Author's Note: In class we read the book Fahrenheit 451 and we had to read a comparison essay. This is only a rough draft and I'm still making changes so it'll get better , but for now just deal with it.
“Evil is everywhere, it sits at our breakfast tables and shares our houses and is our closest friend.” Even though we don’t know the author of that quote it is still very important in our lives and in literature. Evil comes unannounced like Beatty in Fahrenheit 451 or the blind man in Life of Pi, and yet it also announces itself right in front of you, like in the words of the Bible. It doesn’t matter how it comes, evil is always the same even though it comes in different ways.
Evil is everywhere. Even in God’s book, for the devil is the most evil being ever created. The devil tempts, Like when Jesus goes into the wilderness and the devil tempts him. The devil sugar coats,Like when the serpent tells Eve that God will not punish her if she eats the fruit.The devil was possessing the snake and because the snake made the fruit sound like something she was allowed to eat, she lost everything and cursed the human race for centuries to come. This is the world of the devil, never ending until the person it is tempting is under his command. With Eve it worked, with Jesus it did not. This happens in other works of literature too.
Burning knowledge. Handicapping and ensuring no technological advancement just to make people happy. This is the world of Fahrenheit 451. The fire men ensure that senseless happiness where it is maybe even more illegal to read that to rob a bank (Not that anyone is smart enough to). Beatty is the fire chief and is one of the most evil people in the whole book. He makes sugar coats things to make them sound better, “We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal. Each man the image of every other; then all are happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves against.” Beatty is sugar coating the destruction of knowledge. He is encouraging Guy not to fight back and to give in to the system and his unholy reign. Montag falls into Beatty’s words for a little while.
Beatty also taunts Guy Montag just like the Devil tempted Jesus while he was in the wilderness. When Montag and Beatty are outside Montag’s house, Beatty says, “What a dreadful surprise…For every-one nowadays knows, absolutely is certain, that nothing will ever happen to me. Others die, I go on. There are no consequences and no responsibilities. Except that there are. But let’s not talk about them, eh? By the time the consequences catch up with you, it’s too late, isn’t it Montag?” Beatty’s ongoing taunting leads Montag to killing him and the realization that that is exactly what Beatty wanted. He wanted Montag to feel guilt because Beatty couldn’t die, just like the devil.
Another devilish character appears in the novel Life of Pi. When Pi is on the boat and at the end of the line another "man" pulls up in a life boat and talks to Pi, tempting him with his company and eventually ends up trying to kill him: “’I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all I've said and done. I'm a worthless person,' he burst out.
'What do you mean? You are the most precious, wonderful person on earth. Come, my brother, let us be together and feast on each other's company.'”
The blind man talks to Pi and is trying to make Pi comfort him and console him by inviting him to his boat and then the devil strikes: "He landed upon me heavily. We fell half onto the tarpaulin, half onto the middle bench. His hands reached for my throat." Even though the blind man in Life of Pi doesn't do the same things as Beatty in Fahrenheit 451, or the devil in the Bible, all three of them are same. They use words and emotion to captivate us, they attack our insecurities; they will do anything to ensure we worship them and give in to their satanical reign.
Evil is everywhere. Whether it be in a lifeboat, a psychotic city corrupted by the government, or in the good word of God, it's there, and with it comes the sugary-sweet temptations of the devil.
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