Captain Beatty is an interesting character. His profession calls for him to oversee the burning of books; yet he knows a great deal about literature.
For this blog, please create Captain Beatty's back story. Write in first person, as if you are Captain Beatty and be sure to answer the following questions:
1.) Where are you from?
2.) How did you get into your profession?
3.) Why do you do what you do?
Responses should be a minimum of 250 words in length. This blog is due on Sunday, 13 March by 11:59 PM.
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ReplyDeletepart two
ReplyDeleteI decided to join a literary group at the university. There were five of us; a good-sized group we thought. There was Jenny, the normal granola cruncher. She had a femme fatal out look on life. Then, there was Horace; he wanted everything to go to anarchy. He would be the one to relate everything to a conspiracy by the government, or whoever “they” were, he was sure that they were the ones coming after us. There was Lucy. She was nice. She liked poetry and romance novels. If there were no happy ending, she would twist it into her own. There was Francine. She was the most down to earth person I had ever met. She could rationalize any metaphor, any nuance. She was also one to be the first to laugh at any innuendo. Then there was me. I was the nerd in the group. I had a reference for everything. I was the walking encyclopedia. I had pretty much memorized anything I read once. I was majoring in drama and history, so my skills were being put to good use. This group of friends taught me a dark thing about literature. Once the book leaves the author’s hands, the meanings are open for interpretation. The same words could be read by everyone, but we would each have a different meaning, all of them contrasting of course. I did not like this open-endedness. I liked finite meanings. I discovered that none could be.
The college cut the Drama department in the last year of my master’s degree. You should have seen the riots. An entire building was burnt down. However, this probably did not do well for our cause. In retrospect, all we needed to do was a good fundraiser, but no, we were crazed and violent youths. The building burning was a sight. The paint curling, ashes floating up towards the heavens and the warmth and comfort among the fumes. Its familiarity and peculiar comforts despite the danger was splendidly nauseating. Of course, we were all expelled after that incident, all of our credits stripped. We were on the news. It scared people. The educated youth were not supposed to make such rash destructive decisions. Most people did not read full books at this time anyways. Their digests and clichéd quotes were all they needed to feel happy about their literary knowledge. Some people even thought that books were dangerous, or just a waste of time when they could be doing something that did not take as much effort, like watching the television, or being thrilled on a ride.
There was a movement by us in the departments concerning literature from the colleges and university network who decided to rebel. We had large demonstrations where we burnt books. We would read and burn books all together at once. If people sopped us, we won, but if they let us go through with it, we knew that the book was not worth anything if it was not scorched. People thought the books’ pages floating; embers all glowing were as pretty as fireworks. We started burning the things we loved. We learned too quickly that people did not care about these works of art anymore. We destroyed creations. At first, I felt like I was burning people’s babies. I remembered that they could not feel. We were making more of them than we needed to. We started to call ourselves Fire Fighters. It was a play on words because we did fight with fire, and we were in a sense “protectors” of the unwashed illiterate masses by not enlightening them.
We were surprised when the government did not shut us down, but bought us the kerosene! It was extraordinary. I was personally dumbfounded when I was asked to go on a speaking crusade of sorts to put down anti-burn demonstrations. It happened all so quickly. I know now that it is all better this way. I am one of the elite. I have to burn the books. I have to throw my friends in the fire. It is only to deliver them from a place where they are unappreciated and unloved. I was not enough love them. It would be too selfish. Times are different now. Books stayed the same, the people changed.
