Black

Black is a fireman in the dystopian firehouse of Fahrenheit 451, a silent enforcer who participates in the burning of books and the old woman's house, and who is later knocked unconscious by Montag during his escape.

Identity and Role

Black is one of the firemen who works alongside Guy Montag and Captain Beatty. He is a member of the crew that responds to alarms, burns books, and enforces the state's prohibition on reading. Along with Stoneman, he is part of the team that carries out the physical labor of the firehouse's work. When the alarm sounds for the old woman's house, Black runs up the sidewalk with Beatty and Stoneman, and later helps hurl shovelfuls of magazines into the dusty air. He is present during the burning of the old woman's house, and afterward, he sits in silence on the way back to the firehouse, not even smoking his pipe.

Actions and Complicity

Black is a direct participant in the destruction of books and the persecution of those who possess them. At the old woman's house, he is part of the crew that crashes through the front door and grabs at the woman. He helps toss books down from the attic, and he is present when the woman strikes the match that sets herself and her house ablaze. He does not protest or attempt to save her. Later, when Montag's own house is targeted for burning, Black is among the firemen who wield axes to shatter window-panes for cross-ventilation, preparing the house for destruction. He is a willing instrument of the system.

Confrontation and Defeat

Black's role as an enforcer ends when Montag, after killing Captain Beatty, turns the flamethrower on him and Stoneman. Montag orders them to turn around, and when they do, he beats their heads, knocking off their helmets and bringing them down to the ground. They fall and lie without moving. Black is rendered unconscious, and Montag escapes. Black does not reappear in the narrative after this point, his fate left uncertain as the city is bombed and Montag joins the wanderers by the river.