Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 Summary | Part 1: The Hearth and the Salamander Summary

Guy Montag is a "Fireman" who creates fires rather than extinguishing them, by burning books and the homes where books are found; he is clearly fascinated with his job. He is enthralled by the way the fire eats the books that he and his colleagues are sent, in the middle of the night, to destroy. Literature is so loathed by Montag's society that these squads of "Firemen" exist for the sole purpose of ridding the world of them. They are not only despised but illegal to own. Those owning books are promptly sent to the "asylum" or jailed and their stash of literature and their homes are quickly and completely incinerated by the Firemen.

Initially, Montag seems to be a content man, secure in the knowledge that he is doing his civic duty and helping his fellow citizens live happier and safer lives by spraying stacks of books with kerosene, and then setting them on fire. The numbers 451 are introduced as the numeric symbol of his fire squad; the orange salamander and the phoenix are also introduced as their mythological symbols.

Early in the story, Montag meets an intriguing young woman on his way home from work, at one o'clock in the morning. Her name is Clarisse McClellan; she is seventeen years old and describes herself to Guy as seventeen and crazy. He quickly discovers that she is one of his new neighbors, who recently moved in next door to him and his wife. She, and her family, are very different from the people he knows and he is clearly taken aback by her candidness. However, he is receptive to her questioning banter and does not take any action to distance himself from her, but rather, he continues to walk with her towards their respective homes. When they arrive at their destination, he is shocked to note that she is not the only one of her family members who is awake at this late hour. Her house is lit up and it appears that her entire family is up talking. Before they part, after their first meeting, she frankly asks him if he is happy. He finds this question to be extraordinarily disturbing, as everyone in Montag's society is presumably happy. After leaving Clarisse at her door, he returns to his own home.

Montag enters his home and the author immediately calls our attention to the ventilator grille and hints that Montag has something hidden there. Upon preparing for bed he discovers that his wife, Mildred, has taken an overdose of sleeping pills, and he must call the "Emergency Hospital" to revive her. Two attendants arrive at their home with a small machine in tow, and while smoking cigarettes, and chatting socially, they proceed to pump her stomach and replace her blood. When they are done they tell him the fee for their service, collect it, and promptly leave to rush off to the next overdose call. On their way out they relate to Montag that they have been quite busy for the last two years. Guy is obviously very distressed by this whole interaction and ponders the situation for quite some time, as he watches his wife, completely unaware and undisturbed; continue to sleep through her suicide attempt and rescue. Before he, himself, falls asleep, with the aid of a "sleep lozenge" his mind returns to Clarisse and her family and their unusual behavior.

The next day, over breakfast, Montag interacts with his wife who is completely oblivious to her previous nights attempted suicide. When he attempts to convince her of the fact that she did take all of the pills left in her sleeping pill bottle, she is in denial of the very idea that she would do such a thing. "I wouldn't do a thing like that. Why would I do a thing like that?" She says to him, appalled that he would even suggest it to her. She promptly dismisses the conversation and is only concerned that he promptly leaves for work. She is anxious to get to her, all consuming, TV shows. It is important to note that the Montags' television "set" consists of three full walls, top to bottom, in their living room and Mrs. Montag is pressing her husband to add the forth, and final wall. They have also purchased an "interactive" box with allows the television characters to interact with her while she watches her shows. It is obvious that Guy resents her obsession with her television programs and the actors she refers to as "her family."

On Montag's way to work that day, and for many days thereafter, he converses with Clarisse who always seems to be waiting for him across the street. She accompanies him on his walks to work. They continue to have discussions about life and philosophy and he is still astounded by her frank questions and unusual way of thinking. She instructs him to taste the rain, and rubs a dandelion on her chin to see if she is in love, then rubbing it on his chin, pointing out that he is not and that is why no yellow has rubbed off there. The reader begins to see that while initially Montag appears to be one of the "herd" in his society and proud of his job of burning books, he was really always unsure of the status quo conventions. The reader begins to realize that Clarisse is the Hearth and he the Salamander. His conversations with Clarisse seem to be helping him decide a great, unspoken truth about himself.

Montag becomes increasingly paranoid about the "objects" hidden behind the ventilator grille of his home. He begins to believe that the mechanical firedog at the fire house, somehow suspects his guilt of something connected to those objects. Indeed, the "hound" which is supposed to be an objective machine, programmed to identify targets, and kill them, is becoming inclined to bark and growl at him on a daily basis. He begins to suspect that someone at the firehouse has programmed the hound with his chemical makeup and "instructed" it to register him as an enemy. He begins to avoid having to be near the hound for fear of an attack. He has not seen Clarisse for days and realizes that he misses her company and the routine of their walks together.