I was four years old, my mother reading me stories before bed in our small Ohioan apartment on the third floor that we shared with my seven other siblings, my father, and my grandparents. They were simple ones, with no plot, just numbers, colors, letters. Those are innocent books. I was five years old, sitting on my grandfather's lap. He told me old stories of grief and suffering from the “old country” that he had learned to teach lessons to youngsters like me. I was six years old, beginning to pick up books on my own. I liked the ones about monsters and dragons. They told pretty stories; some were educational. When I was seven, I read chapter books. They were mystery books, classic whodunits. They weren’t anything as complicated as Sherlock, but they were more innocent then that. As I got older, the books became more revolutionary in nature. They began to divulge in political standings, religion wars, and personal opinions. Animal Farm, Hamlet, even some Tolstoy were the books I liked in high school. I was proud of each book I devoured. It was mine to interpret and they were decadent. It was as if a challenge was completed every time I turned the last page. They were cheap entertainment. Free with a piece of plastic with black bars and your name at a big building with columns and grey stones. I was a regular bookworm. Some even called me an intellectual.
ReplyDeleteBooks soon became to define me. When I was reading Huckleberry Fin, I thought like him. When voting on some topic, I would consult books. My opinion was no longer my own. I began to be influenced by these pieces of paper with scribbles on them. I was taunted and teased about it. In college, a group of boys came and threw my books from the dormitory window. I watched stunned while their worn pages opened like wings, while others merely thudded to the ground. Something was realized that day. I became aware that these opinions, quotes, and thoughts written down were somewhat invincible, unlike any friend would be. Even when thrown out a window, I could still go and collect them. They would never turn their backs on me; never would sell me out. Their disputes and opinions would be for me to monitor. I could choose which I wanted to believe. I could skew their opinions and skew their meanings to justify what I was doing at the time. I could always find someone who thought the same as me, always at least one author would agree.
My name is Beatty. Early in my life, I was a great student at a well known private school in Detroit. I was always picked on when I was a child because of my intelligence. Reading was very important to me and I made it a point to show I was better than the rest of the students in school. However, they did not appreciate my quotations from the literature. It was not long after that I began to hate books and reading. I could see no good coming from it. The books were obviously breeding hatred and I saw them as dangerous to myself and indeed, the world. I must have not been the only person in the United States that felt this way because shortly after I had shunned books, the United States Government decided to ban then and to bring back the position of fireman. As soon as I had learned what it was that firemen as supposed to do, burn books, I had immediately decided to apply. It is my firm belief that nothing good can become of books. They have pointless information that can only hurt others and bring pain to myself. I felt liberated whenever I reduced a book to hot ashes. I knew that I was doing the world a favor by ridding it of the corruption in these books that caused much misery in the world. Even if the people do not realize it, they are much better off being mindlessly entertained then by thinking and possibly hurting other with literature.
ReplyDeleteThe name is Beatty. Just like another stranger, I have a story of my own. My story isn't similar to yours when I was young. My mother was very sick. My father worked countless nights to buy her a heated blanket to keep her poor soul warm. That is all she wanted. My family wasn't your typical average family. Because of all her medical bills we were poor. My mother sure got her use out of the electric blanket. One night my mother had gotten real sick. She laid in bed for the whole week with not a moment of het blanket turned off. Well it over heated a week later. Never had been turned off for mire than a week. The house was of nothing but flames. The spark had gone bad and we had lost everything, including my mother. I had lost my heroic father, because he refused to leave the house without his beloved. His beloved would be the woman who gave birth to me, my mother. She was beautiful. My parents were the happiest upon I have ever seen. I was 12 years of age and on my own. That fire wrecked my childhood and my future life. I admired my parents but they turned to dust before my eyes. After that incident, I dedicated my life to fired. In this process I became a firefighter. All day everyday, twenty four seven I was at the fire department. Life as I know it has been fire. All along never made me fade that memory.
ReplyDeleteAs I sit in the firehouse waiting for A call I think back to when I was a small boy. I lived in a little house with just my mother, but she works most days. So sit in the house all alone, but I have company. I have my books that a read and devour without pause because they are my only friend and companion. Eventually though through school I gained friends and my books fell to the wayside. I began to dispose my books and look only for fun. One day I burned my English book, not because of the book, but because of the man behind the book. It felt so good to burn the book that I kept doing it at every chance. I loved to watch the pages and the woods disappear into the air and I liked to watch the words float away on the smoke, never to be read again. Soon after learning my love to burn, I learned of the firefighters. It became my goal to become a man who burned books for the love of fire and for the hatred of the men behind the books who seemed to know everything. So here I sit as a fireman captain, but now I realize that I still love my books, my companions. Now though I can do nothing to save them, what is left for me?
