Proposal: I
am interested in writing about Beatty’s actions towards Montag because I want
to understand why a fire chief, someone who’s supposed to agree totally with
the government and with the way society works, seems to have another side to
him that goes against the role of a fire chief.
One way to consider this is that Beatty acts like he supports
the government, but in a subtle and possibly subconscious way, Beatty aids
Montag’s rebellion against society with ideas and information without realizing
it.
This claim
comes from a couple of interesting actions in the book, such as Beatty’s
smoking, and his actions at his death, along with some realizations that Montag
has about Beatty. My interest stems from those, and then looks for the effect
of those actions- what are these actions doing?
This, I
think, is a fairly deep question- we obviously don’t see Beatty going out and
telling directly what he’s doing. So, this definitely has a part of analysis
and interest. Another thing, though, is that due to Beatty’s character, we
cannot really analyze a lot about the man himself. For example, we don’t know
much at all about his backstory or what his positions really are. Fortunately,
I think that my essay plan goes around WHY he does things, as we can’t really
know, but what the effects of these things are. And, because my thesis includes
Beatty not realizing these things, my evidence generally pertains to yes, what
he says, but things that are more viable for him to believe as a fire chief.
For example, we know for a fact that on the outside, Beatty is a man who does
support the government (eg. Burns books, pro-government attitude), so things he
says, though he may not agree with them, are still coming out of HIS mouth and
affecting people, whether he likes it or not.
There’s
another part to this essay though. Besides what Beatty does, we have to analyze
what Montag does that could be a result of the things Beatty says, and whether
or not Beatty’s saying things really changes or affects Montag. There is, I
think, ample evidence in this category as well, including Montag murdering
Beatty. So, we have a base of solid evidence from the text that links together
to build up my thesis, which is important. Another thing that I think is worth
some analysis is Beatty’s smoking, and the symbolism that is there, and what
that can mean. Beatty smokes often, and is often described as hiding behind a
screen of smoke, or coming through a haze, or what have you. But, what we
definitively get, that connects a lot to Beatty’s character, is the sense of
hiding and not knowing. We don’t know much about Beatty, just like one cannot
really see a whole image behind a screen of smoke, which obstructs vision
partially. This could lead to an interesting set of ideas regarding Beatty and
what of what he says is true, and also to look at his belief systems.
The thesis
ends up coming out to be, more precisely, Beatty’s actions, though he doesn’t
realize it, affect Montag and help Montag’s rebellion against society, despite
Beatty’s role as a fire chief in the society. If we are to look at evidence, we
have 3 paragraph sections.
I.
Beatty’s
actions. What is Beatty telling Montag that could affect him.
II.
Montag:
How is he affected? What does Beatty do to Montag that Montag uses to rebel against
society? How does he take Beatty’s ideas given to him and utilize them?
III.
Counter
Argument + Response (See below).
A counter
argument is a crucial part of any good argument, but it’s most effective when
it can utilize the counter argument’s response to further bolster the argument
you’re actually arguing for. So, one counter argument might be: Perhaps Beatty
is telling the truth, and so Montag doesn’t agree with Beatty at all. For
example, there are many instances of Montag disagreeing with Beatty, and not
accepting what Beatty says.
Well, I
think a counter argument can play into my hands beautifully. In this situation,
the important part of my response would be that NOT listening, in Montag’s
case, is a way that Montag GAINS information and knowledge for his rebellion on
society. Why? Beatty, at least to Montag, is one of many images of society at
its peak, or for Montag, a terrible society. Either way, Beatty burns books,
kills people, and seems like the average fire chief brainlessly doing his job-
Beatty is able to convince Montag for a while that knowing some book lines is
just part of a fire chief’s job. So, Montag obviously will disagree with what
most of what Beatty says, as Montag’s views on society are directly in contrast
with Beatty’s. But, this is GOOD, because according to Beatty, who at least
acts like he’s pro government and the society he lives in, it’s good to burn
books and burn houses and burn everything that’s bad. So, Montag will DISAGREE
with Beatty, and STRENGTHEN his ideas that books should be kept alive.
Obviously this one example is on a very simple scale and can be easily
complicated to many issues, therefore providing a deep and intelligent counter
to the argument that Montag cannot learn from Beatty.
