Name

Oaks 2
Readers Response
Fahrenheit 451

1. In the opening scene, why are the books compared to birds?

Because they are light and made of white paper, and thus would flutter down the stairs as the Firemen threw them
downwards.

2. Do you think the Captain is a good person?

I dont think that Captain Beatty is a bad person, and I think that of the cast we have come to know in Fahrenheit
451, the Captain is one of the better Firemen. He truly understands what their order is doing, unlike Montag and
presumably the other Firemen who work at the station.
On the other hand, the fact that he knows what he does know and has fallen to the temptation of books and yet still
goes to work every morning with a smile on his face and an incinerator in his hand makes him a strangely
irredeemable character.

3. Why does Guy steal the book?

I think Guy steals the book because he has realized from Clarisses influence in his life that perhaps what the
government, his family, his friends, and every source of information has been telling him his whole life isnt quite
the truth. He takes the book both to spare the knowledge kept within the pages, to learn it, and to assure himself that
he isnt some brute who simply lives to incinerate.

4 Why is the Hound after Guy?

The Hound is after Montag because he has started to read. Every moment the Hound shows up outside Montags
door and scratches on it, or stands on his lawn, or growls in the firehouse is another reminder to Montag that he must
return to the base of the cave, that he must leave the opening and stare at the shadows.

5. Is Mildred a positive character?

No. Mildred might be considered a sympathetic character, but she certainly is not a positive one. Her life consists of
sitting in a room with three walls screaming at her with advertisements and some semblance of entertainment, but
not even the kind that allows you mental stimulation. Perhaps the worst part is the fact that she considers her
existence to be a good one, where she merely sits in her parlor and watches television whilst ignoring the horrors of
her world.

6. Is Guy a credible and sympathetic character? Why or why not?

I think that Guy is both credible and sympathetic. We can understand Montags problems with the Firemen after he
begins to realize the truth about books, and many would do the same thing he did, or similar.