Answer Key for Part One Packet
Pages 23-24: Characterization and Character
Motivation
Answers will vary widely. Sample student answers are
given.
1. Montag: Another Character’s Description: “You laugh
when I haven’t been funny and you answer right off. You
never stop to think what I’ve asked you.”;
Description of Himself: “Was I given a choice? My
grandfather and father were firemen. In my sleep, I
ran after them.” ; Motivation: to find out the truth
and discover why books are so attractive to him and
the others.
2. Clarisse: Another Character’s Description: “How
odd. How strange. And my wife thirty and yet you seem
so much older at times.”; Description of Herself: “I’ve got
to go see my psychiatrist now. They make me go. I make
up things to say.”; Motivation: to
keep enjoying the beauty of life; to try to help Montag
realize the beauty of the world and how ugly
things have gotten.
3. Mildred: Another Character’s Description: Her face
was like a snow-covered island upon which rain
might fall, but felt no rain; over which clouds might
pass their moving shadows, but she felt no shadow;
Description of Herself: “I wouldn’t do a thing like
that. Why would I do a thing like that?”; Motivation: to
keep herself happy in any way
Possible
4. Beatty: Another Character’s Description: (this one is
very difficult to find) “And men like Beatty are afraid of
her.”; Description of Himself: “Well, Montag, take my
word for it, I’ve had to read a few in my time, to know
what I was about, and the books say
nothing!”; Motivation: to keep Montag’s curiosity
under control
5. The Mechanical Hound: Another Character’s
Description: “It doesn’t like or dislike. It just
‘functions.’ It’s a lesson in ballistics. It has a
trajectory we decide on for it. It follows through. It
targets itself, homes itself, and cuts off. It’s only
copper wire, storage batteries, and electricity.”;
Motivation: to seek out and destroy anything that
has been set as the enemy
Pages 25-26: Setting and Tone
Answers will vary. Sample student answers have been
given.
1. possible underlined words: cold marbled room,
mausoleum, moon, darkness, silver, windows tightly
shut, chamber, tomb, no sound
a. In Montag’s home, it is after dark. It feels cold
and empty but his wife is home.
b. cold, distant, detached, eerie; the tone feels as if
he is walking into a tomb, silent, full of dead
bodies
c. uneasy, unwelcome, lonely
2. without light, uncovered and cold, body displayed
on the lid of a tomb, eyes fixed, threads of steel,
immovable, empty, waves, tides of sound, floating
her…toward morning
a. Mildred’s bedroom; Montag sees his wife
asleep, looking like she is dead in a tomb.
b. cold, sterile, somber
c. depressed, dark, frightened, uncomfortable
3. screamed, tremendous ripping sound, two giant
hands, black lines, (repetition of numbers),
screaming
a. Millie’s bedroom while the planes going to war
fly overhead.
b. matter-of-fact, straight, repetitive
c. panicked, uneasy, nervous, scared
4. laughter, moon-colored, smiled, quietly and
earnestly, laughter, relaxed, hearty, not forced,
brightly lit, talking, giving, weaving, hypnotic web
a. Outside Montag’s house; Clarisse’s house;
neighbor’s house
b. dreamlike, pleasant, welcoming, comfortable,
inviting
c. happy, relieved, curious, comfortable, secure
5. lost, insane anger, veins and blotches, face turned
toward the wall, whoops of laughter, scurry of rat
feet, violin squeaking of mice, great shadowing,
motioned silence, leaping out like a moth, raw light
a. the Firehouse
b. warning, careful, admonishing, cautious sounds
c. afraid, disturbed, frightened, disgusted
Compare and Contrast - discuss your words root
activity!!
Pages 27-28: Word Roots
Part B will vary. Sample student answers have been
given.
1. dread; dreadful
2. torrent; torrential
3. proclivities; decline
4. pulverized; pollination
5. ballistics; projectile
6. centrifuge; concentric
7. abstract; traction
8. cacophony; famous
9. abyss; bottomless
10. feigning; faking
11. ventilator (or waft); waft (or ventilator)
12. tactile; tangible
13. illumination; luminous
14. olfactory; odorous
15. bewilderedly; wild
16. devotion; avowed
17. seized; search
18. sheath; sheathe
19. stratum; construction
20. waft (or ventilator); ventilator (or waft)
Page 29: Vocabulary in Context
Context Definitions will vary. Sample answers are
given.
1. a. full of venom; b. poisonous
2. a. raging; b. to consume greedily
3. a. shaft; b. an enclosed passageway
4. a. paint thinner; b. a flammable hydrocarbon oil
5. a. puppet; b. a small scaled wooden figure with
joints
6. a. museum; b. a large tomb
7. a. waxy; b. rendered fat of cattle and sheep
8. a. sad, depressing; b. causing or tending to cause
depression
9. a. burnt wood; b. the remnants of burned wood or
fuel
10. a. aim; b. to put forth
11. a. prison; b. judgment of guilt
12. a. gibberish; b. a specialized language within a
certain group
13. a. vast amount; b. depths of water
14. a. full of light; b. glowing, radiant
15. a. inner thoughts; b. existing within the mind
16. a. non-important information; b. not flammable
Highlight the following words in your packet;
they will be on the test.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
drear
abyss
feigning
illumination
bewilderedly
cacophony
torrent
ventilator
pulverized
waft
venomous
gorging
marionette
mausoleum
melancholy
objectivity
condemnation
fathoms
luminescent
noncombustible
**You need to create a study guide for the
words above.  It can be in your writer’s
notebook, on a sheet of paper or on
notecards.
**Answer the following questions in your writer’s
notebook. Label F451: Part One Questions.
1. What do people talk about in this society? How is
this different from our own society? Why do you
think Clarisse has such a problem with everything
being “abstract”?
2. What does Montag continually hear overhead?
3. What does Montag learn about Beatty from his
visit?
4. What does Beatty tell Montag about how books
disappeared? What is your reaction to his
explanation?
5. From Beatty’s speech, what does Bradbury reveal
about his own fears about society? What
ideas/concepts are true in our modern society?
6. How do you feel about Bradbury’s predictions of
school? Are there any truths to this assessment?
7. According to Beatty, who is to blame for the
banishment and burning of books?
8. What are the people in this society allowed to
read? What is the purpose of reading in this society?
9. According to Beatty, what is the firemen’s
primary job? What is the ultimate goal in this
society?
10. What do the firemen do if one of their own
“accidentally” steals a book?