Fahrenheit 451, The Hearth and the Salamander

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Across
  1. 1. Montag becomes ____ after witnessing an old lady choose to die with her books instead of living without them. After he returns home from burning the lady and her books, he throws up. “Suddenly the odor of kerosene made him vomit. Mildred came in, humming. She was surprised. “Why’d you do that?” … “We burned an old woman with her books.” I think this is an early example of Montag showing he does not like being a fireman and how he might rebel later in the story.
  2. 5. This is the place where Montag hid all of the books he had taken. At the end of part one, Montag opens it and reveals to Mildred the secret he has been keeping about his books. He and Mildred begin to look at the books together. “Then he reached up and pulled back the grill of the air-conditioning system… When he was done he looked down upon some twenty books lying at his wife’s feet.” I think this is a very important part of the story because it is a turning point in the way that Montag is rebelling against the burning of books.
  3. 7. These are objects that the government has banned because they cause too much conflict between people and make them think too many things. Montag hid many of these objects behind an air vent in his house. I think this symbolizes how corrupt their government is to have banned an object that can hold so much knowledge and so many stories.
  4. 8. The creatures that firemen wear on their sleeves because they are said to be able to survive a fire. "She seemed hypnotized by the ______ on his arm and the phoenix-disc on his chest," I think this creature is meant to symbolize the strength and resilience of the firemen. I think it could also symbolize the fact that even though people burn the books, the stories can still find a way to live on.
  5. 9. This word is in the title of section 1 of the novel, “The ___ and the Salamander”. Usually this word is a symbol of comfort and warmth but in the book, it is used to describe all of the destruction that comes from the fire. This is ironic and shows how different the novel is from our world because people today would never think of this word representing destruction.
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  1. 2. The name of the girl who Montag meets one night at a corner on his way home from work. She teaches Montag to notice the world and makes him question the society he lives in. One time when they meet, she talks to him about how people drive so fast, they forget to really notice things. “If you showed a driver a green blur, Oh yes! He’d say, that’s grass! A pink blur? That’s a rose garden!” This causes Montag to realize that she is right and people in the world don’t pay enough attention the things around them. I think this shows how self-centered everybody is because they only care about themselves and nothing else.
  2. 3. After Mildred’s _______ on sleeping pills, the emergency doctors have to replace her blood with their machines. While they do their job, the operators of the machines, who are not even doctors, act very cold and Montag describes them as "impersonal". “Got to clean ‘em out both ways,” said the operator… Leave that stuff in the blood and the blood hits the brain like a mallet, bang,” I think this shows how the people have completely given up on meaningful relationships because they don't actually care that they have a human life in their hands.
  3. 4. What they call the people who start fires to destroy books and burn houses. "Established, 1790, to burn English-influenced books in the Colonies. First ______: Benjamin Franklin." In my opinion, this is ironic because in our world, these people are heroes and put out fires but in Montag's world, they are the exact opposite.
  4. 6. The room with big TV screens in place of walls, where people watch shows all day. Mildred is always in here "talking" to the people on the screens and calling them her “family”. I think this is a great representation of how people in their society have given up on knowledge and true human relationships and now rely only on their electronics in the comfort of their homes.
  5. 7. The captain of the firemen at the station where Montag works. He explains to Montag the history of book burning. As he is leaving he tells Montag that all firemen get the urge to read a book at least once. “One last thing,” said Beatty. “At least once in his career, every fireman gets an itch. What do the books say, he wonders. Oh to scratch that itch, eh?” I think Beatty is suspicious of Montag and might even know about the books he has taken and hid in his home.
  6. 9. This is the mechanical creature that lives with the firemen at the station, which is used to track and hunt people down. Montag is scared that somebody gave the hound his scent because it was acting aggressively towards him. “It doesn’t like me,” said Montag. “What, the Hound?” The captain studied his cards… “Irritated, but not completely angry. Just enough ‘memory’ set up in it by someone so it growled when I touched it.” I think this is because someone might know about the books that Montag has hidden.