His fire was blackening. It was the solution to every problem, because it put an end to existence. When books became a problem, the solution was to burn them. This fire acted as the barrier between thoughtless, submissive society and freedom through independence. Collective society was able to use it as a distraction because fire burned thought. They could not think about cruel reality when they did not even know how to think in the first place. It was powerful enough to the destroy words and ideas which stemmed originally from the opposing fire: the same fire present in Clarisse. Beatty was, in the most literal sense, fighting fire with fire. Fire cannot extinguish other fire, however, which is why Clarisse’s flame was destined to live on in Montag. Just before he killed the Fire Captain, Montag realized, “Beatty wanted to die” (116). The destroying fire had burned Beatty from the inside out. It changed him into someone who was no one. He had no reason to live any