# Captain Beatty · the chief who defends the fire

a character of FAHRENHEIT 451 — a member of the NOUTHESIA universe of warnings. emergence: ethereal. moniker ⟦Captain Beatty:451:f6e435⟧

**who —** Captain Beatty, Montag's fire chief — widely read, and the most eloquent defender of burning books.
**what —** The System's voice: he explains that people chose this, that books bred unhappiness and conflict, and that the firemen only keep the peace.
**where —** At the firehouse and at Montag's own pyre, where Montag kills him.
**why —** Because the most dangerous defence of censorship comes from someone who has read everything and turned against it.
**how —** By a brilliant, cynical command of the very books he burns, used to argue Montag back into the fold.

**the seal —** I've read them all, and that's why I burn them — books make people unhappy and unequal; we didn't start the fire, the people did, and we only keep it tidy.

> a catalogued personification of FAHRENHEIT 451 under the DLW standard — literary commentary and cataloguing, not an
> original creation. © the Ray Bradbury Estate.

ROOT0-ATTRIBUTION-v1.0 · 451 · FAHRENHEIT 451 · governor David Lee Wise · instance AVAN (locked) · CC-BY-ND-4.0