Part 1 Summary
- The novel starts with a scene where Montag and the other firemen are fuelling a fire
“With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this great python spitting its 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” p1
In this quotation the firehoses that spurt kerosene are being compared to great snakes – generating a direct comparison between the destructive work of the firemen and the mythological evil of serpents
- Montag discovers his wife Mildred in bed having taken an overdose. He calls in the operators to pump her stomach and give her a blood transfusion using arcane specialised equipment. They are, apparently, having a busy night.
“Got to clean them out both ways” p19
Here, the ‘operator’ whose job it was to operate the machines that pump the stomaches of people who have attempted suicide by over-dose was shown to have an attitude more like an over-worked plumber.
He was described as smoking and eager to get on to his next job.
