Fahrenheit 451 Captain Beatty Character Analysis

Montag's desire to acquire knowledge through books is dealt with by the rulers is that Montag’s boss, Beatty, says it was normal for a fireman to go through these phases of fascination of what books have to offer. Beatty tells Montag,” 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.” But, Beatty is missing the point on how valuable books can be. So Beatty tells Montag to read through all of the books Montag has stashed to see if the books contain anything worthwhile, then the next day turn them in to be burned.

Captain Beatty and Montag are different because, Captain Beatty is the antagonist, and Guy Montag is the protagonist. Beatty uses his knowledge about books in a negative way when Montag uses it for good things. Much like Montag, Beatty craves the wisdom found in books but despises himself for it because he is angry it does not give him the information he is looking for. Montag wants to change the way his life is just like Beatty but Montag has the courage to

The consequence of this behavior could send Montag to prison, which Montag does not care about. After reading several books Montag talks with his close friend, Faber, and says to him "We have everything to be happy, but we're not happy" .What Montag tells Faber at that moment is really an expression of how he started analyzing more after starting reading books. Although Montag's love life changes and his view of society are changed too, this is not the only change Montag must admit. In the start of the book Montag is delighted in the work of burning illegal books and the homes of where they are found. However, as the book progresses, Montag becomes increasingly disgruntled, as he realizes that he has an empty, unfulfilling life. A point that shows that Montag in the start of the book is happy about his job is when he hangs up his helmet and shines it; hangs up his jacket neatly; showers luxuriously, and then, whistling walks across the upper floor.

The author uses imagery to develop the characters Montag and Beatty. At first Montag was able to do his job (burning books) without giving a second thought. Throughout the story Montag grows an appreciation for books. This dramatic change is shown in the first paragraph of the passage as Montag’s burning of books is described. The

Although Beatty’s cruel, insidious personality makes him the quintessence of a villain, his hypocritical words and actions make him much more perplexing. Throughout the novel, Beatty proves to be a well-read person, although he adamantly opposes books. For example, when the old woman stays inside of her burning house just to be with her books, she shouts out “Play the man, Master Ridley!” (40), originally said by a man condemned to being burned at the stake for heresy in 1555. Beatty understood this quote to the extent that he knew who originally said it and even the date it was said, although he simply explained “I’m full of bits and pieces . . . most firemen have to be” (40). Later in the novel, Beatty uses his knowledge of literature to confuse Montag in attempts to dissuade him from books. Beatty perverts the original texts and quotes several literary works and authors to confuse Montag and at one point arrogantly states that he is “using the very books you clung to, to rebut you on every hand, on every point! You think they’re backing you up, and

Beatty supports this by saying since he has read some himself, he can affirm that they are worthless and contradictory. Through this experience, Montag has a new understanding of his profession. Although he is still skeptical, he knows more than he did before, and most importantly, Beatty has started to get Montag’s mind thinking. An important quote from this conversation is, “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.” This is when Beatty is ‘confiding’ in Montag, making him finally piece together what he has been doing all of these years as a fireman. He finally can begin to comprehend the society he is in, and what measures the government has taken to subdue the population. Later on in the book, Beatty and Montag face each other once more. After Montag is brought to his own house and told to burn it down, and facing no escape due to the hound, he burns it down. After burning down his own home, Beatty tells him he is under arrest, and begins to provoke him. As Beatty clearly intended, Montag kills him, turning him into a charred corpse. The fact that he died by fire, and knowingly chose to die by the flamethrower is interesting. Nevertheless, this is the point of no return for Montag, knowing that he did what he had to do, and that he was now an enemy of the state. At this point, Guy

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

Although Beatty decides to reject what he learned when given the opportunity to read books, Beatty is unhappy with his life as a fireman and persuades Montag to kill him by using pathos as shown through his words and actions. Firstly, Beatty orders Montag to burn Montag’s own house, creating anger and sadness within Montag. Messing with Montag’s emotions makes it a pathos appeal. This action alone does not make Montag kill Beatty, but it does push to that goal. In addition, Beatty continues to irritate Montag by insulting him, saying “It was the act of a silly, damn snob” (Bradbury 118). Even though Montag was acting like a snob, or a stuck-up individual, when he read the “Dover Beach” poem to Mildred and her friends, Beatty calling Montag

Beatty is essentially an anti-Clarisse. Beatty represents the unseen force that drags people into conformity, giving Montag a sugarcoated explanation of how books came to be banned. Throughout most of the book, Beatty is trying to undo the effect of Clarisse. However, all this does is lead Montag to antagonize Beatty, so Beatty confronts Montag about the books. After going home, Montag’s wife has friends come over and Montag gets frustrated and forces the women to read with him. The next day, Mildred’s (Montag’s wife) friends report Montag’s books to the firemen, which Beatty “let ride.”Later, Mildred reports it and Beatty decides to take action, realizing that re-corrupting Montag is futile. Beatty forces Montag to burn his own house down. After this, Montag burns Beatty alive with the flamethrower he used to burn the house, knocking the other two firemen unconscious

Throughout the book characters show the theme of distractions. Captain Beatty is the Captain of the fire department, he knows how to read but hates doing it, and everyone who wants to learn. Montag burns Beatty because he finds out that Beatty made montag burn his own house because he had books and because he thinks that books are

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.

Throughout the book, there are people who have tried to dissuade Montag from breaking the rules. A few of these people include Captain Beatty, Stoneman, and Black. Captain Beatty used his own knowledge of books and

When Montag failed to show up for work, his fire chief, Beatty, paid a visit to him. Beatty explained that "it's normal for a fireman to go through a phase of wondering what books have to offer," he also explained how books came to be banned in the first place. Beatty told Montag to take about twenty-four hours to see if his stolen books contained anything meaningful and then to turn them in for incineration. Montag began a lengthy and frantic night of reading.

Later Captain Beatty, Montag’s captain, stops by Montag’s house to talk to him. While Beatty is there Montag just lies in bed trying to conceal one of the books he took from the house

When Mildred left, Montag killed Beatty. Montag and Beatty got along in the beginning of the novel, but towards the end it didn’t seem that way. When Montag had the books for a while, his warning that Beatty gave him was sending a mechanical hound to his house. Books in this society are not even allowed, but because Guy Montag was a fire fighter, he was aloud to have it for 24 hours and then required to turn it. It is almost as if Beatty wants Montag to kill him. If Montag wouldn’t of killed Beatty, he would’ve been arrested. Captain Beatty continues to lecture Montag on the importance of books in this society, and returning them. Beatty wants to know why he didn’t return them in when the mechanical hound came to his house. Montag knew that he couldn’t get away from Beatty. The mechanical hound would trace his scent and come get him. As ordered to, Guy Montag burnt his house down with the flame thrower that Beatty had gave to him to do so. Once he watched his house burn, he just stood there. Although, at this time, Montag still has the flamethrower. It was silent. Beatty ordered Montag to hand over the flamethrower. “Montag shut his eyes, shouted, 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 121). Montag switched the flip on the flamethrower and proceeds