Question

fahrenheit 451 (excerpt)
ray bradbury

\when did it all start, you ask, this job of ours, how did it come about, where, when? well, i’d say it really got started around a thing called the civil war. even though our rule - book claims it was founded earlier. the fact is we didn’t get along well until photography came into its own. then — motion pictures in the early twentieth century. radio. television. things began to have mass.\

montag sat in bed, not moving.

\and because they had mass, they became simpler,\ said beatty. \once, books appealed to a few people, here, there, everywhere. they could afford to be different. the world was roomy. but then the world got full of eyes and elbows and mouths. double, triple, quadruple population. films and radios, magazines, books levelled down to a sort of paste pudding norm, do you follow me?\

\i think so.\

beatty peered at the smoke pattern he had put out on the air. \picture it. nineteenth - century man with his horses, dogs, carts, slow motion. then, in the twentieth century, speed up your camera. books cut shorter. condensations. digests. tabloids. everything boils down to the gag, the snap ending.\

\classics cut to fit fifteen - minute radio shows, then cut again to fill a

which statement best describes the conflict between montag and beatty in the excerpt?
a beatty wants to eliminate anything that disrupts the status quo, while montag is drawn to those who challenge conformity.
b beatty is upset with montag after he learns that montag has killed the girl who lived next door to him for his own safety.
c montag wants to eliminate anything that disrupts the status quo, while beatty is drawn to those who challenge conformity.
d montag has been a protege to beatty for years and feels betrayed upon learning that beatty is now a revolutionary.\

Explanation:

To solve this, we analyze each option:

• Option A: The excerpt shows Beatty explaining how media evolved to simplify and conform (e.g., books "levelled down" to simpler forms like films, radios). Beatty represents the status - quo (supporting the simplified, conforming media system), while Montag, as a character in Fahrenheit 451 who starts to question and engage with books (which disrupt the status - quo), is drawn to challenging conformity. This matches the conflict.
• Option B: There's no mention of Montag killing a girl or Beatty being upset about it in this excerpt.
• Option C: The excerpt doesn't show Montag wanting to eliminate things that disrupt the status - quo; instead, Montag is the one who is likely to challenge it.
• Option D: The excerpt doesn't discuss Montag being a protege or feeling betrayed.

Answer:

A. Beatty wants to eliminate anything that disrupts the status quo, while Montag is drawn to those who challenge conformity.