Fahrenheit 451 Theme Handout

Theme: People should take action rather than watch a society falter and crumble.

Handout by: Alise Cheeseman, Devin Fish, Elizabeth Atkins, Collin Aldrich, Sam Engelbert, Lily Carroll (Bell 5)

Events in the Story that Support this Claim:

1. Montag talks to Clarisse and realizes he is not happy in life.  
2. Montag goes to set a house on fire, steals a book, and watches the woman take action by staying in the house with the books while it is burning down.  
3. Montag begins to question the purpose of books and his society.
4. Montag gets sick and Beatty comes to talk him, bringing a warning about books.
5. Montag tells Mildred about the secret books and they begin to read them.
6. He takes action by visiting Faber, a man he met previously who knew about books.
7. Faber and Montag make a plan of action.  Montag uses a hearing device to communicate with Faber.
8. He goes to the firehouse, and learns his house is the next one to be burned down.  
9. Montag kills Beatty and escapes to Faber.
10. Faber and Montag make another plan because the government (and the Hound) is now chasing Montag.
11. He escapes to the wilderness, and comes upon several people, the head of the group being Granger.
12. Granger, Montag, and their acquaintances take action by remembering books of the past.
13. The city is destroyed.
14. Montag and his peers start a journey back to the city.  An allusion at the end predicts they will take action in forming the new society from their knowledge of books.  

Quote in Part One

“‘I’m going to do something,’ said Montag.  ‘I don’t even know what yet, but I’m going to do something big’” (Bradbury 62).  

Quote in Part Two

“‘I saw the way things were going, a long time back. I said nothing...but I did not speak and thus became guilty myself’” (Bradbury 78).  

Quote in Part Three

“One of them had to stop burning. The sun wouldn’t, certainly” (Bradbury 134).

Why is this Important to the understanding of the story?

Our theme is important in understanding the story because the society of Fahrenheit 451 is crumbling from the indifference of individuals in society toward each other, and also because books and learning from the past are not allowed; Montag, on the other hand, begins to see this, and many plot events show him attempting to learn about books and taking action to change society.  

How does this connect to modern-day society?

Our theme connects to modern-day society because in places like Gary, Indiana, there are a large quantity of crimes, which is evidence of a faltering society; Tommie Tatum, a cop and security guard (Devine), takes action by expressing care to the people, especially teenagers, in the town.