We meet Montag on the night his carefully constructed life begins to unravel. He's a fireman who burns books for a living, and he loves his work until he encounters Clarisse McClellan, a seventeen-year-old girl who asks him a simple, devastating question: "Are you happy?"

In this episode, we'll analyze Bradbury's stunning opening ("It was a pleasure to burn"), examine Montag's encounters with Clarisse and what she represents, explore the chilling creation of the Mechanical Hound, and witness the old woman who chooses to burn with her books rather than live without them. We'll also meet Mildred, Montag's wife, and see the emptiness of their marriage, a relationship destroyed by addiction to the "parlor walls" and an overdose that no one remembers.

We'll conclude with Captain Beatty's seductive sermon on why books were banned not by government force, but by popular demand. His argument is sophisticated and dangerous, revealing why censorship often comes wrapped in the language of protection and compassion.