Fahrenheit 451 pages 40-68

Answer one of these two questions from the perspective of Captain Beatty.
Give the type of answer you think he would give – use quotes and other details from the book in your answer.
Is it better to be ignorant and happy OR is it better to be aware, educated and disturbed at the world?
Be sure to include the problem with minority opinions, individual thought, and the historical conditions that made this possible.
Use quotations and other evidence from the text in your response.

From the perspective of Captain Beatty I think he would say that it is better to be ignorant(although I think he would use another way of saying it like unaware, which makes it sound not as bad), and happy because he believes that if people just don’t know the facts, they would be better off. Beatty tries to hide the truth anyways by saying it was always the same, and if they just know what they have told them, they won’t have any problems. Montag starts to question this “way of life” after the night when he burnt the old lady and her books. He felt that if she was willing to die for them that there must be something very important in those so called “banned objects full of nonsense and false hope” if they were worth all that she went through for them. Beatty went to Montag’s house as if he knew he was going to call in sick, and once there, he reassured him that the history of the firefighters has always been to burn books and not that they put out fires. He laughed at the idea and went on to claim that reading books is just a way for the society to get out of hand. He thinks that people would become sad and it would make the world more complex then it really is. Personally, I think that people are eventually going to find out the truth and by making up lies, it is just going to cause more conflict and it would have if they were allowed to think for themselves in the first place.