Captain Beatty is the head "fireman" in Ray Bradbury's classic sci-fi novel Fahrenheit 451. He is a contradiction. Paradoxically, as a result of his job he's actually read quite a few books and memorized many passages, and yet at the same time he doesn't see the value in the knowledge produced through the written word.
Beatty's view is that schools and universities create too many differences between people, and that the talented student brings about jealousy and hatred from others. He doesn't see the value of education and reading because he believes it doesn't make anybody happier. In fact, all it does is confuse people. Books are either fictions about people who never existed and things that never happened, or they are contradictory and lack consensus, leading to debate, difference, and disorder. Besides this, he argues that most people stopped reading long before the fireman started burning books.
Beatty's view is ultimately very dogmatic and totalitarian. He sees order as more important than ideas. While some of his criticisms may have merit and books and ideas can create tremendous confusion and difference of opinion, this is not a bad thing. In fact it's of the essence of democracy and the human experience.
Saturday, April 18, 2015
In Fahrenheit 451, what does Beatty criticize about schools, universities,and printed material? To what extent are these criticisms true for today’s world?
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