Fahrenheit 451 Zach B
Captain Beatty quotes history, philosophy, and poetry. It can also be clearly assumed that he is a very intelligent person by the selective word choice included by the author. In your opinion, why does Beatty despise books so passionately?
(NO GRADE) I have no clue how to answer the question Zach, but me gusta leer
ReplyDelete*gustaba
DeleteI think it can be assumed that something must have happened to Captain Beatty in the past. I don't think he hates books, but I think he tries to do his job right and it would appear that he hates books since his job is to burn them. As Captain Beatty says on page 117, "Oh, you were scared silly...for I was doing a terrible thing in using the very books you clung to, to rebut you on every hand, on every point! What traitor’s books can be. You think they’re backing you up, and 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." I feel that from this quote it is implied that Captain Beatty used to have a deep admiration for books, but something occurred to make him against them. Perhaps he was brain washed, or simply forced by the government to become a book burner. Captain Beatty is complex in that he always seemingly likes to contradict himself. He could hate books, but he knows so much about them, so maybe he is forced to hate them? I am not sure what else could have occurred to make Beatty despise books so much. It is like a chicken and the egg sort of thing, I do not know if he hates book because he is a book burner or he is a book burner because he hates books. Just an idea!
ReplyDeleteI understand where you are coming from about something might have happened in the past that we do not know. Maybe with that in mind the author intentionally wrote in that manner to keep the reader entertained and wondering. I also agree on the statement you mentioned on the topic of Beatty that had an admiration of books because Captain Beatty does seems like a perspicacious person who would have had to attained reading at some point of his life.
DeleteGreat question Zach! I was also quite perplexed about how much of a contradiction Captain Beatty was throughout the novel. I have to agree with Cameron that Captain Beatty could perhaps use to have a deep admiration for books, but something occurred to make him against them. But I do not believe he hates books and that is the reason why he burns them. In the afterword of the novel, Ray Bradbury conveys a part of the story that is critical in understanding the antagonistic character of Beatty. In this section he brings up how Beatty owns his own library of books, but proclaims, “I never read them. Not one book, not one chapter, not one page, not one paragraph. I do play with ironies, don't I? To have thousands of books and never crack one, to turn your back on the lot and say: No. It's like having a house full of beautiful women and, smiling, not touching ... one. So, you see, I'm not a criminal at all. If you ever catch me reading one, yes, then turn me in! But this place is as pure as a twelve-year-old virgin girl's cream-white summer night bedroom. These books die on the shelves. Why? Because I say so. I do not give them sustenance, no hope with hand or eye or tongue. They are no better than dust" (Bradbury 170). Beatty boasts that he has never read any of them but clearly shows his love for them by hoarding them in his house. Since some literature is approved by the government in this society, I think that is what Beatty has been mostly consuming to further his knowledge as much as he can without breaking past the limit. But he has also seen what the restricted literature has done to his fellow firemen, such as Montag, who are becoming too smart for their own good. He himself doesn’t want the ability to think, so he makes it his job to stop others from thinking before it’s too late for them, but that doesn’t mean he hates books.
ReplyDeleteAshley, I would like to address i feel touched from the length of your response. I acknowledge your argument and it appears to be valid. Both Cameron and you are correct on the terms of the consistency of Captain Beatty's contradiction. Although, I did not fully comprehend Cameron's analogy I can see her reasoning. It is almost like Captain Beatty treats the novels somewhat like a vintage collection that is never touched. Overall, your conclusion about why he does not want the ability to think sounds logical of the point of being excessively intelligent for their selves.
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