It is when Beatty goes to visit Montag the morning after
the burning of the woman and her books that Beatty explores the philosophy of book
burning and shares this with Montag to help him understand the purpose of their
profession as bookburners. As a result of the general "dumbing down" of society, books
were regarded as being profoundly subversive in the way that they could represent so
many ideas and emotions that could produce instability in a society that is governed to
ensure "peace of mind." Note what Beatty says to Montag as part of his
diatribe:
Someone's written a book on tobacco and cancer
of the lungs? The cigarette people are weeping? Burn the book. Serenity, Montag. Peace,
Montag. Take your fight outside. Better yet, into the incinerator... Burn all, burn
everything. Fire is bright and fire is
clean.
To Beatty, therefore,
fire becomes a purifying force, a way of erasing difficulties and controversy and
helping to maintain the "serenity" and "peace" that supposedly characterises life in
this dystopian society. Of course, what Beatty does not talk about is the way that only
emptiness has been left after this purging, as Mildred's fascination with a fake family
shows.
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