This section of the novel comes at the beginning, as we
see Montag and his colleagues go off to a house, following a tip from a neighbour, and
burst in to find a secret stash of books and magazines. However, what is crucially
different with this episode is that the police have not already been round and taken
away the person responsiible. Montag explains that normally when they arrive, the house
is empty and all they have to do is burn it down. This time, however, they have to
contend with the old lady herself and her reactions at having such an unwelcome
intrusion. Note what Montag says:
How inconvenient! Always before it had been like
snuffing a candle. The police went in first and adhesive-taped the victim's mouth and
bandaged him off into their glittering cars, so when you arrived you found an empty
house. You weren't hurting anyone, you were hurting only
things!
Thus
it is inconvenient for Montag to face a human response to his job, and to cope with his
guilt and sadness at what he does by having to do it in front of another human being,
like himself.
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