Reading Assignment #2 – Group A

       The trees overhead made a great sound of letting down their dry rain. The girl stopped and looked as if she might pull back in surprise, but instead stood regarding Montag with eyes so dark and shining and alive, that he felt he had said something quite wonderful. But he knew his mouth had only moved to say hello, and then when she seemed hypnotized by the salamander on his arm and the phoenix-disc on his chest, he spoke again.

Question 1 – Why does Montag feel like he has just said something wonderful?
Question 2 – What does ‘hypnotized’ mean?
Question 3 – What is a phoenix and what does it represent?
Question 4 – Why do you think Montag has a tattoo of a salamander?

       “Of course,” he said, “you’re our new neighbor, aren’t you?”
       “And you must be—” she raised her eyes from his professional symbols “—the fireman.” Her voice trailed off.

Question 5 – What does “trailed off” mean?
Question 6 – What do you think the girl thinks of fireman?

       “How oddly you say that.”
       “I’d—I’d have known it with my eyes shut,” she said, slowly.
       “What—the smell of kerosene? My wife always complains,” he laughed. “You never wash it off completely.”

Question 7 – What does ‘oddly’ mean?
Question 8 – Why does Montag find her response odd?
Question 9 – What does ‘kerosene’ mean?
Question 10 – How would the girl know that Montag is a fireman without needing to look at him?

       “No, you don’t,” she said, in awe.
       He felt she was walking in a circle about him, turning him end for end, shaking him quietly, and emptying his pockets, without once moving herself (Montag sintió que ella andaba en círculo a su alrededor, le examinaba de extremo a extremo, sacudiéndolo silenciosamente y vaciándole los bolsillos, aunque, en realidad, no se moviera en absoluto.).
       “Kerosene,” he said, because the silence had lengthened, “is nothing but perfume to me.”
       “Does it seem like that, really?”
       “Of course. Why not?”

Question 11 – What does ‘awe’ mean?
Question 12 – Why is the girl in awe?
Question 13 – What does the paragraph, “He felt…”, mean?
Question 14 – Why does Montag say that kerosene smells like perfume to him?
Question 15 – Draw a picture of the last scene.