F.451 Vocab #5

Convoluted - adj. - extremely complex and difficult to follow
The teachers train of thought was convoluted.
Perpetual - adj. - never ending or changing
The woman was in perpetual motion, never seeming to stop for anything like food or water during the day.
Beatific - adj. - blissfully happy
The gay man way beatific after a large shopping spree.
Torrent - noun - a strong and fast-moving stream of water or other liquid, rapid
The feminist teacher let out a torrent of angry words when he heard about the dress code, which required girls to wear skirts.
Invigorate - verb - give strength or energy to
The morning cup of coffe invigorated the tired, zombie like college student.
Perfunctory - adj. - an action carried out with minimum effort/or caring
The perfunctory attitude of a bored office worker is depressing.
Insidious - adj. - proceeding in a gradual, subtle way, but with harmful effect
The insidious plan was brilliant, it strerched over years,  working slowly but effectively.
Skepticism - noun - doubt of opinions, views, facts
The skepticism was obvious in the teachers voice when he replied, "You're going to build a time-traveling machine for the science fair."
Suffused - verb - gradually spread through or over
The leftover soup in the container suffused through the backpack, after escaping through a small hole in it's prison.

F.451 pgs 100-110

Summarize: A woman starts crying because of the poetry Montag read her, not understanding why she was crying. Another woman accuses Montag of just being a nasty man, trouble. Montag retaliates and tells her to get out of his house and go home and think about what a terrible person she is. Faber assures him that everyone makes mistakes, and Montag believes what Faber tells him. Montag returns to work andis engaged in a physical and mental game of poker with Beatty. Beatty sort of quizes Montag about what happened giving his opinions on books and such. They get an alarm to go set a fire and hurry to that house with Beatty driving. WHen they arrive at the house it is actually Mintag's house.

Discuss: In the begining Montag is a little overbearing with this new information about the world and does not go about sharing in the right way. The women were the wrong people to tell because they were so brainwashed, it probably didn't even pass through their thick skulls. We see that Montag is still in his free-thinking infancy because he just placidly accepts what Faber has to say. The poker match between Montag and Beatty is showing just how clever, if misguided, Beatty is. He can pretty much strip down Montags defenses and almost bend him to his will. Them arriving Montag's home in the end shows that keeping his new found freedom, job choice, and home life seperate is impossible.


Literary Elements:
Symbols - Beatty driving shows that he is actually in control of the situation, not Mantag.
                  The use of spider as a description when writing about the men symolizes how they are about to consume a life.
Irony - Situational, Ms. Bowels is preeching about how horrible Montag is when being hateful herself.

F. 451 Dover Beach

Bradbury uses Dover Beach because it is an acurate representation on the story and Montag's life. The first Beach describing part represents his ignorance in the begining. It also show how eager he was to share his so called knowledge about his perfect happiness in life, as shown by the line /Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!/. Once he comes to look at the world more clearly, he begins to see the world around him. Thanks to the lack of knowledge, the loss of religion in the poem, the world is unknowinly terrible, in both Montag's and the author of this poems view.

F. 451 Entry 9 pgs 90-100

Summarize: Montag goes to the bank then catches a ride home on the subway, all the while Faber speaks to him about the war, and false propaganda. Faber also says that he will talk to him even in Montags sleep because Faber needs very little and sometimes word will stick in a sleeping mind. Montag returns home and is eating supper when he hears the obnoxius sound of Mildred and her friends. In the parlor the walls are constantly changing scenes and sounds, randomly. Montag turns the switch parlor walls off, leaving some very annoyed women. Montag and the women talk about their husbands and the new 'quick' war. He reminisces about how the woman's faces are like churches, beautiful but meaningless in the end. He tries to talk with them again, asking them about their children. One lady responds with a furiously glad, I have none, and the other woman talks about their children as if they were objects, not people. Despite Faber's warning Montag begins to read them some poetry, then a ways through tries to cover it up with Mildred, saying firemen are allowed a book a year to remind them of the utter silliness of them.


