Guy Montag is a man whose Job is to burn books as a “fireman”, as they are illegal. He enjoys his Job, and believes he finds satisfaction in life. Then, however, he meets McLellan, his energetic and eccentric new neighbor. Her bright demeanor makes him wonder as to whether he was happy. He returns home to his wife overdosed on sleeping pills. She survives, but without any recollection of her attempt. Montag meets with McLellan again, and he begins to look forward to these meetings. When she isn’t there one day, he perceives that something bad had happened. During a regular book-burning, an old women commits suicide by diving into the flaming books; her actions puzzle Montag. He steals some books from her collection, and hides them under the pillow when he gets home. …show more content…
Guy feels hurt that she withheld that information from him. The next morning Montag stays home sick. He tells his wife about the old woman, and how he was considering quitting. She was furious at this, justifying her fervor by saying it was the woman’s fault for owning books. Captain Beatty, Montag’s superior, came to check up on him. She also told him that they somehow knew about the books, but that having curiosity about exactly what it is so much of your life as a fireman revolved around is natural, and so he was allowed to read the books for 24 hours so that he might have a deeper understanding of his job. Once he returns inside, he breaks down and admits to his wife that he had been accumulating massive quantities of the books and hiding them in their houses air-conditioning ducts. Although she is infuriated, Guy manages to coerce her to read books with him for the next 24 hours, and promised that if she still didn’t see any value in them by then, then they would burn all of