ReplyDeleteHello I'm name is captain Beatty. I am a man who lived in NewYork city,but I had to escape because I was caught reading. I ran and ran from the firemen and police. In that day of age they didn't have the mechanical hound. The police caught me but I escaped but with a price. They shot me in the back. I was wounded I was able to make to a hospital in because Mr. Montag who was Guy Montag's father helped me but I still hated him. He got me a job at the firemen trade the very organization I had to escape from. I was trained to hate the people that read books, which was me at one time. I moved my way up the ranks and became captain. I took my aggression out on book lovers burning everything. Then Guy Montag joined the firemen trade and I hated him so I twisted him and twist him into being more curious about books and one day I will burn everything he owns. You ask me why do what I do. Well I do it because I love it burn everything or go home and one day I will get my revenge.
ReplyDeletemy name is captain Beaty and i am from the small town of Alden N.Y. My parents were born into wealth as was i in the the following generation. My family owns a huge mansion in which we have a secret library 100 feet below the surface. My parents read to me every night until the age of 10, after that and throughout high school i would secretly read, hiding the book carefully. One of my teachers caught me reading one day and threatened to have the fireman burn down my house if i weren't to join the team. From there on out i was a murderer, in the back of my mind i knew i would regret becoming one in the future. Finally my fate came to my realization, one of my fellow fireman who went on a rage, as i was picking away at his conscious; he went over the edge. fire burning in the nights blaze the smell of flesh becomes strong then fades, i can only feel the pain...it becomes a heavy weight on my chest, i collapse only to find myself writing this for english class.
ReplyDeleteHi my name is Beatty. I was a kid living in Detroit just going on with my life like the rest of the kids around where I lived. The only difference was that my Dad was the fire chief for the local fire department. All we did as kids was ride around in our parents cars all night long and then got to school the next day without a care in the world. Everything was just so far away, until that one day. My one friend’s house was the first house I had ever seen go up in flames. We all thought it was cool, even him though his house was being burnt down. Funny I remember all these book lines but I can’t remember his name. Any way we saw them drive up and since my dad was the fire chief we thought it would be funny to take the truck. We ended up crashing it a few miles down the rode. I was the only survivor of the crash. After that I had a talk with my dad so that I would change my life style. He brought me home a few books one night so I would see the importance of what he did. It was then that he told me that it would one day be up to me to help finish burning the books. So if you ever wondered why some of us burn books its because all my friends died in that truck because a book reader was driving the minimum speed limit. After that I wanted revenge on them all.
ReplyDeleteHi, my name is Captain Beatty, but you can just call me Beatty. I come from a wealthy family from Northern Virginia. You see my family had much power in the years before the job of the fireman changed from putting out fires to now creating fires to burn books. Several years ago my family was in power. This came to be when The United States government could not control its citizens. My family was prepared for this. History shows that all powers fall, and then the day came, the fall of the United States when my family stepped in. There was a broadcast to everyone in the country explaining that what happened was all in fault of books. They gave you a hope of what could never happen. They explored worlds that didn’t exist and talked about things that weren’t real. By the end, people saw my great great, great, grandfather, the one who had given the speech to be a hero. He became the new leader. Ever since, my family and a few others have led this country. We control everything that goes into the minds of the citizens. Books are banned and that’s where I come in. I am the captain of the firemen, of all firemen. I took over after my father who has now grown a little old. What I do is a part of me; it’s what my family does. You may think its wrong of me to know so much about literature when you see me destroying it. This is only good for the country. When only a few know a great amount, things are more easily dealt with, as there is no rebellion; there is only one side, my side, the right side.
