially created the need for the firemen? Also, according to Faber, why
are the citizens themselves partly to blame for the current state of society? Is
this warning relevant for our society?
9. Mrs. Phelps states, “’You know I haven’t any! No one in his right mind, the
good Lord knows, would have children!’” (96). What has Bradbury’s
futuristic society essentially done to families, love, romance, the desire to
reproduce, etc.?
10. Mrs. Phelps and Mrs. Bowles symbolize a major issue for Bradbury regarding
politics and voting. During their conversation, what is Bradbury’s
commentary about how our society picks our political candidates and how
we determine who to support? “”I voted last election, same as everyone, and
I laid it on the line for President Noble. I think he’s one of the nicest-looking
men ever became president.’ ‘Oh, but the man they ran against him!’ ‘He
wasn’t much, was he? Kind of small and homely and he didn’t shave too close
or comb his hair very well’” (96-97)
11. How does Mrs. Bowles’ mindset and lifestyle effectively capture the overall
ideas and propaganda within the futuristic society? Be sure you reread pages
100-101 to take a closer look at Mrs. Bowles’ ideas and lifestyle choices.
12. Captain Beatty states, “’Oh, you were scared silly, for I was doing a terrible
think in using the very books you clung to, to rebut you on every hand, on
every point! What traitors books can be! You think they’re backing you up,
and they turn on you. Others can use them, too, and there you are, lost in the
middle of the moor, in a great welter of nouns and verbs and adjectives’”
(107). What is Captain Beatty’s overall point regarding truth and
knowledge? Also, why is this a very painful, but needed truth to understand
as one matures in society?
13. Allusion analysis – Explain the meaning behind the allusion and its relevance
to Bradbury’s overall commentary in the text.
 All students must analyze letter “a”
 Please select TWO other quotes from Part 1 to analyze (letters
“b” to “x”)
 Please select TWO individuals/ideas/”things” from Part 2 to
analyze (letters “y” to “kk”)
 You will have FIVE letters completed when you are done with
#13.
Part 1: Quotes
a. “Dover Beach” **For this allusion, please also comment on the
reaction by Mrs. Phelps and Mrs. Bowles
b. “We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in
filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run
over; so in a series of kindnesses there is at last one which makes the
heart run over” (71).
c.
“Maybe the books can get us half out of the cave” (74).
d. “Consider the lilies of the field…” (79).
e. Casear’s praetorian guard; “Remember, Caesar, thou art mortal” (86).
f. “A dwarf on a giant’s shoulders sees the farthest of the two!” (107).
g. “The folly of mistaking a metaphor for proof, a torrent of verbiage for
a spring of capital truths, and oneself as an oracle, is inborn in us”
(107).
h. “A kind of excellent dumb discourse, Willie!” (107).
i.
“A little learning is a dangerous thing. Drink deep, or taste not the
Pierian spring; There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and
drinking largely sobers us again” (106).
j.
“All’s well that is well in the end…” (108).
k. “Carcasses bleed at the sight of the murderer!” (107).
l.
“Who are a little wise, the best fools be” (105).
m. “He is no wise man who will quit a certainty for an uncertainty” (106).
n. “. . . dart off with Job and Ruth and Willie Shakespeare” (105).
o. “Knowledge is more than equivalent to force!” (106).
p. “Knowledge is power!” (107).
q. “Oh God, he speaks only of his horse!” (106).
r. “... the crisis is past and all is well, the sheep returns to the fold” (105).
s. “Sweet food of sweetly uttered knowledge” (105).
t. “The Devil can cite Scripture for his purpose” (106).
u. “The dignity of truth is lost with much protesting” (107).
v. “This age thinks better of a gilded fool than of a threadbare saint in
wisdom” (107).
w. “Truth will come to light, murder will not be hid for long!” (106).
x. “Words are like leaves and where they most abound, Much fruit of
sense beneath is rarely found” (105-106).
Part 2: Individuals/Ideas/”Things”
y. Hercules and Anataeus
z. Cheshire Cat smiles
aa. John Milton
bb. Aeschylus
cc. Eugene O’Neill
dd. Henry David Thoreau
ee. Pirandello
ff. Plato
gg. George Bernard Shaw
hh. Sophocles
ii. The Book of Job
jj. Vesuvius
kk. Thomas Jefferson