Why Is Montag Banned In Fahrenheit 451

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 is manipulative, but he is also intelligent. When Beatty visits Montag, he brings up arguments to Montag on how the education system was censored by the government, in order to keep its citizens happy and not cause any revolt. One of them being …. He brings up this argument in page hffh, quote. This further proves that Beatty is intelligent character that proposes ideas to Montag that are true and pushes Montag to think outside his point of view.

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

On many occasions, Beatty recites quotes from various literary pieces. In Part Two Bradbury writes ‘“Truth is truth, to the end of the reckoning we’ve cried. They are never alone and are accompanied with noble thoughts, we’ve shouted to ourselves ‘Sweet food of sweetly uttered knowledge,’ Sir Philip Sidney said. But on the other hand: ‘Words are like leaves where they most abound, Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found.’ Alexander Pope. What do you think of that, Montag?’”(102). Captain Beatty uses his knowledge of literature to explain his point. Later, the Captain’s knowledge of literature becomes his downfall. When we last see Beatty in Part Three, he is reciting a quote to Montag after he is forced to burn his own house down. ‘“Why don’t you belch Shakespeare at me, you fumbling snob? ‘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? Go ahead now you second-hand literateur, pull the trigger”’(Bradbury 113). Beatty’s knowledge of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar becomes his plea to Montag for death. It is true that Montag is well read, but his knowledge of literature has not always been to his

. Silly words, silly words, silly awful hurting words” (Bradbury 97). Books are considered “traitors” (Bradbury 104), the members of the society preferring to give each other “nothingness” (Bradbury 149), rather than to make connections with people, which could potentially hurt them. They’re afraid of suffering, therefore they eliminate the possibility of emotions altogether. Beatty believes that Montag’s actions were dangerous, and expresses that he “wanted to fly near the sun” and that “he’s burnt his damn wings” (Bradbury 107). The individuals of his society believe that by acting out and attempting to find one’s humanity against the wish of the society, they’ll only get burned. Seeing Montag act differently leads the public to consider him an enemy, a fool whose actions should not be followed. By reading books, he had gotten himself out of the cave. Montag and the freed prisoner had discovered the truths of the world upon their journey following their liberation. However upon their return to their old home, their former companions had considered their actions those of a fool, those of an enemy. To protect the life they had kept their entire existence, they attack outsiders who attempt to make

Montag soon becomes curious as to what is actually inside the books he is burning. He decides to hide them and eventually decides to read one. *****By making the decision to read the book, Montag is introduced to thought and a new view on life. He has finally come to realization of what is important and what truly gives life. Although Montag has this sudden realization of the importance of literature, another character, Captain Beatty, believes in the exact opposite. *******Through the characterization of Beatty, readers believe that he has no actual thought and is full of just random facts. However, when Captain Beatty becomes face to face with death, surprisingly, he quotes Shakespeare, indicating Captain Beatty does have thought, just does not want others to know. "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!" (Bradbury 113). This quote referenced from Beatty is an allusion to the death of Caesar which symbolizes an honorable death used to maintain honor. Beatty wanted to die and felt as if he had nothing to live for without being able to openly share thought and gain thought without being

Montag’s boss, Captain Beatty is probably the key character that pushes Montag to change. Beatty is obviously intelligent, well-versed in literature, but also completely devoted to the act of book-burning and the structure that supports it. His intimate knowledge of literature indicates that he was once a free-thinking, intelligent, skeptical man of the sort that Montag is developing into. Beatty was apparently unwilling or unable to deal with the confusion and potentially painful thought that came with the conflicting ideas offered by books. In response to this frustration, he turned towards destroying the object of his mental conflict instead of facing its implications. Beatty senses that Montag is beginning to rebel and he hassles him at every opportunity. He uses his knowledge of books to try and confuse Montag. Beatty tells Montag,

Montag is also being controlled, almost brainwashed by control of mass media. Captain Beatty is a mysterious and difficult to understand. He knows a lot about books and can quote many of them; he's very well read in a world where reading is forbidden. In the beginning of the book, when the fire run takes Montag, Beatty, and the other firemen to the home of the old woman who chooses to burn with her books rather than give them up, Beatty shocks Montag when he repeated and explained the quote the old woman quoted.

Granger explained. “All of us have read a book and memorized it to tell others who haven’t read. If we memorized it, we don’t need the physical book and we won’t get in trouble with the law. Beatty here has read Ernest Hemingway’s work and many other books. I have read Plato, Simmons is Marcus Aurelius, we got Jonathan Swift, Charles Darwin, Schopenhauer, Einstein, Albert Schweitzer, Gandhi, and Thomas Jefferson and many more living in our minds and not in a book.” Montag turned to Beatty and asked “Why didn’t tell me?” Beatty says “Would you have believed

Although Montag was far outnumbered and had a lot to lose, he is justified in killing Beatty. Even though Montag really never knew if Beatty knew that he had the books, or about Faber, Montag is justified in killing Beatty with the flamethrower. Throughout the story, Beatty becomes more and more against Montag. He also tries to confuse Montag with text from books. Beatty could have found out about Faber and Montag wanted to keep him safe. Because of the way Beatty in the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Montag meets a girl who teaches him that life isn’t as great as it seems. He learns that there are books that are not just for manuals but have stories in them. He begins to hide books inside of his own home and this leads him into some

Mildred call Beatty and turned in Montag for having the books. When they get to the house Beatty makes Montag burn his house down he does, but he feels relief that the walls that separated Montag from his wife are finally gone. ‘"We never burned right..."’ (Bradbury 78-79). After he says that he burns Beatty to a crisp. That made Montag feel good that he burned his house down but lie to himself that Beatty wanted to die.

Montag is not a static character; he develops and changes due to outside influences. Clarisse’s constant questioning of the outside world influences Montag and gradually pushes over into the rest of his life, as exemplified by this quote, “He opened his mouth and it was Clarisse McClellan saying, ‘Didn’t firemen prevent fires rather than stoke them up and get them going?’” (Bradbury 34). This quote demonstrates how Clarisse’s thoughts and questions have resulted in the change of Montag’s own thought processes. Later in the story, Montag turns completely on his old life as he burns Beatty, making him “...no longer human or known…” (Bradbury 119). Beatty’s prior defence of the government and its philosophies help to strengthen this link between Beatty and the authority. Thus, Montag’s burning of Beatty represents Montag’s rejection of the

It illustrates how he doesn’t want to burn books and also how he wants to make a major change in the society he lives in. For example, “If there was no solution, well then now there was no problem, either. Fire was best for everything.” (Bradbury 110). Before he killed Captain Beatty, Beatty was all for the burning of the books just like Montag.

This is Captain Beatty, one must understand that Beatty is a complex, contradicting character. In the novel, Beatty is talking to Montag about books. “Read a few lines, and off you go over the cliff . . . I know, I’ve been through it all”(Bradbury 106). In other sections of the book, he quotes several books. In this piece of evidence, Beatty implies that he has read literature. This is illegal, and Beatty has scolded Montag for this, thus contradicting himself.