Question: What reasons does Beatty give for the current state of society and for books being destroyed?
There are many reasons given by Beatty for books being destroyed, and the current state of society, the first being that books can upset one another, books are also viewed by today’s society as dangerous and therefore should not be kept. This is shown when Beatty is talking to Montag and he explains that the people of society get offended with many of the views of books and these views could start fights between the people of society. This shows that in a sense much of the society is weak and unable to read books from the past and not realize that views change so many offensive comments in books change. Although the main point that is conveyed by Beatty is that books offend people, it is also shown that books are considered a loaded gun. This shows how Beatty believes that books are just as dangerous as guns and how if someone in society read a book they could have the ability to terrorize society. This also shows how society is very easily terrorized if the views from a book would have the capability of terrorizing so many people. It is also said by Beatty that ten minutes after death the people are burned to dust, and this shows how many people in society are not cared about and many people like Beatty believe it is better to just burn everything. They believe to burn everything because of the view that fire is clean, and they use it as a way to clean up any problems that they may have. The restriction of information and destruction of books is directly linked to the control that the government has over the people. Altogether, books are considered to hold hateful views and the people in society are not truly cared about, also it is believed by both Beatty and many others that fire can solve problems because fire is clean