Beatty's Use Of Pathos In Fahrenheit 451

And then he was a shrieking blaze, a jumping, sprawling, gibbering mannikin, no longer human or known, all writhing flame on the lawn as Montag shot one continuous pulse of liquid fire on him. There was a hiss like a great mouthful of spittle banging a redhot stove, a bubbling and frothing as if salt had been poured over a monstrous black snail to cause a terrible liquefaction and a boiling over of yellow foam. Montag shut his eyes, shouted, shouted, and fought to get his hands at his ears to clamp and to cut away the sound. Beatty flopped over and over and over, and at last twisted in on himself like a charred wax doll and lay silent’(Bradbury 113). Montag's hands pull the trigger to kill Beatty, because he was being cruel and attacking his friends and his passion, books, which also represented

Beatty is the fire chief and everyone is feared by him. Beatty tries to stop Montag on going down the road of believing books are not a bad thing, he himself has gone down that road and does not believe it is one worth traveling. Shortly after Montag kills Beatty he realizes that he wanted to die, all this time he wanted to be a character of his own book and after he died he finally was. Beatty had wished he could forget his past life and be happy like everyone else. Captain Beatty did not feel that books provided him with enough information about life he felt as if all the pages in the book were blank. He believes that books only lead to confusion and thought, which should be avoided at all

Beatty argued that, “Give a man a few easy lines of verse and he thinks he’s the lord of all creation. You think you can walk on water with your books” (Bradbury 111). In this line you can tell that Beatty is getting angry and intimidated that one of his own fireman had turned on him by reading the books without anyone knowing and that Montag would have the courage to do behind his back. Beatty thinks that he is losing power by saying that Montag can't “walk on water with your books” and that he is getting defeated because Montag didn't follow the law or what he had told him to do earlier in the

Towards the end of the passage, Montag threatens Beatty with a fire hose, prompting a lengthy dialogue from Beatty. Beatty responds to Montag’s threats with an allusion to Shakespeare, saying, “‘There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats, for I am arm’d so strong in honesty that they pass by me as an idle wind, which I respect not!’ How’s that?” Beatty’s ease and familiarity with Shakespeare confirm that Beatty has definitely read books, and that he is an intelligent man has some notion of what books have held deep within their pages. In this way, Beatty is similar to Montag, he is another book burner that is knowledgeable about literature. What separates the two is that Beatty is simply unable to diverge from societal norms, and his stubbornness takes over and refuses to admit the worth of books. This differs greatly from Montag, who is finally starting to rebel against society. In this same scene, Beatty also taunts Montag when the fire hose is pointed at him, urging Montag to, “Go ahead now, you second-hand litterateur, pull the trigger.” While this may have just been Beatty egging Montag on, later on Beatty’s lack of resistance seems to suggest that Beatty really didn’t care whether or not he died. Moments before his death, Beatty simply says, “‘Hand it over, Guy,” and then proceeds to smile as he knows he is about to be burnt. Through dialogue, Bradbury is able to reveal information about Beatty’s background and knowledge of books, as well as his

For example on pages 102-104, Beatty uses many quotes to confuse Montag. Beatty quotes Samuel Johnson saying, “He is no wise man that will quit a certainty for an uncertainty” (Page 103). He doesn’t want Montag to question the Firemen, and or do anything rash. Beatty also quotes Shakespeare when he sees that Montag will kill him. On Page 113 he says, “There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats, for I am arm’d so strong in honesty that the pass by me as an idle wind,which I respect not!”. This quote is from Julius Caesar, in which Brutus is speaking to Cassius about threats. Beatty is so secure in his belief that the government should restrict books, that he would not be afraid to die for it. Montag sees this, and kills Beatty. The allusions to Shakespeare in the novel are important because many regard Shakespeare to be the greatest writer of all time, and it is fitting that their government would want to burn his

This meme is towards the people of the society, from the government. Living, breathing, sentient people treat each other as non living things, machines. Peoples thoughts, actions are being restrained and controlled.There were times in the book where they were saying how they control machines, like the Hound. After the Hound attempted to attack Montag multiple times, Montag shared his problem with Beatty and he said,: “It doesn't think what we don't want it to think.” (25) The machine can only do what the fireman tell, or program it to do. This quote explains how the fireman, government have a full control over the whole society, without them knowing it.A non living thing, the hound was defined as something that slept and lived, as if it was

Of all literary works regarding dystopian societies, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is perhaps one of the most bluntly shocking, insightful, and relatable of them. Set in a United States of the future, this novel contains a government that has banned books and a society that constantly watches television. However, Guy Montag, a fireman (one who burns books as opposed to actually putting out fires) discovers books and a spark of desire for knowledge is ignited within him. Unfortunately his boss, the belligerent Captain Beatty, catches on to his newfound thirst for literature. A man of great duplicity, Beatty sets up Montag to ultimately have his home destroyed and to be expulsed from the city. On the other hand, Beatty is a much rounder

Beatty uses his knowledge to attack Montag after the fireman has made the decision to join the radicals and to oppose the burning of books. Montag returns to the fire station in order to surrender a book, creating the illusion of conforming to Beatty’s expectations. Before Montag has an opportunity to speak Beatty begins to confound him with contradictory statements from

Beatty disliked books. In the book Beatty says”Well, Montag, take my word for it, I’ve read a few in my time, to know what I was about, and books say nothing!” This proves he thinks they are worthless and meaningless. Beatty also says in the book,"What traitors books can be! You think they’re backing you up, and then they turn on you. Others can use them, too, and there you are, lost in the middle of the moor, in a great welter of nouns and verbs and adjectives."

