New Beginnings

  The last section of the book begins with Montag seeing the other men's faces in daylight, and realizing that they just look like ordinary men.  "He was looking for a brightness, a resolve, a triumph over tomorrow that hardly seemed to be there" (p. 154), but he did not see it.  Instead he saw only faces of men who were unsure of anything except for the books stored in their heads.  As they walk on, Montag looks back at the city and thinks of Mildred.  He thinks it's odd that he doesn't miss her and the thinks that something is wrong with him because he says that if she were to die, he wouldn't feel much of anything.  Granger explains to him that when he was a boy his grandfather died, and he realized that he was sad because he would miss all the things that his grandfather did in the world.  Montag begins thinking about Mildred and how she never really did anything.  He think about himself, and what did he ever do… burn books.  Granger makes him realize that "everyone must leave something behind when he dies" (p.156) so that the people who are still living have something to remember them.  

  Then, Montag and the other men, in an instant, see bombs released upon the city.  In that moment, Montag imagines where Mildred might be.  He pictures her in a hotel room with the TV walls talking to her.  He hopes that maybe the first bomb would cut off all the TV connections so that "she saw her own face reflected there, in a mirror instead of a crystal ball, and it was such a wildly empty face, all by itself in the room, touching nothing, starved and eating of itself" (p.159) before the walls caved in on her a brought her to her death.  It is while picturing this that Montag remembers he met Mildred in Chicago, a long time ago.  He also remembers that part of Ecclesiastes and Revelations and repeats it to himself over and over again, until the bombing stopped.  Montag wonders if how many other cities had been attacked and how many have died?  The books ends with the men heading back into the city to help any survivors and Montag prepared with his knowledge of the books he's memorized to help the people in this disastrous time.

Reaction:

  I think this was a good ending.  The war, which was only mentioned here and there throughout the book, did end up playing a big role in the end, as that was the cause for the city being blown up.  Maybe now is the moment they have been waiting for, to bring the people out of their ignorant ways and get them to want to know what's happening in the world and in their own community.  There were a few overall messages that I got out of this book as far as applying it to the real world:  1) Knowledge is power.  Know what's going on in your community and country.  Make an effort to learn things everyday; 2) Don't let technology take over.  Don't just sit in front of the TV all day and let it brainwash you.  Go to the beach, or on a hike.  Go for a walk in the park.  Read a book.  Do activities that will stimulate your mind; and 3) Leave something behind in this world.  Make a difference somehow, no matter how big or how small, it will give the people you love and who love you things to remember you by.  This concludes this in depth book blog of "Fahrenheit 451" and I thoroughly enjoyed reading and blogging about this book.  Two thumbs up!