ReplyDeleteI am sitting in the mess hall in my college Harvard university where I have been studying history in literature. The food in this place is deadly awful. It is the year 2050 and the world is starting to change dramatically . The schools are changing very fast to becoming learn what u want to learn into learn what we tell you to learn. Their have been protests all over in the state capitials saying it is unconstitutional. I have met this lady in my English 101 class, she is a beautiful young blonde who is about 5’ 6’’ with golden hair just past her shoulders. She wears all kinds of designer brand cloths that cost a fortune. My favorite book I ever read was the play Julius ceaser by William shakespare. The girl I had met and now I am married to her, we live together but we have been fighting a lot. We have been fighting because she has been yelling at me because I read books all the time. She hates it because it is now illegal to have any book in your house. If anyone finds a book in a house and they report it the firemen will come and burn down your whole house. Even if they only find one book in the house they will burn everything down. My wife tells me that she will have to leave me if I keep on reading my books. Since I love her so much I decide to get rid of the books and join the firemen house so I don’t ever think or have the urge to read another book. So I have been a fireman for about 30 years now only for my lovely wife and we have been living very happily since then.
ReplyDeleteI am concerned. I have a secret. My name is Beatty, but it wasn't always that. I am a captain at the local firehouse and the community depends on me to dispose of harmful books but before you fully understand my situation you must know my history. I am from the large city of Burbank, California. My whole family grew up there dating back to 2012 when my great, great-grandparents lived. I lived in a small house next to a building that used to be a library when my grandparents were alive. My grandfather built the library with his bare hands and my grandmother was the librarian. They had a passion for books and frequently told me how it would "free their mind" to read. I remember clearly how I would come home after school and visit the library listening to stories about princes and princesses or villains and heroic men. Everyday a new story came about. My grandparents had always told me to just use my imagination when things were bad, and everything would be alright, but one day things went terribly wrong. I went to the library after school and no one was there. It was a mess. I had never witnessed destruction like that before. My mother was standing there waiting for me when I first arrived. She swept me up and ran. We kept running and she started to cry. I asked what happened to my grandparents and not until we stopped at a store did she start to tell me that the government had sent 80 men to the library because Emperor Cho wanted them to close. He did not want war. He did not want individuals. He wanted just a group of nobodies, nobodies who did not think for themselves. This started the demise of the world as I know it. My mother told me why we were running. The government had killed my grandparents. Cold blood killing. They also were killing any other family members which is why we had to become completely new people. I changed my name, my hair, my clothes, everything. I grew up completely different and my mother wanted to protect me. When I was old enough for a job she told me the best job for me would be a fireman because no one would suspect me there. That is how I became a fireman. I was hiding. I am only in this profession to protect myself. I cannot count on anyone anymore. The government killed my grandparents and 3 years ago killed my mother. I struggle everyday with my challenges. I hope and pray that no one finds the books that I still have. What concerns me is that I see myself in a man named Guy Montag. When he first came to the firehouse I could tell he was different. I don't want him to end up like me which is why I told him he had 24 hours to get rid of the books. I can only hope he heeds my warning.
