Captain Beatty In Fahrenheit 451

Captain Beatty, fictional character from Fahrenheit 451, makes his living by burning books. In his society, books and pieces of literature are illegal, and technology has taken over the job of passing time and distracting the people from realizing what is important in live like being happy. When the phone rings at the fire station, he and his crew take after the house or building where books are reported to be. Like Beatty, most people in his society are so easily able to conform to the way their “civilization” works. However, Charles M. Blow, author of “Reading Books Is Fundamental,” expresses an opinion on reading far different from that of Beatty. In “Reading Books Is Fundamental,” Charles Blow describes the effect that reading had on him and his family growing up. Growing up, he was

Instead of putting forth what it took to become the “bright” student, they chose to be sorry for themselves and make it easier. While Beatty spends his life eliminating books and “differences,” Blow is promoting books and explaining the wonderful effects they can have on one’s life. He says, “That was the beginning of a lifelong journey in which books would shape and change me, making me who I was.” So, Beatty’s and Blow’s views on reading and writing had a small similarity. Blow explains that books shaped him into the person that he was. Beatty also claims books can create differences throughout society, and they can cause people to be shaped different. However, the way Beatty and Blow view those differences is how they differ. Beatty’s society would rather burn those differences and take the easy way out. Blow, however, would rather do what it takes to overcome the hardship and difference he was born into and to not take the easy way out. Beatty sees reading as something that creates differences and make people unhappy, but Blow views reading as something that can create a difference in oneself and set them