After they watch the authorities falsify Montag's capture, Granger says to Montag, "Welcome back from the dead." He then introduces Montag to some of the professors in their group and asks what Montag can offer. Montag replies that he remembers some of the Book of Ecclesiastes and Granger says Montag should not worry if he has forgotten much of it. Granger says they have ways of getting a person to recall things. This is his way of saying that they know how to retrieve anything the brain has been exposed to.
All of us have photographic memories, but spend a lifetime learning how to block off the things that are really in there. Simmons here has worked on it for twenty years and now we've got the method down to where we can recall anything that's been read once.
Granger introduces Montag to other famous people and authors. These are people who have memorized famous authors and texts. Montag is overwhelmed and somewhat torn between his old life and this new one, but he knows he is in the right place.
Granger and Montag watch the war and see the city reduced to ashes in the distance. Granger uses this as an opportunity to tell the story of the mythical Phoenix, the bird that rises from its own ashes. The group continues on its way with Montag thinking of this idea of a society reborn of its ashes. The novel ends with Montag considering ideas about knowledge, memory, and rejuvenation:
A time to break down, and a time to build up. Yes. A time to keep silence and a time to speak.
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