Because
Beatty and Montag are often at odds with each other in terms of their thinking,
finding evidence might be harder, but there are several instances I have found
in the book where there ideas, though maybe different in terms of the individual
topic, are actually similar or support one another on a larger scale. One of
these examples comes when Beatty is talking to Montag about the history of
firemen. Though he means the following for a different purpose, the broad idea is
very similar indeed. He tells Montag that firemen SHOULD be taught their
history, because the knowledge is IMPORTANT and HELPFUL. Basically, he does
show Montag a very important idea on the importance of learning and knowledge,
which is important for Montag later (see part about how Montag uses Beatty’s
info, later on).
Another
example I found where Beatty seems to be slipping ideas to Montag seems to be when
Montag, after running away from killing Beatty, thinks about Beatty as he is
about to die. In this thought section, the author uses a couple of phrases to
connect Beatty, who at the end seems to be finally realizing the truth (“Beatty
wanted to die”, page 122) of what he
had done and understanding it, to Montag, who is finally acting in a rebellion
against society. There are 2 phrases that both involve contradictory terms-
joking/needling, and stifle/pause for air. These phrases describe Beatty and
Montag, respectively, and seem to connect the two people who are, in a way,
reaching their potential, Beatty for understanding what the problem is, and
Montag for acting against the problem. So once again, there’s evidence that
Beatty is finally showing his other side, that which was hidden, and that which
we didn’t know much about. That is also the side that agrees with Montag.
If needed, I
have more evidence, which comes with the actual part where Beatty is killed, on
page 119. We have a lot of interesting phrases and words from Beatty as he
talks before he dies. There are more contradicting points, further connecting
Montag and Beatty, as previously explained, but there’s also evidence of Beatty
showing the power of books- by quoting books at Montag, along with spitting
words at Montag like “fumbling snob”, Beatty enrages Montag, obviously trying
to get Montag to kill Beatty, especially when we consider page 122 and the “Beatty
wanted to die” part. Montag basically
takes out his anger on society by killing Beatty, but, in a way, can learn from
Beatty. Beatty’s words from Shakespeare have the unique capability to do
create, or raise, emotion, which is shown at the end of the book too, but also
to be there. Just to be the right book at the right time for the right purpose
shows that books have an awesome capacity to help or to hurt, maybe only the
latter, but to influence someone in some way, which shows Montag the value of
books.
Finally, we
should get to the third and final part of the essay, the second paragraph-
Montag’s response. A major part of this section is Montag talking to Granger
near the end of the book, around page 152. Beatty gives Montag a lot of
information about the importance and value of books, whether he means to or
not. Furthermore, Montag and Beatty finally seem to have some agreement in
ideas and thoughts and feelings when Beatty is about to die. To see the effect
on Montag, we go to Granger, who basically gives the same advice, and to which
Montag already agrees. Granger, whether his ideas are right or wrong doesn’t
matter, tells Montag to keep and memorize the Book of Ecclesiastes because it
one day might be important and valuable. This is a reflection of Beatty
entirely. A connection that furthers this first connection between Beatty and
Granger is the symbol of the Phoenix- On Beatty’s hat and in Granger’s
discussions, there is a phoenix, which connects the two characters.
Montag’s disagreements
with Beatty’s pro-government talk are obvious- he kills Beatty. When Beatty
yells at Montag, playing with Montag, telling him to shout Shakespeare if that
makes him feel good, while also calling Montag a “second-hand litterateur”,
basically taunting Montag and saying Montag’s literary skills are stupid. If
Montag had agreed with Beatty, they wouldn’t be in this situation in the first
place, with Montag holding a flamethrower to Beatty’s head. But, clearly Beatty’s
words had had an effect on Montag in the opposite way, that is, Montag
disagreeing with Beatty to strengthen his own argument.
So… overall,
I can use Beatty’s actions to help my argument, and words, because his bias
towards his own words and whether he lies or not doesn’t change the fact that
he says them. Furthermore, we can see Montag using Beatty’s information due to
his actions to Beatty and against society, and also in his agreement with Granger,
whose ideas seem to match with Beatty’s. Finally, as a counter argument
response (counter argument being that Montag wouldn’t take information with
Beatty because he doesn’t agree with Beatty on much), I can use the fact that
not agreeing with Beatty strengthened Montag’s own ideas on society, and led
him further on the path to rebellion.
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