Captain Beatty In Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury contained a multitude of themes. Thrilling and electrifying, the novel also had plenty of complex characters. Captain Beatty, the fireman chief, was one of them. He knew that reading books meant the freedom to think. The chief was a coward for being in charge of destroying people’s houses for that same freedom. Although illogical and senseless, Beatty was not brainwashed by the society. He knew exactly what he was doing when he demolished the homes of book beholders. Beatty was very well educated in literature. He demonstrated this in various ways. For example, when he mocked Montag before his own death, Beatty quoted Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Even the Bible was mentioned! He, just like Montag, once had questioned the society he lived in. The captain took action, but instead of trying to reconstruct his surroundings, he destroyed them. He decided to get rid of those things that forced him to think of question he didn’t want the answers to. The author shows time and time again that those who cannot solve problems with words solved them with terror and violence.

The calls for fires always happened at night. “Captain Beatty, keeping his dignity, backed slowly through the front door, his pale face burnt and shiny from a thousand fires and night excitements. God, thought Montag, how true! Always at night. never by day!” (Bradbury 43). Beatty truly enjoyed his job. He found peace in destroying the only thing that ever made him question about society. To him, burning houses was pure amusement. Even if it meant burning people inside it. Fire burned brighter in the dark, which was entertaining to watch. He even destroyed his own employee’s house that had worked with him for ten years. “Burn all, burn everything” (Bradbury 63) was Beatty’s rallying cry. To destroy without mercy was his