A turning point occurs for Montag towards the end of Part I in favor of his intellect. Squad 451 is called on an alarm to the house of an elderly woman who is harboring books in her attic. When they arrive on the scene the woman is still in the house and seems to be in shock, but understands fully why they are there. They show her the complaint "Have reason to suspect attic; 11 no. Elm, City. E.B." She recognizes the initials of her neighbor who is the obvious informant. It is made clear that neither Montag, nor any others in his squad have ever had to do their job with the book reading "criminal" still present. They are all flustered by her presence, but Montag, in particular, seems sympathetic to her blight and guilty of his part in the intrusion into her life and destruction of her home. During, him and his colleagues' subsequent raid on her house, Montag discreetly picks up a dry book from the floor and hides it in his fire jacket. As they all race out of the kerosene-drenched house, the elderly woman refuses to leave, even as it becomes difficult for her to breath in the fumes. Montag pleads with his Captain that they must make an effort to remove the woman from the house. He is told to abandon the house, and the woman, quickly and without further question, and the old woman also urges him to leave her to die with her books. As the Firemen stand on her front lawn, she shows them the kitchen match she has concealed in her palm. The other Firemen quickly back away into the street upon seeing this. Montag makes one last attempt to convince the woman to leave, but she will not, nor will his Captain force her to abandon the house. Montag finally runs out of the house at the last minute turning to watch as the old woman lights the match. She drops the lit match into the glistening trail of kerosene on her front porch, and is quickly engulfed, without a sound, by the burst of flames.

Confused and troubled, the Firemen, slowly and silently, head back to the squad house, all of them, except Captain Beatty, who remains cool, are dazed by what has just occurred. Montag returns home, defeated and guilty, he seeks comfort from Mildred; however, she is indifferent to the pain he is feeling from the death of the old woman on Elm Street. Before he goes to sleep he asks her about the girl, Clarisse, and if she has ever spoken to her or seen her. Mildred replies that she had seen her several times but that she thinks Clarisse was run down and killed by a car four days prior and the remaining family moved out after the incident. Montag is very upset by this, but again his wife is indifferent to his pain and goes to sleep. He does not believe that Clarisse could possibly be dead and goes to sleep believing that his wife must be mistaken.

Montag wakes up for work the day after the Elm Street incident and feels too ill to get out of bed. His wife comes into their room and questions him about his not getting ready for work. She is anxious for him to leave and tells him that he must get up. He refuses and asks her to call the Captain and tell him that he will be out of work, perhaps for several days. She refuses to make the call for him and while they are arguing, the "door bell" announces that they have a visitor.

Montag and Mildred's unexpected guest turns out to be the Captain himself, who proceeds to come into Montag's room, sit down and lecture him about the responsibilities and difficulties of their chosen profession. He also explains to Montag the true reason that books are illegal in their society and why they must be burned. While the Captain is speaking, Mildred flutters about the room and attempts to fix her husbands pillow; when she does she discovers the book he took from the old woman's house the night before; he had hidden there before going to bed. Mildred does not reveal her findings out load, but becomes very flustered. If Captain Beatty is suspicious he does not show it to Montag or his wife, in fact, he dismisses her to the television room in protest to her obvious un-ease. Montag plaintively asks the Captain about Clarisse and how someone who thinks the way that she does "happens" in their world. Beatty explains that the parents are to blame for allowing her to "think" rather than act. He mentions that her and her family had been being watched very carefully as they were very unusual and, thus, thought prone to have books in their home. He mentions that the McClellan's were raided several times, but no books were ever found. Captain Beatty then begins talking about Clarisse, using her and her family as an example of what he considers to be oddities in their society. They are people who think too much and Clarisse, in particular, he believes was an outcast of society because she too often asked why. He firmly believes that it is better that the girl died as her type are counter productive to their way of life. Changing the subject, he then tells Montag that "they" are aware that Firemen have, on previous occasions, out of curiosity, taken books from the houses they have raided. He explains that this behavior is not cause for concern, and no discipline is taken against the Fireman as long as the book is returned within 24 hours; he than stands to leave telling Montag that he hopes to see him at the Firehouse tomorrow.

After Beatty leaves Montag goes to his wife and tells her about the books he has hidden behind the grille. He begs her to help him find out if there is anything in the books worth knowing. He feels there must be something in the words contained therein that is so profound that people feel they are worth dying for. She is very frightened by the presence of the books themselves but even more terrified of touching them or looking at them. The chapter ends with Montag and Mildred sitting on their kitchen floor with piles of books around them, while he reads aloud and she silently sits against the wall trying not to listen.