Captain Beatty's The Brothers Karamazov

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

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

Captain Beatty wants to use fire to cleanse the world of knowledge, a thing that he believes is evil. He wants to use fire to erase people's memories and problems. He believes that fire can destroy anything and make problems disappear. When he explains that cremation is important to make people forget the dead, he says that they should "Forget them. Burn all, burn everything. Fire is bright and fire is clean”. He thinks that the only way to have a peacefully and happy society is to make people forget the past and ignore or forget anything that they do not like. This reflects back to the society after WWII and the motives of the Nazis – removing thoughts and the past will result in peace and happiness.

Viktor E. Frankl, an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who also had survived the Holocaust, writes “When we are no longer able to change a situation – we are challenged to change ourselves” (BrainyQuote). Frankl survived genocide against his own people and still chose to have a positive outlook on it because he understands that if he did not, he would continually live an unhappy, upset life. Like Frankl, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, the main character in One Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, contains a similar outlook to that of Frankl. The novel takes place during Soviet Russia in a gulag in Siberia, or otherwise known as a labor work camp. The whole book is about only one day that Shukhov lives; from 5 in the morning to 10 at night and all that happens in between. In this labor camp, not only are the weather conditions very cold, making it difficult to work in such circumstances, but also the workers are punished and harshly treated if they do not obey the guards. When placed in this environment, it is easy to be discouraged and miserable, but instead of facing the negatives of his situation, Shukhov remains affirmative in his thoughts – which are most important in order to survive not only physically, but also mentally. This stoicism portrayed in the narrative can also be found in Epictetus’s work, The Handbook. In this text, Epictetus discusses how he believes people can live a happy life, despite the hard conditions they are put through

"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." (2.386) Unlike Charles Blow view on books, Captain Beatty’s passion for books are very different. Charles Blow is from a poor family, but loves to read. Captain Beatty is a fire captain and would love to burn all books no matter the genre. Books, to Charles, were his life. He evolved his education around reading books. While some differences between Charles Blow and Captain Beatty are evident, the similarities are salient.

In Fahrenheit 451 written by Ray Bradbury, books are banned from society. The job of a fireman is to burn books and the ideas they contain. Captain Beatty is the head fireman, and leads firemen such as Guy Montag. When Beatty realizes that Montag is harboring books, he arrives at Montag’s house and tells Montag to burn down his house. Montag does so, but then kills Beatty with a flamethrower. Montag then believes that Beatty wanted to die. Like Montag, I also believe that Beatty wanted to die because he didn’t defend himself and felt guilty for seeing people get arrested for owning books when he knew he owned them too.

The character I have chosen is beatty from Fahrenheit 451. These two characters are like complete opposite people. Blow loves books and as the text states he thinks they are, “ powerful and transformational.” Beatty however hated books and was a fireman who burned books and houses that had books because they thought they were bad for us. This is why they are two completely different people when it comes to their view on books. They only have 1 similarity that I can think of.

Finally, throughout the novel Bradbury presents a conflict between ignorance and understanding. The general society is being numbed into believing that knowledge makes people disagree with each other and unhappy. To prevent people from reading and gaining knowledge, the firemen burn all books. By committing these actions, they are promoting sameness and ignorance, to supposedly maintain happiness among society. Captain Beatty explains the history of firemen to Montag, speaking of their society’s view of equality. “We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the constitution says, but everyone made equal . . . A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it. Take the shot from the weapon. Breach man’s mind.” (Bradbury, page 58) Captain Beatty is hinting that books encourage people to question authority and think about why things are done the way they are

Firemen have twenty-four hours to read then destroy any books that they take, which might be the reason Beatty hasn't been punished. Beatty sees books as being too problematic and causing more troubles than their worth. He probably believes that reading is a much more difficult solution to a broken society than simply burning the books and censorship. Beatty sees his solution as better and therefore views books with contempt even though he's read

Beatty's voice had an impact on Fahrenheit 451, which convinces their society that life with our books is a better way of life. Even though Beatty had lived with the life of books and gave him his creativity, he continues to believe life is better without them. "Captain Beatty, the fire chief, sees burning books as a way to make everyone equal" (Lenhoff, 2). This evidence proves that as the captain of the firefighters, Beatty has an impact on the rest of the firemen which has them agreeing on the fact that life without books will make everyone equal by not knowing the knowledge in them. Since having books became to be such a negative influence in their society, firemen became responsible for burning them. "Pursuit of happiness displaced liberty,

Captain Beatty arrives to speak with Montag, somehow knowing that he feels ill and would be taking the evening off. Before he leaves, Beatty makes mention of the fact that firemen are occasionally overcome by curiosity about the books that they burn and may steal one to satiate that curiosity. Even though when this happens, they are given a 24-hour respite to come to their senses and burn the book. If they do not follow this rule, then their coworkers

In Fahrenheit 451, instead of putting out fires,the firemen start the fires to destroy books. The reason they destroy the books is to keep the people from reading them, to keep the people from learning what the books have to say. People who disobey the law end up being punished, but some just want to sacrifice everything they have for the knowledge of what the books gave them. One woman was caught with books in her home and was set on fire because she refused to leave, she wanted to stay with the books because she loved them that much that she was willing to give up her life. Even with a woman being set on fire with her books, the firemen still had to do their job and burn them, even if it means murder.

“Nothing has ever been more insupportable for a man and a human society than freedom.” –The Grand Inquisitor” “Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.” - Father Zosima. These two quotes voice the polarized philosophies that impregnate the book, The Brothers Karamazov. Ivan, the second of the three sons, and Zosima, the old monk, are huge commentators on the question, “Is the burden of free will to much for a human to bear?”

Montag finally decides that he has to change his ways. Beatty explains how their society functions and why, “you must understand that our civilization is so vast that we can't have our minorities upset and stirred. Ask yourself, what do we want in this country, all above.” (63). Beatty is telling montag that their society is so huge that if people start to read book they will start to ask questions and everything they’ve learned from a young age will be changed. This gets Montag thinking are book that dangerous that they could affect your whole mindset. Montag has been a fireman for ten years, and with him witnessing a death and having this conversation with Beatty it has made him certain that burning books is not right. In the novel Montag gets caught with book in his house, Beatty is telling him that nothing can happen to him “for everyone nowadays knows, absolutely is certain, that nothing will ever happen to me. Others die, I go on. There are no consequences and no responsibility. Except that there are. But let's not talk about them, eh? By the time the consequences catch up with you, it's too late, isn't it, Montag? When Beatty is explaining this to Montag he’s saying that having this job there are no responsibilities, or consequences, nothing can happen to a firemen. Montag has already read the books, he knows that he can't keep burning book, and Beatty is just convincing him

Beatty’s law-abiding characteristics are displayed when he suspects that Montag has a book in his possession. In Part One Bradbury says ‘“We don’t get overanxious or mad. We let the fireman keep the book twenty-four hours. If he hasn’t burned it by then, we simply come burn it for him’”(59). The Captain does not let Montag of the hook, he just reminds him of what will happen if the right thing is not done. Beatty also shows his law-abiding characteristics when he does not dismiss the second call reporting that Montag has books. In Part Two it says, ‘“ Why,’ said Montag slowly, ‘we’ve stopped in front of my house’”(Bradbury 106). Beatty knows this mission is for Montag’s home. He is still following his duties and is not bending the rules for anybody, not even a fellow fireman. Overall, Beatty enjoys reciting literature pieces, he does not show sympathy in his words or in his actions, and he is staying true to the law no matter