Fahrenheit 451: Montag and Faber

• During a cold, rainy November afternoon, Montag and Millie read through Montag's acquired books.
• Montag starts understanding Clarisse's perspective on experiencing life.
• They are so engrossed in the books that they ignore a sniffing dog outside.
• Millie prefers the fantasy of television over the reality found in books.
• She chooses the television character White Clown and her TV family over real life.
• Montag seeks a teacher to help him understand the books.
• Montag remembers Faber, a retired English professor, whom he met in a park the previous year.
• Montag recalls Faber's phone number from his files of possible book hoarders.
• He decides Faber can be his teacher and takes the subway to Faber's home with a copy of the Bible.
• Faber is a devotee of the ideas in books and cares about the common good.
• Montag admits his unhappiness and emptiness to Faber, saying his life lacks the values and truths in books.
• Montag asks Faber to teach him to understand what he reads.
• Initially, Faber is skeptical about the usefulness and safety of teaching Montag.
• Faber is pessimistic about books helping society.
• Montag proposes a plan to hide books in firemen's homes to make them suspect and burn the firehouses.
• Faber acknowledges the plan's cleverness but urges Montag to give up his rebellion.
• Montag's rebelliousness and Faber's cowardice clash.
• Montag begins ripping pages out of the Bible, prompting Faber to help him.
• Faber shows Montag a two-way communication device, resembling a small green bullet, to wear in his ear.
• Faber promises to support Montag if Beatty tries to intimidate him, using the device to listen in.
• The threat of war increases, with ten million men mobilized.
• Montag returns home wanting to discuss books with Millie but finds Millie's friends are there.
• Montag launches into a tirade in front of Mrs. Phelps and Mrs. Bowles.
• Montag disconnects the television and tries to start a discussion with the women.
• He reads Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach" to motivate discussion, but the women dismiss it despite being moved.
• Faber urges Montag to joke and throw the book into the incinerator via the two-way radio.
• Montag curses Mrs. Phelps and Mrs. Bowles for their empty lives.
• Mrs. Bowles leaves angrily; Mrs. Phelps cries.
• Millie escapes by taking pills to sleep and forget.
• Montag hides books in bushes and takes a substitute book to work for Beatty.
• Montag dreads meeting Beatty, but Faber promises support via the two-way radio.
• Beatty tries to get Montag to admit stealing books, but Faber helps Montag.
• The fire alarm sounds and they realize Montag's own home is the firemen's target.

Analysis

• Clarisse's influence on Montag is evident.
• Montag says Clarisse was the first person to see him as if he mattered.
• Montag and Millie ignore the danger of their situation, dismissing the Mechanical Hound outside as "only a dog."
• The sounds of bombers overhead signal the imminence of war, paralleling Montag's inner unrest.
• Millie abandons reality and rejects books, leading to her self-destruction, symbolized by melting "like a wax doll in its own heat."
• Montag seeks to comprehend the information in books and realizes he needs a teacher.
• Faber was "thrown out upon the world forty years ago when the last liberal arts college shut for lack of students and patronage."
• Montag remembers Faber's "cadenced voice" and "convictions"; in particular, Faber's words seemed a great deal like poetry..
• Faber said, "I don't talk things, sir; I talk the meaning of things. I sit here and know I'm alive."
• Montag discovers his "burnt-in smile" has disappeared while riding the subway to Faber's house.
• He recognizes his emptiness, unhappiness, and lack of formal education, feeling helpless like "trying to fill a sieve with sand."
• Montag's attempts to establish an individual identity are frustrated.
• Montag's flight to Faber's house is his only hope.
• Faber resembles Carl Jung's "old man" archetype, representing knowledge, wisdom, and moral qualities.
• Faber is associated with the color white, symbolizing his spiritual nature and contrasting with the blackness of burnt books.
• Faber explains that books have "quality" and "texture" and reveal the stark reality of life.
• Society programs thoughts and lacks leisure time for thinking, which is essential for appreciating books.
• Faber believes books are valuable only when people have the freedom to act upon what they've learned.
• Montag's plan to incite revenge on firemen is met with Faber's skepticism, as "firemen are rarely necessary."
• Faber means that "So few want to be rebels anymore."
• Faber decides to join Montag, forming a coalition described as "Montag-plus-Faber, fire plus water," creating wine.
• They plan to print books and wait for the war to break the pattern and destroy TV.
• Despite his decision to help Montag, Faber acknowledges that he is ultimately a coward.
• The increasing threat of war parallels Montag's personal battle and inner turmoil.
• With Faber's help, Montag is ready to wage war against Beatty and stagnant society, blending idealistic knowledge with zealousness.
• When Montag meets with Mrs. Phelps and Mrs. Bowles, he forgets that they are a good deal like Millie; they are devoted to their television families, they are politically enervated, and they show little interest in the imminent war.
• While listening to their shallow talk, Montag impulsively shouts, "Let's talk"
• Montag reads "Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold, expressing pessimism about the women's vapid lifestyles.
• The poem moves the women, but they do not understand why.
• Matthew Arnold's poem typifies Montag's pessimism as he tries to fathom the vapid, purposeless lifestyles of the three women.
• Their Cheshire catlike smiles symbolize their illusion of happiness.
• Millie and her friends are characterized by fire imagery, headed toward their own destruction.
• Beatty uses authors from a wide range of historical periods to undermine Montag.
• Captain Beatty's suspicion of Montag steadily increases as he watches Montag with an "alcohol-flame stare."
• Before Montag responds to Beatty's denunciation, the fire alarm sounds.
• Montag realizes his own home is the target.
• Montag becomes a victim instead of undermining the firemen.
• Part Two focuses on Montag's first experience with ideas from books and his transformation into a social rebel, ending on a note of defeat.