Name:____________________________________ Block:_________________ Date: _______
Fahrenheit 451
Lesson 1- “It was a pleasure to burn”
Essential Question: How does an author’s choices concerning the structure
of a text influence our beliefs about characters?
Activator:
The following quote is from The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. It has
been modified for language. The protagonist, Holden, is talking to a friend’s
mother about her son.
“Well. He's a very sensitive boy. He's really never been a terribly good mixer
with other boys. Perhaps he takes things a little more seriously than he
should at his age."
Sensitive. That killed me. That guy Morrow was about as sensitive as a toilet
seat.
I gave her a good look. She didn't look like any dope to me. She looked like she
might have a pretty darn good idea what a jerk she was the mother of. But
you can't always tell--with somebody's mother, I mean. Mothers are all
slightly insane. The thing is, though, I liked old Morrow's mother. She was all
right. "Would you care for a cigarette?" I asked her.
Questions to Answer:
1.
Why does Holden think she is lying to him?
2. Why would she lie about her son?
3. What impression do you get of Morrow’s mother?
Consider this: Are all mothers slightly insane? Why?
Activity 1: Close Reading
Read the following passage and annotate as you read. When you are finished,
answer the questions below the text.
Name:____________________________________ Block:_________________ Date: _______
Fahrenheit 451
IT WAS A PLEASURE TO BURN
It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and
changed. With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this great python spitting its
venomous kerosene upon the world, the blood pounded in his head, and his
hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies
of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of
history. With his symbolic helmet numbered 451 on his stolid head, and his eyes
all orange flame with the thought of what came next, he flicked the igniter
and the house jumped up in a gorging fire that burned the evening sky red
and yellow and black. He strode in a swarm of fireflies. He wanted above all,
like the old joke, to shove a marshmallow on a stick in the furnace, while the
flapping pigeon-winged books died on the porch and lawn of the house. While
the books went up in sparkling whirls and blew away on a wind turned dark
with burning.
Montag grinned the fierce grin of all men singed and driven back by flame.
He knew that when he returned to the firehouse, he might wink at himself, a
minstrel man, burnt-corked, in the mirror. Later, going to sleep, he would feel
the fiery smile still gripped by his face muscles, in the dark. It never went
away, that smile, it never ever went away, as long as he remembered.
Text Dependent Question
1.
Cite evidence that suggests that the main character enjoys his job.
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Discussion Questions
1.
Does enjoying your job mean that you are fulfilled as a person?
2. What can we tell about Montag based on this first excerpt?
Name:____________________________________ Block:_________________ Date: _______
Fahrenheit 451
Activity 2- Close Reading of the Encounter with Clarisse
(Pages 1-8)
Close Reading Questions:
1.
How would you describe Clarisse?
2. Clarisse says that all seventeen-year olds are crazy. Do you agree?
3. How is the role of fireman in this novel different than from the
fireman of today?
4. Why would people be afraid of firemen in this society?
5. How is Clarisse’s family different from other families?
6. How does the author want to reader to view Clarisse McClellan? Why
do you think she was introduced directly after Montag was shown to
be very self-satisfied with his job?
Activity 3: Looking for Literary Elements
Personification is a type of figurative language (non-literal language) in which
inanimate objects are given the ability to exhibit human behaviors.
Example: Her dress was white and it whispered.
Author’s Purpose: What could the dress be whispering?
Imagery is when the text creates an image in the reader’s mind.
Find one example of imagery from the selection we just read and place it in
the lines below.
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Name:____________________________________ Block:_________________ Date: _______
Fahrenheit 451
Activity 4: Quick Write
Prompt: What do we learn about this society from the interaction with
Clarisse? Give at least four aspects of this society that are discovered. You
must write in paragraph format. A list will be given a grade of zero.
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