Fahrenheit 451

Part 4 (pgs. 45-60) Worksheet

Name: ____________________________________________________ Date: _____________ Pd: _________

Summary Part 4:
Montag is sick the next morning, and the omnipresent stink of kerosene makes him vomit.
He tells Mildred about burning the old woman and asks her if she would mind if he gave up his
job for a while. He tries to make her understand his feelings of guilt at burning the woman and at
burning the books, which represent so many peoples lives and work, but she will not listen.
Captain Beatty comes by to check on Montag, saying that he guessed Montag would be calling in
sick that day. He tells Montag that every fireman runs into the problem he has been
experiencing sooner or later, and he relates to him the history of their profession. Part of the
story is that photography, film, and television made it possible to present information in a quickly
digestible, visual form, which made the slower, more reflective practice of reading books less
popular. Finally, Beatty says that minorities and special-interest groups found so many things in
books objectionable that people finally abandoned debate and started burning books.
Mildreds attention falters while Beatty is talking, and she gets up and begins
absentmindedly straightening the room. In doing so, she finds the book behind Montags pillow
and tries to call attention to it, but Montag screams at her to sit down. Beatty pretends not to
notice and goes on talking. He explains that eventually the publics demand for uncontroversial,
easy pleasure caused printed matter to be diluted to the point that only comic books, trade
journals, and sex magazines remained. Beatty explains that after all houses were fireproofed, the
firemens job changed from its old purpose of preventing fires to its new mission of burning the
books that could allow one person to excel intellectually, spiritually, and practically over others
and so make everyone else feel inferior. Montag asks how someone like Clarisse could exist, and
Beatty says the firemen have been keeping an eye on her family because they worked against
the schools system of homogenization. Beatty reveals that he has had a file on the McClellans
odd behaviors for years.
Beatty urges Montag not to overlook how important he and his fellow firemen are to the
happiness of the world. He tells him that every fireman sooner or later becomes curious about
books; because he has read some himself, he can assert that they are useless and contradictory.
Montag asks what would happen if a fireman accidentally took a book home with him, and Beatty
says that he would be allowed to keep it for twenty-four or forty-eight hours, but that the other
firemen would then come to burn it if he had not already done so himself. Beatty gets up to leave
and asks if Montag will come in to work later. Montag tells him that he may, but he secretly
resolves never to go again.

Plot Questions:

1.) What is it that made Montag vomit? (pg. 45-46)

2.) What does Mildred think of the woman that burned with the books the night before? (pg.
48)

3.) Who showed up to Montags house while he was arguing with Mildred? (pg. 49)

4.) What did Beatty say happened to the world after it was roomy? (pg. 51)
 5.) What did Beatty say happened to all the books, schools, etc.? (pg. 52-53)

6.) What did society do more of that made the mind drink less and less? (pg. 54)

7.) What is the word that became a swear word it deserved to be? (pg. 55)

8.) What happened that firemen were no longer needed for the old purposes? (pg. 56)

9.) For what reason were different kinds of books burned? (pg. 57)

10.) What did Beatty think of the death of Clarisse? (pg. 58)

11.) What did Beatty say every fireman gets once in his career? (pg. 59)

12.) What is done if a fireman accidently takes a book home with him? (pg. 59)

Theme Analysis: Write a ONE PARAGRAPH response (5-7 sentences)

Do you agree or disagree with this following quote made by Captain Beatty:
We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says,
but everyone made equal. Each man an image of every other; then all are happy