Fahrenheit 451 Part II The sieve and the

Fahrenheit 451 Part II: The sieve and the sand

Sieve and the Sand • The title of Part II • Narrator: “…trying to fill a sieve with sand” (78). • Montag’s memory: “If you read fast and read all, maybe some of the sand will stay in the sieve” (78). • Narrator: “But he [Montag] read and the words fell through, and he thought, in a few hours, there will be Beatty, and here will be me handing this over, so no phrase must escape me, each line must be memorized. I will myself to do it” (78).

Jesus? • Faber: “Christ is one of the ‘family’ now. I often wonder if God recognizes His own son the way we’ve dressed him up, or is it dressed him down? . . . when he isn’t making veiled references to certain commercial products that every worshiper absolutely needs” (81). • Distortion of Religion

Necessity of Books • Faber: “Books were only one type of receptacle where we stored a lot of things we were afraid we might forget. There is nothing magical in them at all. The magic is only in what books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe together in one garment for us” (82 -83). • Faber: “Do you know why books are so important? Because they have quality. And what does the word quality mean? To me it means texture. This book has pores” (83).

The Legend of Hercules • Faber: “Do you know the legend of Hercules and Antaeus, the giant wrestler, whose strength was incredible so long as he stood firmly on the earth? But when he was held, rootless, in midair, by Hercules, he perished easily. If there isn’t something in that legend for us today, in this city, in our time, then I am completely insane” (83). • Rhetorical Strategy: Allusion

Is This Human Nature? • Faber, to Montag: “After all, when we had all the books we needed, we still insisted on finding the highest cliff to jump off. But we do need a breather. We do need knowledge” (86).

Purpose of Books • Faber: “The books are to remind us what asses and fools we are. They’re Caesar’s praetorian guard, whispering as the parade roars down the avenue, ‘Remember, Caesar, thou art mortal’” (86). • Rhetorical Strategy: Allusion • Faber: “Most of us can’t rush around, talk to everyone, know all the cities of the world, we haven’t time, money or that many friends. The things you’re looking for, Montag, are in the world, but the only way the average chap will ever see ninety-nine percent of them is in a book…Do your own bit of saving, and if you drown, at least die knowing you were headed for shore” (86).

The Difficulty of the World • Faber: “Good God, it isn’t as simple as just picking up a book you laid down half a century ago. Remember, the firemen are rarely necessary. The public itself stopped reading of its own accord” (87). • Interesting contrast here • Faber points out that the firemen are used to keep order, but the majority of the population is already disinterested

Newspapers • Faber: “I remember the newspapers dying like huge moths. No one wanted them back. No one missed them” (89). • Did you grow up reading the newspaper • How many of your families still have a newspaper subscription?

Gift of Ignorance • Faber: “I know. You’re afraid of making mistakes. Don’t be. Mistakes can be profited by. Man, when I was younger I shoved my ignorance in people’s faces. They beat me with sticks. By the time I was forty my blunt instrument had been honed to a fine cutting point for me. If you hide your ignorance no one will hit you and you’ll never learn” (104).

Books • “What traitors books can be! You think they’re backing you up, and they turn on you” (107). • Personification • “Here we go to keep the world happy Montag” (109). • Irony