Fahrenheit 451 Chapter 1

The first chapter of the book is entitled “The Hearth and the Salamander”. A hearth is a part of a fireplace that usually symbolizes home, and the salamander is an official fireman symbol probably because it used to be believed that they were unaffected by fire. This chapter focuses on Guy Montag as a fireman. He is responsible for burning literature, and in this chapter he is starting to question his job. He talked to a seventeen year old girl, Clarisse, who told him that firemen used to put out fires. There job changed over the years for a number of reasons. The first is that all houses have been made fireproof. Montag’s chief, Beatty, takes it upon himself to explain the history of firemen to him. Somehow things have changed to the point that people do not do any deep thinking. Thinking has become a bother to people that keeps them from happiness. Their intelligence only consists of memorizing tedious facts. The only thing they have to learn is how to do a simple job. Beatty explains “why learn anything save pressing buttons, pulling switches, fitting nuts and bolts?” (Bradbury, 55-56) Everyone has become mindless and impersonal. Montag soon realizes he does not even know his own wife. They can’t even remember how or where they met. Montag’s wife sits in front of televised walls all day with seashells in her ears. She has actually become a lip reader because of this. She is a mindless woman with no distinguishing characteristics. Clarisse has come and shown Montag that he is not in love and he is not happy. Montag is now hoping that maybe he can find happiness in books
This first chapter was very interesting. At first I did not like it very much, but it is getting better. I expect it to keep getting better, and it should turn out to be an alright book by the time that I finish it.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine, 2003. Print.