Ms. Neville's Class Resources

Here are some more specific study hints:

• Review study guide questions for all three sections of the book.

• Consider symbolic nature of the following character names: Granger, Faber, Guy Montag, and Clarisse

• Mythological allusions: Hercules & Antaeus, Prometheus, Daedalus & Icarus

• Consider the cultural context of the novel’s creation – early 1950’s America.

• Understand the relation of the novel to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave

• Examine the physical descriptions of characters (especially Clarisse and Mildred)

• Compare and contrast the character development of Mildred and Clarisse (how is the language used to describe them different?)

• Shakespearean allusions  — The Tragedy of Julius Caesar and The Merchant of Venice

• Compare and contrast Beatty and Granger

• Be aware of the following motifs and their significance: insects /birds/flying things, eyes/sight,  good and bad fire, juxtaposition of mechanical/natural elements, snakes/serpents, etc.

• Biblical allusions: the Book of Job, Ecclesiastes, the Sermon on the Mount, Tower of Babel, Sodom & Gomorrah

• How the “American Dream” is represented in this novel?

• The use of literary devices by the author: simile. synaesthesia, metaphor, personification, etc.  (figurative language is very important — what is the “earthquake”? How does Montag suffer a “concussion?”)

• Compare and contrast Clarisse and Faber

• Symbols : hearth, sieve/sand, salamander, phoenix, the number 451, parlor “family”, seashells, mirrors, mechanical hound, etc.

• Science fiction genre

• Faber’s three things

• How is the river (in Burning Bright) significant?

• How is Mildred described?

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