He believes that fire will solve all problems and that the enforcement of fire as a form of punishment has no alternative. Beatty uses fire as a destructive source to mask his insecurities and his feelings toward society.
Montag uses fire to cleanse his past and rid aspects of life that he can do without. In the beginning of the novel, Montag uses fire destructively; however, by the end, he appreciates its warmth and cherishes its peaceful nature. On the first page of this novel, Montag says, "It was a pleasure to burn"" (1). The fact that Montag uses the past tense to describe his pleasure for burning suggests that he no longer feels this pleasure anymore. In fact, Montag notices this warming aspect early on in the novel when he senses someone is following him. When he is trying to find the person who is following him, he is able to pursue this person by trailing their body warmth. Later in on the novel when Beatty makes Montag burn his own house down, Montag's last words to Beatty are, "We did not burn right"" (119). This suggests that Montag is finally standing up for what he believes society should do with fire. He turns towards Beatty and sets him aflame as a way of eliminating the toxicity and destructivity that Beatty spread to the world. Montag then goes on to say, "You always said, don't face your problem, burn it. Well, now I've done both. Good-bye, Captain"" (121). Montag confronts his own fears "the Hound and Beatty" and eradicates those qualms through the act of burning. Montag cleansed himself in this situation, as he wanted to rid himself of those aspects in life that were threatening his well being and mental state. For some time, Montag had felt he was doing a disservice to society as a fireman. Ironically, Montag used the thing that caused him so much grief and pain to eventually cleanse himself of those same grievances. Also, when the bomb goes off in the city, Montag and the other fugitives are thrown to the ground.
