Theme for pages 71-80 in Fahrenheit 451

One theme we can take from this part of the chapter “The Sieve and the Sand” is that part of what it means to be human is our ability and our willingness to learn from our mistakes. In his desperation to understand what is wrong with their society, Montag is willing to read the books he’s stolen. He wants to understand why they burn books and why there are nuclear wars and murders and suicide attempts and so much hate in the world. He wants to know why people feel so close to the “family” on their T.V. walls but are unable to communicate with their actual families. He tells Millie, “‘Do you know why? I don’t, that’s sure. Maybe the books can get us half out of the cave. They just might stop us from making the same damn insane mistakes’” (p. 74). Montag inherently understands that we can learn from our history.
Mildred, however, stubbornly chooses ignorance. She fears they will lose everything because of the books, and she refuses to listen to him. While her husband tries frantically to memorize some of the Bible before he has to return it to Captain Beatty, Mildred just wants him out so she can watch “The White Clown.” Montag sadly realizes that trying to memorize the verses is like the cruel joke of attempting to fill a sieve with sand. He seems to be the one grain of sand trying to save all of humanity from their own ignorance. No one is willing to break free from their shallow, noisy, meaningless lives long enough to consider their own mistakes, let alone risk reading a book that could teach them what it means to be human.