PLOT DEVELOPMENT. Fahrenheit 451 is organized into three titled sections: “The Hearth and the Salamander,” “The Sieve and the Sand,” and “Burning Bright.” The novel chronicles

Fahrenheit 451 is organized into three titled sections: “The Hearth and the Salamander,” “The Sieve and the Sand,” and “Burning Bright.” The novel chronicles the protagonist’s, Guy Montag’s, change from acceptance of and pleasure in his job as a fireman, through his questioning of history and society, to his final rebellion against his job and country.

“The Hearth and the Salamander” describes events that begin Montag’s transformation. The first event is his encounter with Clarisse McClellan, a seventeen-year-old neighbor who meets him late one night as he comes home after his shift. She asks him several questions, specifically what firemen used to do and whether he is happy. Montag tries to laugh off these questions, but the conversation reminds him of a meeting he had a year before with an unnamed old man, whom he later comes to know as Faber. When he enters his house and goes into the bedroom he shares with his wife, he finds she has attempted suicide. While the emergency team he calls pumps her stomach and replaces her blood, he thinks about her other suicide attempts. The third event is when the firemen are called to burn a collection of books owned by an old woman who chooses to burn with her books rather than leave.

The fourth event is Clarisse’s death; she is killed in a hit-and-run accident, a common event that is not investigated as a crime. As a result, Montag feels ill and does not want to return to work. Chief Beatty comes to talk to Montag, giving him information about firemen, the official story of how their job evolved, and how important the firemen are in protecting society. Montag is not convinced. He shows Mildred the books he has been hiding for a year, ever since his first conversation with Faber in the park.

In the second section, “The Sieve and the Sand,” Montag tries to explain his new ideas to the people around him. He first tries to talk with Mildred about the possibility of war, but she invites her friends over to watch the telvisor, a combination virtual-reality room and television, reminiscent of the nursery in “The Veldt.” Montag then goes to Faber, whose address he had from their first talk, with one of the books he rescued, the Bible. Faber gives Montag a different sense of history than Beatty’s version. He tells Montag that there are three things missing from Montag’s — and everyone’s—life: the quality information or details that exist in good books, leisure time, and “the right to carry out actions based on what we learn from the interaction of the first two” (85). What has taken the place of these things is the superficial information put out on the telvisor and “off-hours,” which Faber insists are not the same as leisure.

Faber and Montag try to work out some means of resisting the firemen, or some other way of bringing back the forbidden books. Faber is afraid, but Montag forces him to agree to help by threatening to destroy the Bible. Faber knows a printer and agrees to work with Montag to set up an underground press. When Montag leaves, he has a radio through which Faber can talk to him.

Instead of pursuing the plan to set up a press, Montag returns home and tries to convince Mildred and her friends to question their views and read books. He reads them Matthew Arnold’s poem “Dover Beach,” but all three women respond angrily. Mildred tries to make up a cover story about how the firemen are allowed to bring one book home to share with their families as long as they incinerate it afterwards, and Montag does incinerate the book. Montag leaves the women and goes to the firehouse to confront Captain Beatty and the other firemen. While he’s arguing with the captain, a call comes in, and they all go. When they arrive at the address, it’s Montag’s house, and he learns the call was made by Mildred.

The third section, “Burning Bright,” describes Beatty giving Montag the choice of burning his own house and the books. The Mechanical Hound is present to enforce the burning. Montag does burn his house, but also burns Beatty and the Hound. Montag finds four books Mildred had missed, then escapes. He takes the books and hides them in one of firemen’s house and calls in an alarm, then goes to Faber’s house. Faber tells him that war has been declared, and they watch a televised chase by another Mechanical Hound. They decide to try to cover Montag’s scent, and Faber decides to leave the city for St. Louis. After a long chase, Montag makes it to the river and floats to freedom.

As he makes his way through a wilderness that surrounds the city, he meets a group of men who have formed an underground movement to remember books. They help him by giving him a potion to change his body chemistry, or scent, and show him how the televised hunt for him resulted in an innocent man’s death. As they are talking the next day, they hear jets overhead and hear bombs destroying the city. At the end, the men are walking north, planning to wait out the war and then start a movement to write and make their books available.

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