The Hearth and the Salamander

The hearth, or fireplace, is a traditional symbol of the home, which the firemen burn

the salamander is one of the official symbols of the firemen, as well as the name they give to their trucks.

The salamander is associated with ancient beliefs that it can live in fire and is unaffected by flames

Rebirth, growth, regeneration

SPORTS:topic of sports, which allow for the organization and therefore subjugation of the country’s citizens.

The biggest problem with books:•everyone is so obsessed with political correctness and not offending any minorities that the materials were over-censored.•all that was allowed to remain was comic books and porn.•“Intellectual” became a swear word, because everyone has to be equal, no one smart allowed to rise above the rest.

Happiness:•people want to be happy•everyone is a minority of something (whether race, sexual orientation, or occupation), everyone was offended by something•all books are offensive, and all books should be burned

•Montag asks how it is possible that someone like Clarisse exists. •The odd duck happens now and then, says Beatty, which is why they try to take the children off to school at the earliest possible age – to indoctrinate them, to stamp out individuality.

SCHOOL FORMULA: 1) stuff the children full of facts, but eliminate the possibility of argument or disagreement. 2) If they can’t disagree, they can’t possibly be unhappy. And happiness is the point of living.3) Books, says Beatty, don’t say anything. They are fiction, philosophy, argument, but nothing tangible or real. They make you feel lost.

•if a fireman accidentally takes a book home. Beatty responds that the fireman can keep it for a day, but that then they will come to burn it.

•Montag continues to think aloud regarding his personal crisis. He wants to smash things, he’s unhappy, he doesn’t know if he’ll ever work again – he might even start reading books.

•He wants to do something big, but he doesn’t know what.He tells his wife he wants to show her something – something behind the ventilator grill.•The something turns out to be an entire collection of books that Guy has squirreled away, one at a time, over the last year•He tells Mildred that they’re in this together now; Mildred responds by shrieking and taking one of the books to the kitchen incinerator•Guy stops her and pleads desperately with his wife.

Montag is not the same man he was…he questions.

He wants to read the books just once, to see what’s in them. If there’s nothing there, he’ll burn them. But people like Clarisse made him curious, and he wants to know why men like Beatty are afraid of her.

Montag insists they ignore the visitor and start reading the books. He opens one and, after a dozen pages, comes to this line: “It is computed that eleven thousand persons have at several times suffered death rather than submit to break their eggs at the smaller end.” (FYI: This is from Gulliver’s Travels.)

Mildred doesn’t know what this means, and concludes that it means nothing – that Beatty was right.

Montag says they should start over, at the beginning.

The Sieve and the SandMetaphor

taken from Montag’s childhood memory of trying to fill a sieve with sand on the beach to get a dime from a mischievous cousin and crying at the futility of the task. He compares this memory to his attempt to read the whole Bible as quickly as possible on the subway in the hope that, if he reads fast enough, some of the material will stay in his memory.

The Sieve and the Sand

Montag's frustration at not being able to immediately grasp what is true in the world

Millie and others like her are sieves as well unable and unwilling to grasp information even when it is made readily available to them

The Sieve and the Sand

FaberFirst meeting in the park:p.75 “I don’t talk things, sir, I talk the meaning of things. I sit here and know I’m alive.”

represents knowledge

educated and realizes that book banning and book burning has made people less enlightened imagery associated with Faber incorporates the color white pg.80

Faber•coward for not having stood up in protest back when they were beginning to ban books. •Faber explains getting rid of books is not entirely to blame for society's superficiality. •it is the quality of introspection, mystery and wonder found in books that society lacks. •Faber asserts that books are feared because they "show the pores in the face of life" and make people uncomfortable. •world needs quality of information found in books, the leisure to analyze and understand it, and the right to act on that understanding. P. 83

What do we do???

Concoct a plan. P.85

Faber’s reaction? p88

Revised plan? p89

Seashell radio p90

Mobilizing for war

back at the homestead…..

Montag encounters Mildred and her friends.What are the topics of conversation?

Montag reads a poem to Mildred and her friends. Explain their strange reaction to this reading.

Mrs. Bowles and Mrs. Phelps arrive to watch television with Millie. Mrs. Phelps --third husband, who has gone to fight, and the women quickly turn to TVMontag persists, questioning the women about their children.

Mrs. Phelps has none, and Mrs. Bowles has two, for whom she obviously feels no affinity.

The conversation turns to politics - voting

Montag then retrieves a book of poetry, the presence of which a shocked

Millie explains by saying that every fireman is allowed to bring home one book a year to see how silly they are.

At Faber's prompting, Montag agrees that this is true, and proceeds to read a poem, “Dover Beach”, to the three uncomfortable women.

When he is finished, Mrs. Phelps is crying, though she cannot explain why, and Mrs. Bowles is angry with Montag for bringing about trouble.

Mildred tries to calm the group, but the women are quite shaken and leave. Montag criticizes them as they go, telling them to think about the quality of their lives.

Mildred goes to the bathroom to take some sleeping pills and Montag removes the radio from his ear as Faber begs him to stop, sure that he has gotten himself in trouble.

Theme:

--disdain for society---lack of love--caring, compassion--including loss of faith--the need to care and be cared for--the destruction of war

Dover Beach poem: In addition, a "beach" conveys images of sand and water, two symbols also alluded to throughout the novel

Montag encounters Beatty back at the Station

Frantic tone:

--Faber vs Beatty--Good vs Evil--Competing for attention, sympathyAll this going on in Montag’s mindDoes he have an identity of his own?

The arrival at Montag’s house:

Theme vs Motif Video Link

Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.----- the message that the author is trying to get across, usually about life, society or human nature.

They are usually implied rather than specifically stated. -An example of a theme in a simple book such as "Green Eggs and Ham" could be to keep an open mind.

Motifs are recurring structures, patterns, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes

.-These are images that basically are seen throughout the literature that are used to represent or symbolizes that idea-An example of this could be the use of mirrors. If mirrors are seen throughout a book, it could be to represent understanding (or difficulty understanding) oneself.