English Question 4: Fahrenheit 451

What is the climax of this novel? What happens? How do the events of this novel make you feel?

The climax is the point where Guy reads the line “Time has fallen asleep in the afternoon sunshine.” p.37 Fahrenheit 451. That sparks his interest, and after that experience he proceeds to take a book from that house. That part is like a spark that sets off a chain of events. The ‘chain of events’ that I am referring to is the following: Guy reads the line. Guy steals a book. Guy plays sick, which brings his chief fireman to ‘confessions’ as to what really happened with the books, and why they are illegal. The chief then tells him he has 24 hours to read the book that he stole, and then he has to destroy the book, or have the firemen destroy the book. After that we learn that he has about 20 more books, and he reveals that to his wife who later reports that, which leads to him becoming a homeless murderer and fugitive. I think that you don’t really notice the significance of what happened until after his talk with the fire chief. You just feel like saying, ‘so he read a line in a page, who cares?’ but after you finish the book and begin analyzing the story and the plot you find all of the ‘connections’ in the plot. Some people may disagree and say that this is the rising action, but if you look at it, yes, you could identify this as ‘rising action’, but this really sets the tone of the book in the sense that once he read this there was no turning back.



This video really goes along with many of the themes in the book. Including one of my favorites that is: don't conform to the world (a.k.a. be 'fireproof'). So in a sense when Guy reads his first line, he starts thinking for himself and becoming 'fireproof' to the world's ideas. When he meets Pro. Faber, his ideas take root and he becomes really 'devoted' or serious about his ideas.

http://www.albany.edu/~mr3240/isp605/fahrenheit.jpg

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Y4vfD54VgOw