R is for Reading In the story, reading books is against the law. If anyone is caught reading, or is caught with a book in their home, their house is to be burned down. A few firemen and other people read a anyway.
T is for Television Because books are illegal and burned, people have turned to tv for entertainment and it is dumbing down society. Mildred often refers to the people on tv as her family.
Z is for Zero Thinking People in the story do no thinking at all. They just watch tv and no one makes any decisions for themselves, and nobody questions anything they are told.