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In Fahrenheit 451, what is the significance of the beetle?
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In Fahrenheit 451, a beetle is the name of a high-speed vehicle. Mildred goes for a drive in one whenever she wants to smash or kill something. This would appear to indicate that beetles are just another form of mindless distraction in this dystopian society.
There's not much in the way of detailed description of beetles in Fahrenheit 451. On page 177 of the e-book version, they're described as “glittering,” which would appear to suggest that they're very shiny, just like the creatures after which they are named.
In another part of the book, a beetle taxi is described as having “hissed” to the curb. It's instructive that these high-speed vehicles are described in terms that are more appropriate to an animal, and a predator at that.
This impression is reinforced when Mildred advises Montag to go for a drive in their beetle as he's just told her that he's got an awful feeling he wants to smash and kill things. Whenever she gets such feelings, she grabs the keys of the beetle and heads off out into the country, where she smashes into rabbits and dogs. Apparently, it's a lot of fun.
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thing we know about beetles is that they are incredibly fast:
Beatty grabbed Montag's shoulder as the beetle blasted away and hit seventy miles an hour, far down the street, gone.
The breakneck speed of the beetle is significant in that it provides in this dystopian society another mindless distraction, another way to take their minds off the emptiness of their condition.
Speed, like TV, acts as a kind of anodyne to dull the pain of everyday existence. It's notable in this regard that Montag's wife, Mildred, not only watches TV all day but also, as we've seen, regularly takes to the wheel of a beetle whenever she feels the need to smash things up.
A beetle is a car in Fahrenheit 451. It is described as a vehicle that hovers over the ground and moves at intensely fast speeds. It is described as a specific car in the chapter entitled "Burning Bright", the car of the police:
The beetle was rushing. The beetle was roaring. The beetle raised its speed. The beetle was whining. The beetle was in high thunder. The beetle came skimming. The beetle came in a single whistling trajectory, fired from an invisible rifle. It was up to 120 m.p.h. It was up to 130 at least. Montag clamped his jaws. The heat of the racing headlights burnt his cheeks, it seemed, and jittered his eye-lids and flushed the sour sweat out all over his body.
This was occuring as Montag was being chased. The beetle moved so fast that noises accompanied its presence. The beetle was in pursuit of its prey and it was not about to give up.
Another important feature about the beetle is that it is the same type of car that sounds like it might have taken out Clarisse. The beetle seemed as if it could see anything even though it was traveling at fast speeds.