The story takes place in a world where books are banned, free thoughts are not allowed and activities and free time are strictly watched. Teenagers kill each other since there is nothing else to do and nobody is faced with troubles or unpleasant events, they think they are happy. There is a global war between technology advances and the Earth´s nature. Fahrenheit 451 narrates the story of Guy Montag, an ordinary man with an extraordinary job. Being a fireman is simple, he finds books and burns them to ashes, and then he burns the ashes. Guy has been a fireman for 10 years and is not thinking of stopping anytime soon, he loves to watch things burn (specially books). One night after he leaves the fire station, Guy finds a girl waiting for him to walk home. Her name is Clarisse McClellan and she just moved into the neighborhood, she is 17 and insane. Guy immediately figures out that Clarisse is not afraid of him (or any fireman) as most people are. The teenager doesn't keep quiet and asks Guy if he knew that a long time ago, firemen were the ones who put the fire out instead of trying to start them. She also asks Guy if he is happy and, obviously, his answer is “yes” (even though deep down he knows he´s lying). When he finally gets home that night, Guy finds his wife Mildred, lying unconscious in their bedroom and finds out that she drank all of her sleeping pills in one night. Guy calls emergencies and demands for help for his wife so she doesn't get worst that she already is. After that night, Guy tries to find out the reason for Mildred´s overdose of sleeping pills but she seems to have no recollection of that night whatsoever. He keeps walking back home with Clarisse, who keeps making Guy question his own existence and purpose in life. Clarisse tells Guy about how she must try everything once or maybe twice, she has even tasted rain and says it tastes good (Guy even tries it himself!). After a while, Guy asks Clarisse if she ever goes to school since she is always wandering around. He then finds out that people think Clarisse is antisocial since “she didn't want to know how a thing was done, but why.”After seven days, Clarisse was gone. Guy then goes to work at the fire station and is strangely uncomfortable by the presence of “The Hound”. “The Hound” is an eight-legged robotic dog that lives in the fire station and is designed to help the firemen in whatever they need. Guy thinks that someone has programmed “The Hound” to go against him but has no idea of anyone who he considers an enemy.
“I haven't any friends. That's supposed to prove I'm abnormal. But everyone I know is either shouting or dancing around like wild or beating up one another. Do you notice how people hurt each other nowadays?” (30)
This quote was said by Clarisse to Guy while they were walking back to their neighborhood one night. I think people do hurt each other at today's society and it's a sad truth we need to face. I thought about this a lot and started thinking of things I may say that can hurt people, but that neither I nor them care enough to make a big deal about it. Things like nicknames that can be offensive but that people really don't care about, or games that can end badly but that no one cares if they would because they would keep playing anyway. I really hope that we realize how hurtful we are being towards each other and change for the better.
“You're not like the others. I've seen a few; I know. When I talk, you look at me. When I said something about the moon, you looked at the moon, last night. The others would never do that. The others would walk off and leave me talking. Or threaten me. No one has time anymore for anyone else. You're one of the few who put up with me. That's why I think it's so strange you're a fireman, it just doesn't seem right for you, somehow.”(23-24)
When I first read this quote, I questioned Clarisse´s response to Guy being a different fireman but then I realized that she was right. I don't think that Guy is a normal fireman (or what is considered to be one) because he is curious about what could be inside books. I also questioned why other firemen would walk off and leave Clarisse speaking alone but came to the conclusion that they are afraid of what she might ask them. I see Clarisse as the type of girl who is not afraid to say what she thinks or show her emotions to anyone. I think we need more people like Clarisse in today's society (even if she just a fictional character).
So far, I like this book. It's a good change from the spooky stories of killer vampires that I had to read for a project for my language and literature class, or from the cheesy dystopian love stories like The Hunger Games or Divergent (I would include The Maze Runner but I haven't read it). I learned that it's more of a mature novel than what I usually read (by “mature” I mean that there is a bunch of words I don't understand). I hope that I will find out what it is that Guy is hiding behind his air conditioner (I didn't mention it before but Guy is hiding something behind his air conditioner), maybe he killed someone and is hiding the corpse in there, but I wouldn't know since I haven't read past page 33. I also hope Guy finds Clarisse since they have the most ridiculous conversations that are fun to read (for example: They talk about the taste of dried leaves and how Clarisse swears they taste like cinnamon but Guy would not know since he has never ate one).
