Beatty goes on to say that the bright boy in every class was hated and beat up by everyone else because he was actually in the minority. Most people, he continues, would rather have fun and be happy through entertainment than study, learn or read–so they got rid of it all.

What does Beatty thinks of “intellectuals” (i.e. the smart kids) getting picked on at school. He loves that intellectuals are put in their place because he wants everyone to be made equal.

Beatty would say the one thing unimportant in school is an education. With school turning out more runners, jumpers, racers, tinkerers, grabbers, snatchers, fliers, and swimmers instead of examiners, critics, knowers, and imaginative creators, the word `intellectual,’ of course, became the swear word it deserved to be.

Clarisse tells Montag that schools are institutions that promote athletic activities and keep students engaged by making them watch television teachers. Clarisse tells Montag that she learns nothing in school and students are forbidden from asking questions.

In Fahrenheit 451, Montag is not in love with Clarisse in a conventionally romantic sense, but he does seem to love her free spirit and her unusual way of looking at the world.

When he finds the earpiece that Faber has been using to communicate with Montag, Beatty says that he will track Faber down and arrest him too. That is the point at which Montag turns the flamethrower on Beatty and burns him to death. In the middle of the crying Montag knew it for the truth. Beatty had wanted to die.

Also, Montag destroys the Mechanical Hound with his flamethrower, but only after it injects his leg with anesthesia. Later, however, Montag regrets his murder of Beatty as he realizes that he acted irrationally against Beatty, perceiving him as representative of the ills of his society.

Mildred is the one major character in the book who seems to have no hope of resolving the conflicts within herself. Her suicide attempt suggests that she is in great pain and that her obsession with television is a means to avoid confronting her life.

Did Montag want Mildred to die in the bomb blast? Montag was against her dying in the bomb blast, but was not as against it as a married man should be. He pictured her sitting in a hotel room with her family, not even realizing her near death until it was too late.

what had Montag been able to memorize? the Book of Ecclesiastes.

In the most simplistic of ways, the railroad tracks mean that Montag is to change into his new form. In a condition where Montag needed guidance and understanding in his reconception of self, the railroad tracks provided a physical path to follow in order to achieve a sense of internal change.

It speaks of healing, Montag memorizes these important passages to help people to remember that they should never give up hope. If Montag is experiencing the end of the present world, the Bible reminds him and the others of God’s promise and to keep the faith.

The fire Montag saw after leaving the river was different because it was a warming fire rather than a burning fire. But the fire was there and he approached warily, from a long way off. It took the better part of fifteen minutes before he drew very close indeed to it, and then he stood looking at it from cover.

Montag is fleeing from the mechanical hound after his house is ransacked, and they are looking for the books he stole and hid. Granger first helps him to evade the capture of the Mechanical Hound by giving him a drink that changes the chemical makeup of his sweat, which the hound smells to follow him.

details of the land.” The entire experience is wholly novel for him. This is probably the first time that Montag has had to actually rely on his body and “listen” to it in this way, and also the first time that he has experienced nature in a way that allows it to compete with the programmed reality of society.

When Beatty says the line you cite, he is speaking figuratively. His society’s default reaction to every problem is to burn it (literally or figuratively). He is saying that they rid themselves of responsibility and consequences by simply destroying their need to make choices and confront problems.

Expert Answers Beatty suggests that fire is the “perpetual motion” that mankind always sought to create but never could (because perpetual motion is impossible), and even though it seems to be perpetual, it will eventually consume everything if allowed to.

With characteristic irony, Beatty, who has just accused Montag of not considering the consequences of his actions, then defines the beauty of fire as its ability to destroy consequences and responsibilities.

[Fire] is a mystery… Its real beauty is that it destroys responsibility and consquences. Why can’t Montag run? As Montag fights with the hound, he absorbs a shot of anesthesia, which numbs one of his legs.

The burning is liberating because everything that ties him to the city is destroyed; it is emotionally trying because he feels a connection to the books; it is joyous because he is finally able to escape convention and conformity and do something wrong in public, without condemnation.

Beatty’s love of fire is a self-contradiction. As a fireman who seems to enjoy the burning, he also has a great appreciation of literature which means he must be a learned man who has read many books.