Find a passage that appeals to you and explain why it is significant. A passage may be significant for any number of reasons:

• Make a connection
• Text to text
• Text to self
• Text to world
• Shows character development: STEAL
• Shows conflict
• Shows imagery or other stylistic device
• Develops the plot
• Foreshadows events that might be significant later

For example:

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“He was not happy. He was not happy. He said the words to himself. He recognized this as the true state of affairs. He wore his happiness like a mask and the girl had run off across the lawn with the mask and there was no way of going to knock on her door and ask for it back.”

This passage is significant for several reasons.

• First, it shows characterization of Montag. From this passage, the reader knows that Montag puts up a front to appear a certain way to society, but there is a different Montag beneath the surface.
• The second reason why this passage is significant is because of the stylistic device of metaphor used to compare the way he appears to society, with a mask, to the way he really feels inside. Clarisse has stolen his mask, which really means, she has revealed that he is not who he pretends to be.
• Finally, a third reason why this passage may be significant is because it shows a development of the internal conflict starting in Montag. Montag used to go on every day just living his life like a normal guy, not questioning anything. Here, Clarisse has asked him if he is happy and he realizes he’s not happy. He also realizes someone else knows he’s not happy.