Saturday, 24 June 2017

Why does Montag kill Beatty?

In Fahrenheit 451, the protagonist Guy Montag murders fire chief Beatty in an act of impulsive desperation. After the firemen are deployed to Montag's house, Beatty reveals that Montag's hidden stash of books has been discovered, thus making Montag a criminal. At this point, Beatty already had a tendency to taunt Montag and bully him into cooperative submission. Beatty is an arrogant, though knowledgeable, gentleman who uses his knowledge of books and literature to suggest...

In Fahrenheit 451, the protagonist Guy Montag murders fire chief Beatty in an act of impulsive desperation. After the firemen are deployed to Montag's house, Beatty reveals that Montag's hidden stash of books has been discovered, thus making Montag a criminal. At this point, Beatty already had a tendency to taunt Montag and bully him into cooperative submission. Beatty is an arrogant, though knowledgeable, gentleman who uses his knowledge of books and literature to suggest to Montag that their job of burning books is not only their legal responsibility but their moral responsibility as well.


When Beatty orders Montag to burn the books in his house, Beatty discovers the secret earpiece through which Montag and his literature-reading friend Faber have been communicating. With Montag having lost his wife (she flees after discovering Montag's books) and profession, and with a criminal charge of keeping literature being placed upon his head, he feels he has no choice but to kill Beatty and to escape. He kills Beatty in order to save himself, but more importantly, to save Faber from persecution.

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