Journal Entry 1

In the beginning of the book, two characters have been introduced so far.  Their names are Guy Montag and Clarisse McClellan.  Guy Montag is a thirty year old fireman whose job is to burn books instead of the usual firefighter duty.  Clarisse McClellan is a strange seventeen year old who is Guy Montag’s new neighbor.  As Montag was walking Clarisse home the first day they met Clarisse said “Is it true that long ago firemen put fires out instead of going to start them (Bradbury, 8)?” Montag then stated that houses have always been fireproof.  Clarisse then says “Strange.  I heard once that a long time ago houses used to burn by accident and they needed firemen to stop the flames (Bradbury, 8).”  Montag then laughed.  Clarisse asked Montag many other questions that Montag found very strange.  When Clarisse asked Montag if he read any of the books he burned he laughed and said “That’s against the law (Bradbury, 8)!”  It’s weird to me how books are illegal to read in this book.  How are the books harmful? I find it really strange in this book that the firemen’s duty is to start fires instead of put them out.  They do the complete opposite of their duty.  I also find it strange that this book is taken place so far in the future that they have no record of what the firefighter’s real duties were.  I’m guessing that as the book goes on Montag will find truth in what Clarisse told him about what the firefighter’s real duties were in the past.

Journal Entry 2

One day Montag met Clarisse walking in the rain in the middle of the sidewalk as he left his apartment.  She had her head tilted back catching the rain drops.  She is so different than anyone that Montag has ever met, other than the old man he met in the park a year ago. Clarisse then made Montag upset by testing out the dandelion trick.  She rubbed the last spotted dandelion from spring that she found under her chin.  Her chin turned yellow underneath so that meant she was in love.  When she tried it on Montag it did not turn yellow.  This implied that he was not in love.  He denied that the dandelion worked and got upset.  Clarisse then told Montag about the psychiatrist that she goes to.  He says that she’s a regular onion because she keeps him busy peeling away the layers.  After Montag denies the fact that Clarisse needs a psychiatrist she continues with the thoughts of her psychiatrist.  She says “The psychiatrist wants to know why I go out and hike around in the forests and watch the birds and collect butterflies.  I’ll show you my collection someday (Bradbury, 23).”  A lot of the stuff that Clarisse does is strange to other people when it’s actually normal in our time frame.  It’s crazy that she needs a psychiatrist for some of the things that we do normally.  She then goes on to question Montag about his job as a fireman.  She states how he’s different then most firemen because he listens to the things she says and tries them.  She says “You’re one of the few who put up with me (Bradbury, 23).”  People in this time frame that the book takes place in is always in a fast pace it seems like.  They never have time to really look into detail at the things around them.  For example, on page nine Clarisse told Montag about the dew on the ground every morning.  He then suddenly couldn’t remember if he had known this or not, and it made him quite irritable.  Clarisse is very observant and notices the simple things that everyone else ignores.  After being asked question after question by Clarisse, Montag simply says “You’d better run on to your appointment (Bradbury, 24).”  After she did as she was told he tilted his head back in the rain, for just a few moments, and opened his mouth to catch the rain drops falling just as she did.  He seems to be very curious in the things that she does since he always tries the things that she recommends or just does.

Journal Entry 3

“The Mechanical Hound slept but did not sleep, lived but did not live in its gently humming, gently vibrating, softly illuminated kennel back in a dark corner of the firehouse (Bradbury, 24).”  This is an example of the technology that the future upheld in this book.  The Hound is located inside the firehouse.  It is programmed to capture moving critters in a time frame of three seconds.  It would then grip its prey with its gentle paws while a four-inch hollow steel needle plunged down from the proboscis of the Hound to inject massive jolts of morphine or procaine into the victim.  The pawn was then tossed in the incinerator.  The Hound evidently does not like Montag.  When Montag told the Captain this the Captain said “Come off it.  It doesn’t like or dislike.  It just ‘functions.’  It’s like a lesson in ballistics.  It has a trajectory we decide on for it.  It follows through.  It targets itself, homes itself, and cuts off.  It’s only copper wire, storage batteries, and electricity (Bradbury, 26).”  This Hound shows just how advanced the futures technology is.  There is no need for any type of victim traps when you could just have a Hound made.  What amazed me was how fast the hound could pounce on its prey.  Three seconds is pretty impressive.

