A Closer Look at Beatty in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

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A Closer Look at Beatty in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

“Any man who can take a TV wall apart and put it back together again is happier than any man who tries to slide-rule, measure, and equate the universe, which just won’t be measured or equated without making man feel bestial and lonely. I know, I’ve tried it; to hell with it(61).” Beatty, while lecturing to Montag, lets this confession slip out. With the words “I know, I’ve tried it,” Beatty became a very complex, deep character. Beatty, although obviously portrayed as the villain, is a wounded, misunderstood character.

Beatty’s beginning is of utmost importance to understanding the character as more than just a villain. In the afterword, Ray Bradbury told the story of how Beatty becomes the fire chief making him a more developed and complete character. When Montag is in the library he says, “Once you must have loved books very much.” Which Beatty beautifully replies “Touché! Below the belt. On the Chin. Through the heart. Ripping the gut. Oh, look at me, Montag. The man who loved books, no, the boy who was wild for them, insane for them, who climbed the stacks like a chimpanzee gone mad for them (171).” Beatty brought Montag into his home to display the library he has hidden there. Beatty boasts that he has never read any of them but clearly shows his love for them by hoarding them in his house. A pattern starts to emerge about Beatty, he is a paradox; he loves books enough to quote them at length and keep a hidden library in his house but blames books for all the unhappiness in the world. He hates books to the extent of taking a job where his only purpose is to burn books.

While the main plot of the Fahrenheit 451 deals with the change of Montag’s personality from an unthinking automaton, to a thinking, feeling, emotional individual the greatest change in personalities has to be Beatty’s descent from a book loving, idealist to an angry, cynical fire chief. Montag asks the fire chief the reason for his betrayal of books. Beatty replies, “Why, life happened to me (171).” Beatty goes on to describe what he means by life happened, “The love that wasn’t quite

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