Fahrenheit 451

Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key plot points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Part 1

Reading Check

1. What is the job of the firefighters in Fahrenheit 451?

2. What item on the floor makes Montag realize that something is seriously wrong with Mildred?

3. How does the Mechanical Hound react when Montag is around?

4. What do Montag and Mildred both struggle to remember?

5. What has Montag been keeping hidden in the air conditioning vent?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Clarice asks Montag, “Are you happy?” What is his response?

2. What is unique about Clarice? What does this say about the society depicted in the novel?

3. How does Mildred react when Montag asks her about what happened to her when he came home?

4. What does Captain Beatty explain about why their society banned books?

Paired Resource

“Do You ‘Numb’ Yourself with TV, the Internet, and Work?”

• This Psychology Today article reviews the book Daring Greatly by Brene Brown and discusses how emotional numbing can occur in many different forms of addiction, including technology addiction. 
• What characters in Fahrenheit 451 are numbed by their addictions? What evidence is there that Mildred is actually deeply in pain but numbing through technology?

"Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut

• This short story presents a world where people are numb and controlled by a dystopian government. Like Montag, one man tries to break free—but his punishment is different.
• This story shares the theme of The Impact of Censorship on Society with Fahrenheit 451.
• What are some similarities between Montag and Harrison Bergeron? How are their fates different?
• What do both of these stories seem to be saying about emotional numbing through technology versus the natural world?

Part 2

Reading Check

1. What ad on the subway keeps pestering Montag?

2. Who is Faber?

3. What device does Faber give Montag? Why?

4. What does Montag read to Mildred’s friends? How do they react?

5. Where is Montag taken on his work assignment at the end of the section?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Montag asks, “Millie? Does the White Clown love you?” How does she respond? What does this say about her?

2. Montag remembers trying to fill a sieve full of sand at the beach when he was young. The sand kept pouring out no matter what he put in. What makes him feel this way currently?

3. What is Montag and Faber’s plan?

4. Beatty and Montag have a conversation in the firetruck where Beatty quotes different pieces of literature. What does he say he is doing with these quotes? What does this say about him?

Paired Resource

“Where They Burn Books”

• This short chapter from Holocaust and Human Behavior at FacingHistory.org discusses how Nazi Germany began a book burning campaign.
• What similarities are there between the reasons that the Third Reich banned books and the reasons that the government in Fahrenheit 451 bans books? What do these examples tell us about the implications of censorship?

“ Dover Beach' by Matthew Arnold”

• Montag reads this poem to Mildred and her friends.
• How does the poem connect to the theme of Technology and the Natural World? How do both the poem and story depict loneliness and human relationship?
• “Dover Beach” on SuperSummary

Part 3

Reading Check

1. What does Montag do after burning down his own house?

2. What instructions does Montag give Faber before running away toward the river?

3. While walking through the woods, Montag has a strange feeling about what?

4. How is Granger’s group preserving knowledge if not through printed books?

5. What does Montag and Granger’s group watch happen to the city?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Who turned Montag in to the authorities? Why did they do it?

2. Why does Montag think that Beatty made him burn his house down?

3. Why doesn’t Granger’s group want to start a revolution? What is their plan instead?

Recommended Next Reads

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

• A young adult novel that shows the journey of a girl whose fascination with reading leads her to steal books in the midst of Nazi censorship
• Addresses the theme Impact of Censorship on Society through a historical lens
• As in Fahrenheit 451, characters have to decide whether they will submit to tyranny or stand up and protect the vulnerable.
• The Book Thief on SuperSummary

1984 by George Orwell

• A dystopian novel that depicts a man’s progression from working for a tyrannical government to questioning and rebelling against it
• The story depicts an authoritarian government similar to that of Fahrenheit 451 and deals with similar themes, such as The Impact of Censorship on Society.
• The endings of 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 offer contrasting views of the future.
• 1984 on SuperSummary