Guy Montag lives in the future. In his world, books are avoided like the plague. Censorship is at an all time high. Television rules, and books are obsolete. Any form of creative thinking is illegal. It's considered strange to go a walk. Firemen cease to exist, because all houses are fireproof. Instead of putting out fires, firemen start them in order to burn books. Fire hoses are filled with kerosene. All books must be burned. Montag is brainwashed into this form of thinking simply because of the world that surrounds him. He mentions in the first sentence of the novel that it's a "pleasure to burn." Near the beginning of the novel, Montag meets a young teenage girl named Clarisse. From today's standards, Clarisse would be considered normal, but in the future where this story takes place, she's crazy. She even admits to it. Clarisse does strange (and illegal) things, like taking walks, enjoying fresh air, and thinking creatively. She asks Montag if he's happy. Montag laughs, then returns home and realizes that he's not happy at all.
Montag's wife, Mildred, is a stereotypical member of society. She watches TV all day long, and listens to the voices in her head (said voices are actually seashells that are lodged in her ear at all times.). Mildred attempts suicide, but government workers remove her blood, and replace it with new blood. Mildred forgets everything.
Back at the Firehouse, Montag encounters The Hound. The Hound is a mechanical dog, and it is very mysterious. When Montag approaches The Hound, it reacts violently. Montag talks to Captain Beatty about it, asking why it would react like that. Montag mentions that this is the third time it's happened to him. Montag asks if The Hound was programmed to act like that towards him. Beatty says that no one would do that to him.
That same day, the alarm goes off. Time to go burn books. An old woman hid books in her attic. She's incredibly passionate. When Montag tries to persuade her to leave, she lights a match herself and goes up in flames along with her books. Right before this happened, Montag snuck a book under his jacket without even thinking about it.
Once Montag gets home, he hides the book under his pillow. He asks Mildred where Clarisse has been; he hasn't seen her in four days. Mildred calmly replies that the family moved away, and that she thinks that Clarisse was hit by a car and killed. Later, Montag reveals the book to his wife. In fact, it's been a whole year, and Montag reveals about 20 books that he's hidden. Mildred freaks out and tries to burn them, but Montag convinces her that they should read them.
END OF CHAPTER 1
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