Close Reading

Read the following passage from Fahrenheit 451 and use it to answer the following questions.

It was a pleasure to burn.

It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed. With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this great pythonn spitting it's venomous kerosene upon the world, the blood pounded in his head, and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history. With his symbolic helmet numbererd 451 on his stolid head, and his eyes all orange flame with the thought of what came next, he flicked the igniter and the house jumped up in a gorging fire that burned the evening sky read and yellow and black. He strode in a swarm of fireflies. He wanted above all, like the old joke, to shove a marshmallow on a stick in the furnace, while the flapping pigeon-winged books died on the porch and lawn of the house. While the books when up in sparkling whirls and blew away on a wind turned dark with burning.

Montag grinned the fierce grin of all men singed and driven back by flame.

1.

In the first sentence of the second paragraph, what does "eaten" mean?

A) blackened

B) changed

C) destroyed

D) shoved

2.

The kerosene-spewing fire hose described in the second paragraph is described as a

A) great python snake

B) a symphony

C) a conductor

D) fireflies

3.

What is dying on the porch and lawn of the house?

A) the conductor of the fire

B) the great python

C) the jumping house

D) the flapping pigeon-winged books

4.

Montag's "fierce grin" gives the reader the feeling that Montag...

A) feels guilty about burning the house.

B) was burned in the fire.

C) has just heard a joke.

D) is excited by burning the house.

Use this passage to answer the second set of questions:

"True, we might form classes in thinking and writing." [said Faber]

"Yes!" [said Montag]

"But that would just nibble the edges. The whole culture's shot through. The skeleton needs melting and reshaping. 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. You firemen provide a circus every now and then at which buildings are set off and crowds gather for the pretty blaze, but it's a small sideshow indeed, and hardly necessary to keep things in line. So few want to be rebels any more. And out of those few, most, like myself, scare easily.

5.

Faber's description of the fires as a "circus" is an example of which literary device?

A) simile

B) personification

C) metaphor

D) juxtaposition

6.

Whom does Faber say is keeping the society from reading?

A) Police officers

B) Firemen

C) Teachers

D) The Public Itself

7.

What would "rebels" be doing in this scenario?

A) Fire fighting

B) Thinking and reading

C) Melting and reshaping

D) Gathering

8.

Faber says, "the skeleton needs melting and reshaping." Who's skeleton needs changing?

A) the culture

B) the firemen

C) God

D) the rebels

Please use this passage to answer the following questions:

Lights flicked on and house doors opened all down the street, to watch the carnival set up. Montag and Beatty stared, one with dry satisfaction, the other with disbelief, at the house before them, this main ring in which torches would be juggled and fire eaten.

"Well," said Beatty, "now you did it. Old Montag wanted to fly near the sun and how that he's burnt his damn wings, he wonders why. Didn't I hint enough when I sent the Hound around your place?"

Montag's face was entirely numb and featureless; he felt his head turn like a stone carving to the dark place next door, set in its bright border of flowers.

9.

The "carnival" metaphor sets the tone for the house burning. What feeling does that description NOT give the reader?

A) that neighbors see a burning as a show

B) that house burnings are entertaining

C) that something sad is about to happen

D) that jugglers will be there soon

10.

Of what literary device is "he felt his head turn like a stone carving" an example?

A) Parallel Structure

B) Onommtopiea

C) Metaphor

D) Simile

11.

An allusion is a reference IN one story TO another story. When Beatty says Montag "wanted to fly near the sun," to whom is he alluding?

A) Cassius

B) Shakespeare

C) Bradbury

D) Icarus

12.

A dynamic character is one that has changed over the course of the story. Who is the dynamic character in Fahrenheit 451?

A) Montag

B) Faber

C) Clarisse

D) Beatty