Fahrenheit 451: Irony Part 3

The next irony in this story is that Montag kills Captain Beatty using Beatty’s own advice against him.  Captain Beatty told Montag, “A problem gets too burdensome, then into the furnace with it.” (Bradbury 53)  Apparently Montag listened to Beatty’s advice, perhaps too well.  When Beatty informed Montag that he would have to burn his own house and then be put under arrest this became a problem.  What really pushed Montag to kill Captain Beatty, however was that Beatty discovered the earpiece in Montag’s ear and said that he would trace it back to whoever was on the other end, Faber.  Montag would not let Beatty harm Faber so he killed him, thus getting rid of the problem.  After he had killed the captain, he said, “Beatty, you're not a problem now. You always said, don't face a problem, burn it. Well, now I've done both. Good-bye, Captain.” (Bradbury 55)

            Also ironic in this book is that in today’s society, it is considered a good thing to be educated, read books, go to college, etc...  But in the world of Fahrenheit 451, if one person is more intelligent than another or is found to have books, he or she is either taken away or killed (Bradbury 15). 

            The people in this book ignore nature and animals.  I listed a quote from Clarisse in an earlier blog post which basically says that people drive too fast to truly appreciate nature, animals, and their other surroundings (Bradbury 3).  Yet, there are two machines used in this book that are named after animals, the mechanical Hound and the electric-eyed snake.  Could people be naming things after animals to make up for not seeing them like they call the television the “family”, which takes the place of them spending time talking to their own family?

            Another irony is that Montag is often using God’s name in vain saying, “God damn” (Bradbury 52), "Jesus God" (Bradbury 33), etc…  What is funny about this is that Bradbury had the books that Montag memorized be Ecclesiastes, which the dictionary describes as “a book of the Bible that discusses the futility of life and how to be a God-fearing person”, and Revelation (Bradbury 69).  Maybe it is a good thing that he is reading those books so that he can learn something from them. 

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. Print.