Faber is a devotee of the ideas contained in books. He is also concerned with the common good of man. Montag immediately senses Faber's enthusiasm and readily admits his feelings of unhappiness and emptiness. He confesses that his life is missing the values of books and the truths that they teach. Montag then asks Faber to teach him to understand what he reads. At first, Faber views this new teaching assignment as a useless, as well as dangerous, undertaking. His attitude, however, does not deter Faber from launching into such a challenging and exciting task.
Nevertheless, Faber is skeptical and pessimistic of whether books can help their society. As if responding to Faber's pessimism, Montag presents Faber with an insidious plan that entails hiding books in the homes of firemen so even they will become suspect. Ultimately, through supposed treason, the firehouses themselves will burn. Faber acknowledges the cleverness of the plan, but cynically, he urges Montag to return home and give up his newly acquired rebelliousness.
Faber's demonstration of cowardice and political nihilism incites Montag to begin ripping pages out of the Bible. Shocked by the destruction of this rare, precious book and stirred by Montag's rebellious convictions, Faber agrees to help him.