ReplyDeleteHello. My name is Captain Beatty. I was born and raised into a small family in a small town called Marilla. My childhood wasnt the greatest, but the one thing that made it all worth it was the books i was able to read. My family, though it was small, was full of some of the country's brightest writers. I was blessed with the privilege of reading, along with the books my family had already written, the novels and stories of many of the worlds most famous writers. I was socially exiled in my school due to my reading. No-one had my passion for reading in school. Everyone believed that books were a waste of time. They believed that the way things should be done is that everything should become computerized. My thought was that we already have enough automated machinery. we dont need any more of it. It wasn't long after high school that the government banned a great many books and ordered the once proud fireman to set them all ablaze. The first place i found that was burned was my own home. it happened while i was away from home on a vacation. when i came back, all i saw was ashes of the once elegant mansion that stood there not two nights ago. I was so enraged by this that i went out searching for something to take my rage out on. the only thing that came to my mind was burning books. the way it went in my mind is that "they caused my life to become like this! they must pay." and this became my philosophy. Not long after this, i became a fireman and, after a month, i was promoted to captain. my crew and i, in my opinion, were ledgendary. we went in, burned everything, and got out in less than 30 seconds time. We were on the top. Then along came Guy Montag. there was something about him that reminded me of myself and my former passion for books. some of his actions rekindled my passion for them, but not enough to let me break the law. eventually, he started to collect books. i knew this and i dont think he knew until that fateful day. we were all at the station when we got a call. when we arrived at the house, the look on Montag's face was like seeing fear intertwined with rage. i knew that if someone would give a little push, he would go off on a rampage. i was foolish enough to give him a flamethrower. and on top of this, i started to heckle him with quotes that i still remembered from my childhood. this sent him off. the last thing i saw was a wall of fire coming at me. as i lay there feeling my own flesh start to melt, i wondered 'was this all worth it?' then it hit me. the only reason i truely joined the fireman was to try and find if someone shared my passion. Now i am at peace. I have found him.
ReplyDeleteHi my name is captain beatty. I am from a small town were there was only a population of 1200 people who lived in the town. My mom and dad both work, my dad is a fire chief at the local fire department and my mom works for the town. Ever since I was a young boy I always admired what my father did for a living. He use to take me to work with him and teach me ever thing he knew. As I got older being a fireman became more different. Things changed then how they were when he showed me. So I started working for the fire department at the age of 16. So my partner for most of my first few years was my dad, he got me into this job. When I first arrived there it all changed from how I remembered it from when I was a little kid. Instead of saving the house from burning, we started the house on fire. We did this when people were found with books. Having books were illegal to own at this time. People thought there was no need for books so they were banned. I became captain after the captain retired. I took the job of supervising the operation and making sure ever thing runs smooth. I also am in charge of everyone in the fire house. The reason I know so much about books is because I use to read them a lot when I was young. I did up until they were banned. Now I destroy them to get back at the government for destroying what was at once mine.
ReplyDeleteBeatty's the name. If you've been in possession of any books, you probably already know that though. My story starts quite a long time ago in the city of Detroit. I lived with my mother and my two older brothers. My father left before I was born. My mother said he was going off to fight against the government's ban on books. She never understood why exactly he felt so strongly about it, so I spent a good portion of my life trying to figure it out for myself. When I turned 16, I used the money I received for by birthday to purchase a police radio. With that, I could hear all sorts of reports, including ones received by the fire department. If there were any nearby reports, I'd race over there as quick as possible on my bike and grab a few books before the firemen got there. I read countless books, almost bringing me to the brink of insanity, and still couldn't understand what it was about these things that drove my father away from my family. One day, I decided to burn them all, and it made me feel at peace. Just watching the orange light gently flicker as all those meaningless words melted away, it felt so relieving. And it was from then on that I decided to become a fireman. Yet all those words, they still cling to me, as if I were there last hope for survival. They, unfortunately, don't realize what I do for a living.
ReplyDeleteInsightful. That's what my father always called books. I was foolish enough to believe him too. I was just a small boy then - a gullible boy in Georgia, the son of an English Professor. Each night, he and I would stay up long after Mother had went to bed. There, on the floor of my father's study, he would read to me. When I was old enough, I began to read to him. Cervantes, Hawthorne, Wilde, Tolstoy - by the age of six, they were all well-known friends of mine. The professionals called me advanced for my age, but I was living the only way I knew how. Books were the pathway to knowledge, and knowledge meant happiness. My father died when I was only 16, and it was in that same year that I learned the truth about books. It was a time where the world was changing around me. Although the government had always frowned upon books, they were suddenly taking more drastic measures. The duties of firemen were changing. My mother remarried a brilliant man by the name of Johnson, the newly appointed head of the fire department. This man showed me the side of books that my father never could. The first day he moved into our house, he burned all of my father's books. As only can be expected, I protested, but he did not raise his voice at me. Calmly, he twisted the meanings of Cervantes, Hawthorne, Wilde, and Tolstoy. He used my friends, the ones I had thought I’d known so well, in debate against me. They contradicted each other, and I finally saw then that they led me to believe only what they wanted me to believe. Books were one-sided arguments, masked villains that told you only what they wanted you to hear. It is for this reason that I followed in the footsteps of my great step-father and became a fireman. It is my job to protect people from becoming something I once was. Like he opened my eyes, I will open others’.
