In the book Fahrenheit
451 by Ray Bradbury, one of the main characters, Montag, disagrees with the
ideas in the society he lives in, such as the idea that books are bad and
should be burned. Beatty, another character, is a fire chief, which places him
in charge of firemen, like Montag, who burn books. The role of a fire chief is
to enforce and support the rules of society completely.
However, Beatty doesn’t always act
how a fire chief is expected to. He often does and says things that would seem
to go against the role of a fire chief, and instead subtly supports Montag’s
ideas about how society is bad. He says these things many times, in a variety
of different circumstances. Montag is clearly affected by these strange things
that Beatty says, due to their troubling nature. How do the strange things that
Beatty says affect Montag?
One way to consider why Beatty says
these strange things for a fire chief and how Montag is affected by these
things is that Beatty is subconsciously helping Montag rebel against society.
What Beatty says is important enough to Montag that he uses these things to
bolster his ideas on why society is bad, which makes him a more formidable
rebel by giving him information and clarifying his ideas, and also gives Montag
more of a cause that he can identify with, as he does with Granger at the end
of the book.
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Some might say that Montag can’t get many ideas from Beatty
because their views are so opposite that it’s rare for Montag to agree with
anything Beatty says. Indeed, Beatty and Montag seem very different in their
views. Beatty seems to agree with the government. He believes that firemen “stand
against the small tide of those who want to make everyone unhappy with
conflicting theory and thought” (Bradbury 62). He seems to support the
government and wants to burn books without mercy. Sometimes, though, Beatty
shows another side, one opposite of what fire chiefs should do. He often quotes
books: “We shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England,” says
Beatty, quoting Latimer, “as I trust shall never be put out” (Bradbury 40). On
the other hand, there is Montag. On the outside, he seems to obey the laws and
tries to be a good citizen, but on the inside, Montag does not like how society
works. He disagrees with society, thinking that books could “stop [the country
and government] from making the same damn insane mistakes!” (Bradbury 74). In
fact, these two characters are very different in their views. It’s a
possibility that Montag couldn’t gain knowledge from someone whose views are so
opposite from his. This sometimes holds true. For example, when Beatty is
discussing why books were burned. They were burned because some groups didn’t
like certain books, and other groups didn’t like other books. “Burn the book….
Take your fight outside. Better yet, into the incinerator…. Burn all, burn
everything. Fire is bright and fire is clean” (Bradbury 59 and 60). Montag
cannot begin to obtain knowledge or information to aid his rebellion here
because Beatty is describing simple ideas that Montag already disagrees with, so
Montag can’t realize more complex things because of the simplicity of what
Beatty says.
Though there are cases where Montag learns nothing from
disagreeing with Beatty, there are many times where disagreeing with Beatty
strengthens Montag’s ideas about society. In one part of the book, Beatty talks
to Montag about the history of books, and why they fell out of use. Towards the
end of Beatty’s speech, he discusses the role of firemen as being “the
Happiness Boys, the Dixie Duo, you and I and the others.” Beatty finishes by
saying, “I don’t think you realize how important you are, we are, to our
happy world as it stands now” (Bradbury 61 and 62). This is something that
seems to be typical of a fire chief to say, at least to Montag. Beatty is
saying that firemen keep the world happy, and that without them, books would
make everyone unhappy. Of course Montag’s views would not agree with this,
because Montag wants books to exist, and thinks society is bad now. So, instead
of waving Beatty’s speech away, he uses it to strengthen his own ideas. The
crucial element in how Montag achieves this is that he believes that Beatty is
an example of the society he is working against. Montag Beatty is an example of
society is because he sees Beatty burn books and houses, which is against his
views. Montag using his disagreements to strengthen his ideas is evident after
Beatty leaves his house, when Montag tells Mildred that he is very unhappy
(Bradbury 64). Montag also thinks to himself that he will never go back to the
firehouse again (Bradbury 63). This shows that he is more determined to rebel
because he disagreed with Beatty about how books make people unhappy and how
the world is happy without books. By disagreeing with Beatty’s ideas, which for
him are the ideas of the society he doesn’t agree with, he wants his ideas to
work even more, to change the wrong in society. Disagreeing with Beatty
strengthens Montag’s ideas by showing to him that what he is trying to rebel
against is, in fact, wrong. This shows that Montag doesn’t only get ideas from
the odd things Beatty says, but from the perfectly ordinary. This means Montag
is able to strengthen his ideas, and makes him even stronger as a rebel.
(Conclusion):
From someone who just saw things a little under the surface,
Beatty made Montag see the whole picture, which made Montag a stronger rebel,
because he had stronger ideas forged in the subtle clues Beatty gave him.
Montag realized these ideas given by Beatty, and used his own ideas on how to
make society better to make his ideas powerful and complete.
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