Fahrenheit 451 Summary: Plot, Characters and Ending
Fahrenheit 451 follows Guy Montag, a fireman in a future America where firemen burn books instead of putting out fires. A meeting with a curious girl and a woman who chooses to die with her books make him question everything. He begins hiding books, rebels and escapes to join a group of outcasts who keep books alive by memorizing them.
The title refers to the temperature at which, the book says, paper catches fire.
| Character | Who they are |
|---|---|
| Guy Montag | Fireman who begins to doubt |
| Clarisse McClellan | Curious teenage neighbor |
| Mildred | Montag's wife, absorbed in her wall screens |
| Captain Beatty | Montag's well-read, cynical chief |
| Faber | Retired English professor |
| Granger | Leader of the book people |
How does Montag begin to change?
Montag enjoys his work, until he meets his seventeen-year-old neighbor Clarisse, who asks whether he is happy. He realizes he is not. At home he finds Mildred unconscious after swallowing a bottle of sleeping pills; technicians pump her stomach, and the next morning she remembers nothing. Clarisse soon disappears, and Mildred mentions casually that she was hit by a car.
↑ Back to the topWhy does Montag start stealing books?
On a call, an old woman refuses to leave her house full of books and sets herself alight with them. Shaken, Montag takes a book and stays home sick. Captain Beatty visits and explains how society came to hate books: people wanted speed and ease and no ideas that upset anyone. He hints that he knows Montag has a book and gives him a day to burn it.
↑ Back to the topWho is Faber?
Montag shows Mildred the books he has been hiding for months, and she is terrified. He contacts Faber, an old professor he once met in a park, who gives him a tiny radio earpiece so he can guide him. At home Montag reads a poem aloud to Mildred's friends, and one of them weeps.
↑ Back to the topWhat happens at the last fire call?
The fire alarm sounds, and the truck stops at Montag's own house. Mildred has reported him and leaves. Beatty orders him to burn his home and taunts him. When Beatty threatens to track down Faber, Montag turns the flamethrower on him and kills him, then flees with the Mechanical Hound and the whole city watching on television.
↑ Back to the topHow does Fahrenheit 451 end?
Montag escapes into the river and drifts out of the city. He finds Granger and a band of wandering scholars, each of whom has memorized a book so it will survive. They watch on a portable screen as the authorities stage the capture of an innocent man in Montag's place. Then war breaks out, and bombers destroy the city in a moment. The book people walk back toward the ruins to help rebuild, with Montag among them, trying to recall the passages he carries.
↑ Back to the topMore about Fahrenheit 451
This summary reveals the whole plot, including the ending.