'Fahrenheit 451' Quiz

Montag's chance meaning with Clarisse, a curious and non-conformist teenager, causes him to rethink his worldview, and he begins questioning his society as a result.

When ransacking the home of the elderly book hoarder with his fellow firemen, Montag steals a copy of the Bible.

Fahrenheit 451 emphasizes the potential dangerous of mindless television consumption. Mildred Montag is the best example of the novel's perspective on television. Mildred sees her wall-sized screens as a "parlor wall family," and spends all day numbing herself with pills and TV shows. In the novel, the mindless consumption of television is a threat to critical thought, as the TV shows are explicitly designed to provide mindless entertainment devoid of any new ideas or perspectives.

Beatty tells Montag that Mildred and her friends reported him after he read to them from a poetry book. Montag does as he is told, destroying his home with a flamethrower.

The drifters, a group of former intellectuals, have each memorized at least one book. Their intention is to use that knowledge to rebuild society. At the end of the novel, when the city is destroyed by a nuclear attack, Montag and the drifters set out to apply this knowledge and rebuild.