Breaking Point

  Some pretty intense things happen in this section of the book.  Montag learns that Mildred turned in the alarm, although Beatty also received two more earlier from the other ladies.  Mildred ends up running into a taxi cab, without saying a word to Montag, and just rides off.  They were together for so long, and she just leaves?  Clearly she did not really love him, if she even knows what love is.  As upsetting as it is that she turned on Montag and just left him in the dust, it is not surprising at all.  Beatty tells Montag that since it's his house, he needs to be the one to burn the books, which Mildred found in the yard and brought back into the house, placing them in a pile in the middle of the room.  Professor Faber tries to tell Montag to run, but Montag is afraid because the Hound is on the loose.  There is a line that I really liked in this section.  The author says, "There was a crash like the falling parts of a dream fashioned out of warped glass, mirrors, and crystal prisms.  Montag drifted about as if still another incomprehensible storm had turned him" (p.114).  I felt that this line gave me insight to how Montag is feeling, and I really connected with him and could understand the feeling of pure disbelief and shock the author was trying to get across. Shortly after this, instead of burning the books, Montag beings to burn "everything that showed he had live here in this empty house with a strange woman who would forget him tomorrow" (p.116).  Beatty reminds him to burn the books, and he does, but continues burning the house by burning down the TV walls that he hated so much.  

  After Montag is done burning the house, Beatty asks him why he did it, but "Montag did not hear, he was far away, he was running with his mind, he was gone, leaving this dead soot-covered body to sway in front of another raving fool" (p. 118).  Beatty notices the seashell in Montag's ear and hits him hard so that it falls out.  Beatty tells Montag that he will trace it and find his friend.  This is when Montag snaps, and points the flame thrower at Beatty!  I was completely shocked when the author gives away what is about to happen before it has actually happened.  Right after the author explains that Montag points the flame thrower on Beatty, he writes, "Thinking back later he could never decide whether the hands or Beatty's reaction to the hands gave him the final push toward murder" (p. 119).  My immediate thought was, "What?!  He kills him?!" Then the book goes on to explain that Beatty tries to intimidate Montag into giving him the flame thrower, and sure enough, Beatty goes up in flames!  Montag then knocks out the two other firemen, and finally has his face off with the Hound.  The Hound is able to strike him with his needle in the leg, but Montag is able to take him out too.  This section ends with Montag fleeing the scene, one leg paralyzed, thinking, "You always said, don't face a problem, burn it.  Well, now I've done both.  Good-bye, Captain." (p. 121). 

Reaction & Questions:  Holy Moly!  I am so shocked that Montag killed Beatty!  I definitely did not see that one coming.  Was Montag really justified in doing that?  I mean, maybe it would've been more feasible had Beatty been trying to kill Montag, but he was only trying to arrest Montag right?  Unless maybe the plan WAS to kill Montag, then I could see how the murder could be justified.  I'm not really sure how I feel about this.  I have been supporting Montag throughout the book, but murder?  That just seems extreme.  Although, I'm sure Montag's mental state at the time was not stable at all, so he probably just thought it was the best and only way to get himself out of there.  Will he go to Professor Faber's house?  What will Faber think of Montag's actions?  Will the government make a big production and try to find Montag, or will they want to keep things quiet and sweep it under the rug and pretend like it didn't happen?  The latter would seem more likely, based on the way this world works, but we shall see!