Discuss: Faber talking about false propaganda is a way of showing how far the government, even back then when Bradbury wrote the book, would go to fool the people. The scene that happens between Montag and the women is mainly a way to show how this future society views the world, and the effects their view. Children and their parents have no relationship, spouses, already demonstrated by MIldred and Montag, have zero affection. In the end, he wanted to try and talk some sense into them, by means of poetry, and since they didn't want to know, they choose to close their ears.


Literary Elements:
Simile - "...swimming between the clouds, like enemy disks"
              "...like a native fleeing an eruption of Mt. Vesuvius." 
Allusion - Montag talking about the church and angels within he once visited.
                  The poem about the Sea of Faith.
Irony - The fact that the women are so blasé about their own children, when usually the opposite is true in real life.
            When the women say a 'quick war', wars always are long, even in the lasting affects.
            How unconcerned they are about their husbands in war, same a children.

F. 451 Entry #8 pgs 80-90

Summarize: Montag arrives at Professor Faber's home. They briefly speak about the book Montag brought with him, the bible. Faber talks about Montag's personality, calling him a hopeless romantic. Faber does a lot of speaking revolving around why books are important, and targeted by the government. He talks in great detail about his findings on what a educational book truly is, defining it as one that has texture. They ask questions and people who only want the pleasure of life are scared to look deeper and seek out any form of there own truth. Faber also comments that with books, you can take your time, analyze them, & play God with them. They speak about plans to start the crumbling of their society. Faber is scared and  refuses to try and take part, but Montag forces him to help. Just as Montag is about to leave, Faber speaks up. He shows Montag an ear piece/radio set, and gives the receiving earpiece/half to him telling Montag that way he can help, but still cover his own butt.

Discuss: The bible purpose is to lead people to believe in a certain thing. Having Faber cling to it so desperately, when Montag threatened the book, says that people look for a reason any reason to hold on, to the past and safely known. However he goes on to ignore this and preaches about the values of a good information book. He may make valid points but, he even admits it, no matter how much talk goes on, the choice to admit to yourself whats wrong or right and how you deal with it is completely your own.


Literary Elements:
Allusions - 'Remember, Caesar, thou art mortal.' refers to a comment made to a powerful and if we gather right, rather arrogant, Roman general.
"Men quoting Milton" part, refers to philosophers.
Foreshadow - 'Remember, Caesar...' could be one because, in the end, Caesar died by betrayal.
Irony - Even though Faber wants change, he doesn't want it bad enough to risk his own neck.
Metaphor - The whole spiel by Faber on what books are and how to judge the authors skill, it talks about books being like skin.

F.451 Entry 7 pgs 70-80

Summarize: Montag and Mildred read through some of the books, trying to make sense of it. Montag looks at the world around him and remembers a professor who once talked to him. The man spoke with Montag about poetry. Montag takes another look at the bible. He gets on a train and the speakers on the train play stupid commercial over and over and over again. Montag tries to think about other things. This train takes him to Faber's , the professor, home.

Discuss: The train shows just how tamed people are, not even becoming angry with the boring, repetitive commercial thing. Montag is finally seeking out where he believes the truth to be found. Faber may or may not be the "answer" to Montag's new found curiosity. However, I believe this will be an important step in the path to the truth that Montag wants to find.

Literary Elements:
 Irony - When Mildred talks about her family being people. It is ironic because they are not actually real people, only imitations.
Simile - "He stared into a the parlor that was dead and gray as the..."

F.451 Entry 5 pgs 60-70

Summarize: Beatty guesses Montag has a book. He shows and tells Mildred about the books he has collected in secret. They begin to read over all the books, Montag trying to make sense of them, Mildred just trying to placate Montag.

Discuss: The fact that Montag has had books hidden in the house for years might show that even when people are "happy" some may be, in the back of their minds, questioning about anything. Because as humans, we are never satisfied completely, we will always desire more, and knowledge is a form of more. We realize just how mindless Mildred is, she cannot even begin to try and look at the situation from Montag's point of view. Plus, she doesn't even stand up for what she wants to do with any force, she just cries.

Literary Elements:
Symbols: Montags halting speech when reading may represent the difficulty of trying to begin the questioning phase and end the complacency rut.