Montag shared his interest in burning books when the author offered a point of view of Montag burning the books. The description interprets Montag by his honor in “The pleasure of burning”, this displays the passion of Montag for his occupation, while allowing readers to acknowledge the first setting of this novel. Montag got off his job after he started another fire in a house in the middle of the night, suggesting to readers his special career as a “Firefighter”.
Montag finished his work of the day by the author’s portrayal of Montag hanging up his helmet with the symbol of “451”. This again highlights the occupation of Montag as a firefighter. He is used to his job and certainly favors it. As he slid down the pole onto the tranquil streets at midnight, his daily commute began as usual, with himself completely unaware of one unexpected acquaintance awaiting for him.
Montag used the transportation of the metro to get back home. He walks down the escalator into the air-propelled subway, with everything looking as normal as usual. The ride was rapid, and he arrived at the countryside station, allowing readers to acknowledge the residential location of Montag in the suburb. He marched easily along the sidewalk, with the gentle midnight breeze leading to an unexpected acquaintance of Clarisse and Montag afterwards. The construction of the setting (moonlight shining on the pavement) further adds to the effect of the scene imagery of tranquility; this evokes a mysterious mood, especially when spotlighting Montag himself.
As Montag walked, he scented a particular smell, and the peculiar smell led to a discussion later between Montag and Clarisse, the seventeen-year-old girl. The breeze was described as gentle but somehow mysterious—making the girl seem swaying in the wind; this adds to the uncertainty for the audience and Montag of not being sure whether to accost her or not.
The initial point when Montag and Clarisse presented the dialogue was captured by an informal tone as the speeches commenced. Clarisse questioned Montag’s occupation, while Montag remained curious about the background of this innocent-looking girl. This resonates with the audience through an authorial choice, building the first establishment of character relationships.
Soon, in the dialogue between Montag and Clarisse, Clarisse says that she is seventeen and she is crazy. Ray Bradbury selects the word “crazy” in order to give out information about the setting of this place. By the word crazy, the author elaborates on the setting of this book, and tells the readers that in this society, people not attracted to digital devices are considered abnormal.
Their talk continues with details about Montag’s job as a fireman. The slogan that Montag uses to describe his job, “Monday burn Millay, Wednesday Whitman, Friday Faulkner”, can be considered a strange slogan for a fire station. Montag also denies the fact that firefighters used to put out fires instead of starting them, and believes that houses have always been fireproof. The author chooses to use a strange slogan and gives Montag an understanding of the past that the readers know is not true, to emphasise how the people who have power can rewrite history, and how much the social norms can change from now.
Clarisse continues this conversation by pointing out that people never stop to think in this society. Ray Bradbury compares grass to “green blurs”, compares rose gardens to “pink blurs”, and mentions that the advertisements are stretched to match the jet car’s speed. This reveals another aspect of the societal norms in this book, which is the intense speed. By doing this, the author encourages us to slow down in life and think more.
Finally, Clarisse asks Montag if he is happy and ends the conversation by running away. This made Montag think about his life, and the author slows down the process of Montag entering his house to show that Montag has thought a lot after Clarisse asks this question. The author also described the importance of Clarisse's appearance in Montag’s seemingly perfect life, to make him realise that his life is empty inside, so that the plot of the story can continue. This thinking process ends with his prediction of what his wife is doing even without turning on the lights, showing how people in this society are essentially doing the same thing every day.
After Montag enters the bedroom, he finds out that his wife, Mildred, is lying down unconsciously on the bed, and the author compares her face to a snow-covered island covered with clouds but has no rain. This makes Mildred look ill, which shocks Montag. At the same time, Montag realises that she has taken thirty pills and asks for the ambulance. The author adds war sounds in the background to match Montag’s emotions, emphasizing how bad the situation is.
Then the doctors, or rather machine operators, came to their house. They had two machines with them. One of them slid down to Mildred’s stomach and suck out all the poison stuff in it. It has a camera that the operator, wearing a special optical helmet, can see inside the stomach. Montag asked the operator what he saw, but he didn’t answer. The other machine cleans Mildred’s blood. It pumped all the blood from her body and replaced it with fresh blood. Both of the machine operators are impersonal; one of them is even smoking.
One of the operators starts speaking about why they are cleaning Mildred both ways. The impersonal and unprofessional way of speaking completely irritated Montag. After the operators have done the cleaning, they shut their machines and are about to leave. They are still impersonal about Montag’s anger and stood there smoking. Montag then asks why they don’t tell him if Mildred will be alright, and why they don’t send a M.D. (Doctor of Medicine) from Emergency.
Through the answers from the operators, we know that overdose of pills is extremely common in this society. There are 9-10 cases per night. Here, the author is trying to tell the readers that people in this society don’t have the ability to think. That’s why they keep getting overdose cases. They are getting too many cases that they had to build special machines a few years ago to deal with this. And with these machines, you don’t need an M. D., just two handymen are fine.
Just as the operators finish answering, they get another call for a pill overdose. They told Montag to keep her quiet, and she’ll wake up hungry, and they strolled out the door with their stuff.
After the operators left, Montag went into a state of mind where he kept thinking about everything. He thought about strangers, Mildred, and Clarisse. He walked outside without even thinking about it and listened to conversations from the house of Clarisse. Finally, he returned home, took care of Mildred, and went to bed. He reviewed everything that had happened today, keywords popping in his mind, and fell asleep.