Journal Entry 4

“Enough of that!” said Captain Beatty.  “Where are they (Bradbury, 36)?”  This is what Captain Beatty (the firemen’s captain), asked a lady who he accused of having books before he slapped her in her face.  She replied saying “You know where they are or you wouldn’t be here (Bradbury, 36).”  This part of the book astonished me.  It struck me on how crazy the future was as well as the people.  It’s crazy that a woman got assaulted just because she was accused of having books when it wasn’t even her who had the books.  It was her neighbor.  On page 36 it says that the firemen then began swinging silver hatchets at doors that were, after all, unlocked, tumbling through like boys all rollick and shout. “Hey!”  It’s crazy that the firemen have the right to break into people’s home just to set the books on fire, followed by everything else catching on fire. I can’t imagine what life would be like if books were illegal.  People would never be able to read about what happened in history.  Books are a way to educate people and it would be unreal if they weren’t allowed.

Journal Entry 5

“The first time we ever met, where was it, and when (Bradbury, 43)?” asked Montag.  “I don’t know (Bradbury, 43),” Mildred (Montag’s wife) said.  This part of the books made me realize how fast these people’s lives are in the future.  To not know where you met your husband or wife is insane to me.  That’s suppose to be something that you remember forever.  It then bothered Montag that he even could not remember.  It wasn’t like they had been married for a very long time.  They had only been married for ten years.  To Mildred that was such a long time, but to Montag it wasn’t. To him it mattered where they met, but to Mildred it did not.  I think that Montag is starting to realize the fast paste of his lifestyle and the important events that he has just looked over.

Journal Entry 6

In this part of the book I really started to notice how sympathetic Montag is starting to act.  Montag has just witnessed a lady who chose to stay in her apartment with the burning books rather than leave with Montag.  This incident really opened up Montag’s eyes to see that there must be something worth reading in these books for a lady to give up her life for them.  This part of the book also shows how different Montag is than his wife.  His wife showed no sympathy for this lady.  Her response was “She’s nothing to me; she shouldn’t have had books.  It was her responsibility, she should’ve thought of that.  I hate her.  She’s got you going and next thing you know we’ll be out, no house, no job, nothing (Bradbury, 51).”  Mildred (Montag’s wife) was being very inconsiderate when she said this.  Montag’s response was “You weren’t there, you didn’t see,” he said.  “There must be something in books, things we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there.  You don’t stay for nothing (Bradbury, 51).”  This statement also shows just how different Montag is from everyone else.  In my opinion Clarisse was the reason for him opening up like he is starting to.  Montag continued saying “It’s not just the woman that died. Last night I thought about all the kerosene I’ve used in the past ten years.  And I thought about books.  And for the first time I realized that a man was behind each one of the books.  A man had to think them up.  A man had to take a long time to put them down on paper.  And I’d never even though that thought before (Bradbury, 52).”  I’m glad that Montag is starting to realize just how much hard work these authors have put into the books that he has been burning for the past ten years.  I am hoping that as the book progresses that he will turn these thoughts into actions and actually do something about it.



Journal Entry 7

As Montag watched Beatty leave and drive down the street he noticed the houses with their flat fronts.  He then began to remember what Clarisse told him about what her uncle said about the flat fronted houses.  She said “No front porches.  My uncle says there used to be front porches.  And people sat there sometimes at night, talking when they wanted to talk, rocking, and not talking when they didn’t want to talk.  Sometimes they just sat there and thought about things, turned things over.  My uncle says the architects got rid of the front porches because they didn’t look well.  But my uncle says that was merely rationalizing it; the real reason, hidden underneath, might be they didn’t want people sitting like that, doing nothing, rocking, talking; that was the wrong kind of social life.  People talked too much.  And they had time to think.  So they ran off with the porches (Bradbury, 63).”  To me this is the reason why people miss the important events and details in life.  This is the reason why everyone is to themselves.  They don’t socialize like we do in our time frame.  Clarisse goes on to say that they also got rid of gardens because people sat around in them and the rocking chairs because they were too comfortable.  In this book, the government seems to really over analyze things to where it is hard to make sense of.  The changes that they made do not make any sense at all.