ReplyDelete-Captain Beatty
It was a Quiet summer night when i realized what had to be done. I dont regret the fact that everything that ive done has caused the fall of mankind. as a matter a fact, i enjoy it. i love that i banned book from everyone. Me and my family are the only extraordinarily educated people in this town. For no one else dare to have books in fear that there entire life will be burned down because of it. I helped my family put the finishing touches on the mindless entertainment scheme so people wouldent even be tempted to read at all. The act of mindlessness didnt take long to kick in. I sat back and read my books for a while after it happened though just waiting to realize what i had really done to humanity. but that didnt stop me from enjoying my life wile everyone else was "enjoying" theirs too. However, some people would still be seen reading. I forced the people in my suburb to stop reading. How did i do that?, i started the fire company. Only hired the finest of people. Most of which were from my family. However, i had rewritten all the books about the fire company so people would be brainwashed. And the new twist to it, we would burn all the books that we found. to keep the "peace". thats not the real reason, the real reason is, i want all the power. and will stop at nothing to get it.
ReplyDeleteI woke in a cold sweat. I glanced at the clock. It read 2:30 am. I laid back down thinking where my life had been… It had all started at college. I was majoring in literature, I was one of a few in the class including the professor. We were thrown books. Two to three a day, but that didn’t last long. Their was a lot of resent for the few that read the full works and not just references. When that resentment peaked their was panic. Professors being ripped out of the rooms by armed men wearing all black. I had limited time of safety to get books out of their. I grabbed as many books as I could. I ran back to my house and hid them under the floor boards. But they were on to me. They came in force. They kicked down the door and came in with guns pointing. I could do nothing but sit on my bed and try not to look floorboards. They cuffed me, blindfolded me and dragged me down stairs. They took me to a reeducation camp. Where I was forced to be watch TV for hours on end. I don’t know the exact amount of time I’ve been their but it would have many men go insane. When I was sent back home , I received a letter saying I was becoming a fireman. I was so excited, back then but that was when I was being controlled. I arrived at the job with high hopes to later realize it was full of ingrates. They mentioned banned books and colleges and it all started coming back to me. So after my first day I ran back home to look under my floorboards. The books were their. My first thought was to burn them… but I didn’t I read them all and read them all over and over again. That was the first time I realized that I was on the wrong side so I stockpiled hundreds of books over my firemen career . I don’t regret it one bit.
ReplyDeleteI am Captain Beatty. Through my many years of life I learned the secrets of our government as well as their reasoning for the banning of books. I lived in Chicago with my parents. My father, a literature major, wrote several books. His view on some subjects caused several groups to be angry. My mother supported him very much, and they both taught me many things about literature. As my father continued to write, tensions continued to rise. Eventually my father's books enraged so many people, a riot broke out and he and my mother were killed by an angry mob. Luckily, I was away at my aunt's house for a week down in North Carolina. It was there, I was left a 15 year old orphan. I vowed never to allow such a horror to happen. So I devoted my life to the banning of books as well as the destruction of them. I pleaded my case for several years to the government to ban books. Using the reasoning that books only caused people to be offended and it caused people to rebel. THe government eventually agreed and banned books. After I succeeded in banning books, I devoted my life to enforce the law and I became a fireman. With my expertise in literature I am able to see the dangers in books which keeps me motivated when I burn books. Everytime I get a call, it reminds me of my parents and how the dangers of literature of got them killed. These law breakers seem to be angry about the burning, they do not realize my reasoning and that I am trying to save them.
