Fahrenheit 451

Montag and Mildred read the stolen books but struggle to decipher what the words mean. Montag laments the loss of his friend Clarisse, whose questioning attitude is reflected within the literature Montag wants to understand. Mildred resents the books: “Books aren’t people” (46). She would rather spend the time with her relatives on the video walls. Montag wonders whether books can help solve society’s problems, while Mildred takes a phone call from her friend Ann Bowles, who reminds her that a tv show, The White Clowns, is on. Montag wonders whether there’s someone who can help him interpret the books.

Montag recalls an encounter he had in the “city park” (47) the previous year with an old man “in a black suit” (47) who was carrying a concealed book. Initially, the man was anxious and feared Montag—a fireman, but in the flashback, Montag reassures him and learns the man’s name is Faber, and he’s a retired English professor who lost his job after the country’s last art college closed. Faber recites a couple of poems from memory before slipping Montag his contact details on a piece of paper. Back in the present, Montag retrieves Faber’s phone number and dials it. Faber answers, and Montag immediately asks him, “how many copies of the Bible are left in this country?”(47) This riles Faber, but Montag continues the interrogation: “How many copies of Shakespeare and Plato?”(47) Faber admits there’s none left, something that Montag knew already through his job, but wanted Faber to confirm.