Fahrenheit 451 Theme Handout

Group Members: Connie Mi, Andres Simoya, Julietta Collins, Adam Kemme

Bell 7

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

Timeline:

Montag is very ignorant about the horrors of his old society.

Montag started to walk away when he realized that Clarisse was gone

Montag risks his life to meet with Faber, who is reluctant to start a plan.

Montag convinces him otherwise, and they communicate using a radio.

Angry with his life, Montag kills Beatty when they burn down his house.

Montag ran away from the Hound, even though the rest of the city was on the lookout for him.

Montag leaves the old society to start a new one.

Quotes:

Part 1	Part 2	Part 3
“‘You can’t ever have my books,’ she said. ‘You know the law,’ said Beatty”	“ ‘Those who don’t build must burn. It’s as old as history and juvenile delinquents. ‘ ‘So that’s what I am.’ ‘There’s some of it in all of us.’”	“We all made the right kind of mistakes, or we wouldn’t be here.”
The woman lost her life, sacrificing herself for the betterment of society. Her actions even provoked Montag to question his life.	“Montag did not look back at his wife as he went trembling along the hall of the kitchen, where he stood a long time.”

This theme is important to the understanding of the story because the idea that people shouldn’t just watch a society falter and crumble is why Montag decides to illegally take books from the burning houses and try to spread the knowledge in those books to other people causing him to become a fugitive and find Granger and other people with his same goal, to stop society from crumbling.

This theme is important today because if the people do not contribute ideas then society will crumble compared  to a democratic society where you can contribute your own ideas without any consequences involved.