"At times he is not even aware of why he does things, feeling that his hands are acting by themselves" (Gatten, Brian). "So it was the hand that started it all ... His hands had been infected, and soon it would be his arms ... His hands were ravenous" (Gatten, Brian). This passage from "The Hearth and the Salamander" refers to Montag's theft of books from the old woman's house. Montag guiltily portrays his actions as an involuntary bodily reflex. He describes his crime as automatic and claims it involves no thought on his part. He will blame his hands for several other crimes in the course of the book, and they become a powerful symbol for Montag's instincts of rebellion, will, and moral imperative. Montag's thoughtless actions here are akin to Mildred's unconscious overdose, as they are the result of some hidden sense of dissatisfaction within him that he does not consciously acknowledge. Montag regards his hands as infected from stealing the book and describes how the "poison works its way into the rest of his body." Montag uses the word "poison" to refer to his strong sense of guilt and wrongdoing. Later, the novel incorporates a reference to Shakespeare, as Montag compulsively washes his hands at the fire station in an attempt to cleanse his guilt. Montag's hands function as a symbol of defiance and thirst for truth. These subconscious actions can be quite horrific, such as when he finds himself setting his supervisor on fire, but they also represent his deepest desires to rebel against the status quo and find a meaningful way to live.
In his desperate quest to define and comprehend his own life and purpose by means of books, he blunders blindly and stupidly as often as he thinks and acts lucidly. His attempts to reclaim his own humanity range from the compassionate and sensitive, as in his conversations with Clarisse, to the grotesque and irresponsible, as in his murder of Beatty and his half-baked scheme to overthrow the firemen.
Faber competes with Beatty in the struggle for Montag's mind. His control over Montag may not be as complete and menacing as Beatty's, but he does manipulate Montag via his two-way radio to accomplish the things his cowardice has prevented him from doing himself, acting as the brain directing Montag's body. Faber's role and motivations are complex: at times he tries to help Montag think independently and at other times he tries to dominate him. Faber fosters a great deal of disapproval for the state of affairs in his dehumanized, oppressive society, but lacks the courage to make a stand against it. Faber still possesses a few precious books and aches to have more. He readily admits that the current state of society is due to the cowardice of people like himself, who would not speak out against book burning when they still could have stopped it. "Do you know why books such as this are so important? Because they have quality. And what does the word quality mean? To me it means texture. This book has pore"(Gatten, Brian). Faber speaks these words to Montag toward the beginning of "The Sieve and the Sand," as he explains the importance of books. Faber tells Montag that it's not the books themselves that Montag is looking for, but the meaning they contain. The same meaning could be included in existing media like television and radio, but people no longer demand it. According to Faber, Montag is really in search of "quality," which the professor defines as "texture"--the details of life, that is, authentic experience. People need quality information, the leisure to digest it, and the freedom to act on what has been learned. Faber's comment that a book has "pores" also evokes the sieve in the title "The Sieve and the Sand." Trying to fill your mind by reading books is like trying to fill a leaking bucket, because the words slip from your memory before you can even finish reading anything. He berates himself for being a coward, but he shows himself capable of acts that require great courage and place him in considerable danger.
In keeping with Clarisse's tradition, Faber provides inspiration and encouragement for Montag as he continues on his journey of self-realization. In turn, he is inspired by the younger man to be more daring in standing up against the oppressiveness of society. Additionally, Faber's character provides a bit of history to the reader as his nostalgic musings offer a glimpse of how a once literate society degenerated into an oppressive, ignorant state.
Beatty is a complex character, full of contradictions. He is a book burner with a vast knowledge of literature, someone who obviously cared passionately about books at some point. "We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the constitution says, but everyone made equal ... A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it. Take the shot from the weapon. Breach man's mind" (Gatten, Brian). Captain Beatty speaks these lines toward the end of "The Hearth and the Salamander" while explaining the revisionist history of firemen to Montag in his home. It is important to note that Beatty's whole speech has an ironic sound. He defends the disintegration of authenticity in a passionate, almost regretful tone. He is willing to defend the "equalization" of society while still remaining educated himself, "What traitors books can be! You think they're backing you up, and they turn on you. Others can use them, too, and there you are, lost in the middle of the moor, in a great welter of nouns and verbs and adjectives"(107), and denounces the use of books as weapons while freely using them that way himself. Because of these ambiguities, Beatty is the most complex character in the book, and he uses his book-educated mind, his "loaded gun," to manipulate Montag mercilessly. One wonders, as Faber does, if he chose his job after a fall from faith in books, as he claims, or to enable himself to gain legal access to books through his position of authority. It is important to note that Beatty's entire speech to Montag describing the history of the firemen is strangely ambivalent, containing tones of irony, sarcasm, passion, and regret, all at once. Beatty calls books treacherous weapons, yet he uses his own book learning to manipulate Montag mercilessly.
In one of his most sympathetic moments, Beatty says he's tried to understand the universe and knows firsthand its melancholy tendency to make people feel bestial and lonely. "It's perpetual motion; the thing man wanted to invent but never did .... It's a mystery .... Its real beauty is that it destroys responsibility and consequences ... clean, quick, sure; nothing to rot later. Antibiotic, aesthetic, practical"(Gatten, Brian). Beatty speaks these lines to Montag outside Montag's home in "Burning Bright," right before Montag burns him to death with the flamethrower. He muses about the mystical nature of fire, its unexplained beauty, and the fascination it holds for people. With characteristic irony, Beatty, who has just accused Montag of not considering the consequences of his actions, then defines the beauty of fire as its ability to destroy consequences and responsibilities. What he describes is very nearly a cult of fire, a fitting depiction of their society's devotion to cleanliness and destruction. Unfortunately, Montag turns Beatty's philosophy against him by turning the flamethrower on his boss, inflicting an "antibiotic, aesthetic, practical" death.
He is quick to stress that he prefers his life of instant pleasure, but it is easy to get the impression that his vehemence serves to deny his true feelings. His role as a character is complicated by the fact that Bradbury uses him to do so much explication of the novel's background. In his shrewd observations of the world around him and his lack of any attempt to prevent his own death, he becomes too sympathetic to function as a pure villain.
To promote sameness the government of this society outlawed books, therefore every one was equal. No one in society knew more than another person and that's how peace was kept. Being that Montag wanted to be able to understand what he read, he broke the norm for that society so that made him wanted by any and every one. In Fahrenheit 451 Montag, Faber, and Beatty's struggle revolves around the tension between knowledge, and ignorance.
