Fahrenheit 451 response

Montag's world is a parallel of our own yet it is such a hellish place full of greed and control. Ray Bradbury is clearly showing showing our world what to fear becoming, which so befits the story's ironic mode, especially in the character Captain Beatty. He is a low-lived, maniacal pyromaniac who is commonly found hustling people on the streets in our world, and is now in a position of honor and respect and most of all authority. His words are meant to deceive and ensnare, and his actions to reinforce undebated belief in thoughtless lives, which is very imminent as he explains how powerful fire and it's cleansing qualities are when he says “Burn everything then burn the ashes. Fire is bright and fire is clean.” Fire is a symbol of purity as he points to, however using the pure to burn one's own free will down to a frame weaker than toothpicks and turn one into yet another of the government's servants is truly showing us not to ever let happen. Bradbury is using this character to show the world what not to follow, and that is the corrosive pressure of another's will upon one's own will.