How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Part.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"I'm afraid of children my own age. They kill each other. Did it always used to be that way? My uncle says no. Six of my friends have been shot in the last year alone. Ten of them died in car wrecks. I'm afraid of them and they don't like me because I'm afraid. My uncle says his grandfather remembered when children didn't kill each other. But that was a long time ago when they had things different." (1.270)
That violence is so prevalent in this world reveals a flaw in the system. People must be fundamentally unhappy.
Quote #2
"‘Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.’" (1.325)
Here is our first hint that, in this novel, fire is more than just destructive. But Montag won’t realize this until he encounters the "warming" fire at the end of the novel.
Quote #3
A bomber flight had been moving east all the time they talked, and only now did the two men stop and listen, feeling the great jet sound tremble inside themselves.
"Patience, Montag. Let the war turn off the ‘families.’ Our civilization is flinging itself to pieces. Stand back from the centrifuge."
"There has to be someone ready when it blows up."
"What? Men quoting Milton? Saying, I remember Sophocles? Reminding the survivors that man has his good side, too? They will only gather up their stones to hurl at each other. Montag, go home. Go to bed." (2.178-81)
Faber scoffs at Montag’s idealism, but really, the man has a point. It is books and knowledge that will help the world re-build "when it blows up." In fact, this is what happens at the end of the novel. Right?