A life without books? In 2005 approximately 3.1 billion books were sold varying from textbooks, fiction, comedy, romance, and bibles. This statistic provides a conclusion that the American society relies on books. Whether it be for information, or leisure enjoyment, books are a necessity. The majority of the average humans education comes from a book, so would getting rid of them be beneficial to society? Ray Bradbury is able to put this theory into perspective when he wrote Fahrenheit 451. Bradbury features two main characters, Guy Montag and Captain Beatty. Beatty used to read books, he was able to find a vast amount of facts and quotes from famous philosophers. Montag came into society without the knowledge from books, no one in this …show more content…
Not everyone born free and equal, as the constitution says, but everyone made equal . . . A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it. Take the shot from the weapon. Breach man’s mind.” Beatty’s speech comes off as very ironic, it shows the Beatty is able to denounce the use of books and describe them as weapons but is still able to use them liberally. Beatty is able to use this weapon to manipulate Montag harshly. Beatty’s choice in this job is questioned due to the loss of faith in books. With this lack of faith Beatty is still able to legally access books through his position of authority, so they were never let go. "Read a few lines and off you go over the cliff. Bang, you're ready to blow up the world...I know, I've been through it all." Montag and Beatty both felt the change of heart from book, each perceived this change differently. Montag has always had that growing desire to pick up a book and explore its pages but could never seem to figure out what was restricting this desire. Clarisse was able to remove that restriction. ‘Are you happy?’ Pondering this question helped Montag to come to the conclusion that he was not happy, he was nowhere near happy. This question removed the barriers restricting him from escaping society through books. He is overcome by curiosity. The discovery of Books gives Montag a drive to try and change the horror in the world, but Beatty knows that that is not