Knowledge Is Power, But It Can Also Lead to Destruction

The every occuring theme in Fahrenheit 451 is "knowledge is power." However, it could also be that not knowing is better too. At the beginning of the novel, Guy just goes along and does his own job, no questions asked. So, he has never known another way of life, and he is happy. But then Clarisse shows up, and shakes things up for Guy. He begins to gain knowledge of a past life when things were a lot different than the times he is experiencing now. He wants to find out more, which is dangerous for him to do in that society. As he learns more about the old times and begins to read books, he becomes a "threat" to soceity. Beatty has a problem with power as well. He knows too much, and uses his power to taunt Guy. Like I have said, Beatty must have been reading books himself because he would just start quoting passages from books and authors, and it made me wonder how he knew all of it. Because, if Guy was being suspected for reading, why was Beatty not. That did not make too much sense to me. But, Millie had no idea what was going on, and she was happy. Therefore, another message could be "ignorance is bliss." Millie was perfectly content with her three t.v. screens and her various reality t.v. shows that she did not need books, reading, or learning to make her happy. She wanted nothing to do with what Guy was getting involved in. Because Beatty knew so much, it ultimately ended in his destruction. Because, he just kept quoting things to Guy and making him mad that finally Guy just snapped and used the flame thrower on him. While I find that is violent, it was also symbolic in that Beatty had become much like a book himself and needed to be burned. I just thought about that for a minute after I had read it and thought "why a flame thrower?" But, it makes sense now. Beatty was becoming a threat, and needed to be disposed of.