In part three, Captain Beatty makes Montag burn his book collection and set his home on fire using a flamethrower before he attempts to place him under arrest. When Captain Beatty discovers that Montag is speaking to someone via the green bullet in his ear Beatty proceeds to ridicule him about his intellectual pursuits as Montag turns the safety off the flamethrower. At this moment, Bradbury is gradually building the suspense as the reader contemplates what action Montag will take.

When Montag responds by pulling the trigger and burning Captain Beatty to death, readers are often shocked and astonished that Montag would respond violently to Beatty's threats. Personally, I was surprised that Montag followed through with murdering Beatty but felt that he was justified in doing so. Montag killing Captain Beatty is a dramatic turning point in the story, as he then becomes a wanted fugitive and must flee the dystopian city immediately.

Overall, readers are often shocked, surprised, and astonished by Montag's violent reaction to Captain Beatty's threats.

The first time I read this book, my reaction was pretty much shock (although I was also relieved because that allowed Montag to get away).  I was shocked because it really seemed that Beatty was trying to get Montag to kill him.

As I read it more times and thought about it more, my reaction is that I feel sorry for Beatty.  I think that he was clearly a miserable person and wanted to die.  I think that he really agreed with the ideas that he found in the books that he read and he could not deal with the life he was leading, destroying these ideas.