The LitCharts ThemeTracker is a mini-version of the entire LitChart. The ThemeTracker provides a quick timeline-style rundown of all the important plot points and allows you to track the themes throughout the work at a glance.
|
1
|
- On his way home from a day’s work of burning books, fireman Guy Montag meets his new neighbor, Clarisse McClellan.
- Clarisse asks Montag if he’s happy.
- In their bedroom, Montag finds his wife, Mildred. She’s taken dozens of sleeping pills. Technicians come to pump her stomach and use a machine to suck away her sadness.
- Mildred spends the next day watching full-wall TV in the parlor. Montag sees and talks to Clarisse again.
- At the fire station, the Mechanical Hound threatens Montag. Captain Beatty tells him not to worry.
- For the next week, Montag sees Clarisse on his way to and from work. They talk openly about all kinds of things.
- The radio at the fire station reports that war may be declared.
- Montag asks Beatty whether firemen used to prevent fires, not start them.
- The firemen go to burn the books and house of an old woman. The woman burns herself along with the house. Montag takes a Bible from her house.
- In bed, Montag asks Mildred where they met. Neither can remember.
- Mildred tells Montag that Clarisse has been killed.
- Montag feels sick and doesn’t go to work.
- Captain Beatty comes to Montag’s house. He explains the history of censorship, mass media, and firemen.
- Beatty says it’s okay for a fireman to keep a book for 24 hours out of curiosity, as long as he then turns it in.
- Mildred freaks out when Montag shows her the twenty books he’s been hiding in the house. They try to read the books.
|
|
|
|
|
|
2
|
- The attempt to read the books is unsuccessful because Montag can’t understand them and Mildred prefers watching television.
- Montag goes to visit Faber, a retired English professor he met in a park a year ago, to help him read the books.
- On the subway trip over, he tries to memorize passages from the Bible.
- Faber explains to Montag what’s missing from their society: quality of information, the leisure to digest it, and the freedom to act on it.
- After some prodding, Faber agrees to help Montag. He gives Montag a tiny two-way audio receiver/transmitter, which Montag places in his ear.
- Mildred’s friends are visiting when Montag gets home. Montag is infuriated by their superficiality and reads poetry to them.
- Montag goes to work and hands a book—not the Bible—over to Beatty.
- An alarm comes in. The firemen rush to the address. It’s Montag’s house.
|
|
|
|
|
|
3
|
- Mildred leaves the house and ducks into a taxi—she was the one who called in the alarm!
- Following Beatty’s orders, Montag burns his own house with a flamethrower.
- Beatty taunts Montag until Montag kills Beatty with the flamethrower. The Mechanical Hound attacks Montag, but he’s able to destroy it.
- Now a fugitive, Montag visits Faber.
- The manhunt for Montag is broadcast everywhere.
- Montag reaches the river with a new Mechanical Hound close behind him. He floats to safety.
- Out in the countryside, Montag stumbles across a group of hobo-scholars, outcasts from society.
- The scholars have memorized many books. They’re waiting for a time when they can write the books down again. They accept Montag, who has memorized parts of the Bible.
- Bombers fly overhead. The war begins and quickly ends. The city has been incinerated.
- The men start walking toward the city to help the survivors rebuild.
|