In Montag 's case, he understands that he is unhappy with the way he is living, and he begins to rethink his ways of destruction. In like manner, a literary criticist, Rafeeq McGiveron, gives a good analysis of the character of Montag when he says that Montag has a “blithely clear and pathetically blank conscience” towards burning books until he relives his childhood through walks with Clarisse (p.6). Clearly, Clarisse tugged and Montag 's heart and helped him understand the heartlessness of burning books. Most definitely, it was Montag 's hand and not his brain or mind that was the true monster. In another example, the reader sees Montag 's private life during a conversation between he and Mildred, his wife, when she says, “when can we have a fourth wall television put in? It 's only two thousand dollars” and Montag responds by saying that two thousand dollars is one-third of his yearly pay (Bradbury 33). The example presented adds more depth to the grim life of the main character because Montag is married to a woman that is selfish and has no interest for any part of Montag 's life. Similarly, because Montag is faced with unhappiness in both his professional and private life, he is quick to accept the words of Clarisse that there is a better and brighter life possible for him. Overall, Bradbury successfully acomplishes a sense of sympathy for Guy Montag by revealing the

He knows she called about his books. Captain Beatty then tells Montag again to burn all of his books, but instead he burns all of Mildred’s things. He loves the desire of burning and destroying all of her things. Captain Beatty tells Montag that he is to be arrested afterwards. All of the firemen watch as Montag’s house burns. Captain Beatty and Montag start to argue about books and their importance again. They start a physical fight. The fight escalates to Montag pointing a flame thrower at Captain Beatty. Captain Beatty goes on to taunt Montag, so Montag decides to burn Captain Beatty

Before Captain Beatty was killed, he was taunting Montag while Montag was holding a flamethrower, but did not have anything to defend himself with. Beatty knew Montag would kill him if he kept taunting Montag, so he kept on until it finally happened. Throughout the novel, Beatty seemed to be the bad guy who represented the evil side of society, but this reveals otherwise. Montag was doing what Beatty could not by defying society’s law against books. When Montag burned his own house down, that seemed to put Captain Beatty over the edge and accept the fact that Beatty was a coward who executed actions that he did not agree with. An additional important character in the novel is Professor Faber. Faber serves as a mentor to Montag in the book. He does not agree with the established rules of society, yet never personally takes action throughout the book. He describes this lifestyle in a conversation with Montag: “I’m one of the innocents who could have spoken up and out when no one would listen to the ‘guilty,’ but I did not speak and thus became guilty myself” (Bradbury 78). Faber looks back with regret on his earlier life when the ban on books began. He did not want to take action due to the fear that persecution would fall upon himself. Those experiences are what make Faber a good mentor to Montag; Faber has learned from them and is glad that Montag is not scared to do what Faber could not.

He also meets Clarisse right before that, which introduces him to the fact that he is not happy and points out how flawed his society is. This causes him to have a sort of identity crisis which brings in the man vs self conflict. Another man vs society problem that goes with the main conflict occurs at the same time. During the book, especially after meeting Clarisse, Montag develops a pronounced hatred of technology. This is shown in Montag’s metaphors applying to technology throughout the book. Most commonly, he refers to technology as undesirable animals/objects. For example, when Mildred is getting her stomach pumped by “the black cobra”(12) and Montag refers to Faber’s two-way radio as a “green bullet”(112) and a “gnat tickling his ear"(88). Also when he burns his house, he makes it a priority to burn his wife’s three TV-walls. Finally, there is a man vs man conflict between Montag and Beatty. Once Montag is “sick” after the burning of the old woman’s house and Montag’s stealing of the Bible from her house, this reveals later Montag’s secret stash of books. But Montag plainly gives away to Beatty that he took a book

Montag is a conformist in the totalitarian society in which he lives.  He, in the beginning of the story, loves his job.  However, he is manipulated repeatedly by his nemesis, Captain Beatty.  Captain Beatty is a manipulator who is expert in being able to aggravate Montag into a verbal duel that is basically one-sided. Montag and Captain Beatty seem to have a relationship where the boss is always trying to pin an untruth onto one of his employees.  Montag becomes discontented at work.  He becomes complacent by going through the motions by not really concentrating on the job at hand.

“Way to draw an audience Montag. What will you do now?” Beatty taunted. “Recite some more poetry? You’re only going to get yourself killed.”