What reasons does Beatty give for the current state of society and for books being destroyed?

 

Novels have been shortened to stories, which have been shortened to pages, which have been shortened to columns, which have been shortened to sentences. Beatty is against books for several reasons that are an issue throughout the whole first chapter, he believes that books need to be destroyed because the negatives outweigh the positives. Knowledge is power and power is feared in that society.
One reason Beatty is so against books is, he’s obsessed with the idea of social order and world peace. This quote represents Beatty’s thoughts on how books can make people upset because of the language and terms they often use “Burn the book. Serenity, Montage. Peace, Montag.” (p.57). He believes that books upset the minorities groups within society creating a complete unhappiness throughout the world. “Colored people don’t like Little Black Sambo. Burn it. White people don’t feel good about Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Burn it.” (p.57). Unfairness is one of Beatty’s fears and he thinks that books are the root cause for this emotion so he feels that by burning these books he’s able to give everyone happiness and a fun, exciting life. Without books he feels that the “intellectuals” will no longer be hated by his peers and they will all now be equal to all those under and above them. To Beatty, knowledge is power and if power comes into play in society everything will change. We can get knowledge from reading the stories of others and reading their thoughts, feelings and ideas. He doesn’t want his people exposed to this type of thinking. In the end he’s just as brainwashed as everyone else in this era and he’s just following the social norms, he knows he’s unable to rebel against the government. He has himself convinced that he’s doing good for society and he’s helping everyone around him by taking this knowledge away. He’s completely sure that books are the reason for all the issues in society and burning the books is the best thing for society and he’s simply trying to help the fellow citizens.