Fahrenheit 451 characters

Appears from the start

A fireman in a future American society where firemen do not put out fires but start them, burning books and the homes of people who hoard them. For years he has done this work without doubt and even with pleasure. His settled life begins to crack when he meets an inquisitive young neighbor and witnesses a woman choose to die with her books, and he starts secretly taking and hiding books rather than burning them, driven by a growing need to understand what he has been destroying.

Appears from the start

A seventeen-year-old girl who lives near Montag and walks with him on his way home. Unlike almost everyone in her fast, distracted society, she enjoys nature, conversation, and asking questions, and she is regarded by others as odd or antisocial. Her frank curiosity, and her question about whether Montag is truly happy, unsettle him and set him thinking about his life.

Also known as Millie

Appears from the start

Montag's wife, who fills her days with interactive television broadcast on wall-sized screens and with a small earpiece radio that plays constantly. Emotionally distant and uninterested in her husband's growing unrest, she is devoted to the shallow entertainments her world provides and frightened by anything that threatens them.

Appears from the start

The captain of Montag's fire station, a commanding and articulate man who is, unexpectedly, widely read. He defends the burning of books and the society that demands it, arguing that suppressing them keeps people happy and untroubled. Watchful and shrewd, he senses Montag's wavering and presses him to fall back into line.

Appears from the start

A robotic hunting machine kept at the fire station, resembling an eight-legged dog and armed with a needle that injects a deadly dose of sedative. It tracks targets by scent and is used to hunt down those the firemen pursue. It reacts to Montag with unusual hostility, adding to his unease.

First appears in chapter 2

A retired English professor whom Montag seeks out after remembering an earlier meeting. Timid and ashamed of having stayed silent while books were destroyed, he reluctantly becomes Montag's secret guide, explaining the value of what books contain. He gives Montag a tiny two-way earpiece so he can advise and encourage him from a distance.

First appears in chapter 2

One of Mildred's friends, who comes to the Montag home to watch the television walls. When Montag reads a poem aloud to the visiting women, she is unexpectedly moved to tears, exposing feelings her society trains people to suppress.

First appears in chapter 2

One of Mildred's friends and a guest at the Montag home. Blunt and irritable about her marriages and children, she reacts to Montag's reading of a poem with anger rather than sorrow and leaves in a temper.

First appears in chapter 3

The leader of a group of exiles living in the countryside beyond the city, educated men who have fled a society that outlaws books. Each of them has memorized a book or part of one so that its contents survive in living memory until the world is ready for them again. Calm and hopeful, he welcomes Montag and explains their purpose.