ReplyDeleteHello, you may call me Captain Beatty. I am from the small town of Oriental, North Carolina. I grew up in town there with a large family consisting of my nine other siblings. It was not easy going up with so many people because there was always something to disagree on. We all had different religious beliefs, and all had boyfriends, girlfriends, or spouses of different origins, giving us multiple cultural ideas. I often got into fights with my older brothers, which toughened me up very much. Very quickly I learned that I would not get anywhere career-wise without a stellar education because everyone had become so competitive. I used my studies as a distraction from my conflicted family, and was the top of my class when I graduated. Back in my day, most people would go to another school after twelfth grade called college. I went to one of the most prestigious colleges, Yale. I got a degree in law and learned the legislation of the current society. At that time, society was experiencing many changes so when one of my colleagues mentioned a new government coming about, I immediately jumped aboard. As he claimed it would, a new government was in power within a few weeks. It was much different from the previous one because it simply preached happiness and its favorite slogan, “ignorance is bliss.” I was in favor of these changes because families like mine that fought all the time would no longer have anything to fight about. The idea was simply ingenious. When these changes took place, I was in charge of the new firemen institution, along with many other men. The job of the fireman was to simply set books on fire that contained radical or controversial ideas. Soon, more and more books were being burnt, but that was okay. I was just happy for the new peace our country had. This was the best change that the government has ever made because now there is no reason for anyone to argue or discriminate.
ReplyDeletemy name is captain Beaty and i am from the small town of Alden N.Y. Growing up as a child i never knew what i wanted to be, i didn't know if i was going to go to college or go to the marines, but i always knew i wanted to do something to help other people. My parents were born into wealth as was i in the the following generation. My family owns a huge mansion in which we have a secret library one hundred feet below the surface. My parents read to me every night until the age of 10, after that and throughout high school i would secretly read, hiding the books carefully so i wasn't caught. One of my teachers caught me reading one day in the boys bathroom and threatened to have the fireman burn down my house if i weren't to join the team, little did he know i was okay with this. This was how i was going to help other people, From there on out i was to burn books on sight, in the back of my mind i knew i would regret becoming one in the future.I was different than the other fireman, i let people go with books when i caught them; but when i got caught letting them go, my fate came to my realization, one of my fellow fireman who went on a rage, as i was picking away at his conscious; he went over the edge. fire burning in the nights blaze the smell of flesh becomes strong then fades, i can only feel the pain...it becomes a heavy weight on my chest, i collapse only to find myself writing this for english class.
ReplyDeleteCaptain Beatty reporting for duty. I'm just fooling around with you, but I am the main captain for the fire department around here. I came from a small town in Texas with my relatively small family. I lived with my father and two younger brothers. I've always had to look out for my younger brothers since my father was never around. He was the reason I became a fireman. He was one in his day, back when fire was a problem! Those were the crazy days, but no one around here would ever dream about that happening, you know, firemen putting out fire. Anyway, my father always told me, "Son, if I don't come back tomorrow, make sure you and you're brothers do your homework. Ya'll will get an education and live long and happy lives, or else.” I never wanted to find out what could happen if i didn't, but that quote definitely stayed with me, long past my father died on duty. I knew that I would carry out his legacy and become a fireman. However, the job description changed and I was forced to dye my hair black to be considered for the job. It was worth it though, because I got to live life just like my father had. I do this job, mostly because I feel like it keeps me close with my father. I also know of some books that I read in the old days when I was about 12 years old. Reading wasn’t banned until I was 13 years old, so I got a good year of books into my education. The books I read were mostly about firemen and their duties and honor they held and I knew that I was destined to be one of these respectable men. I know that every time I go out on a call, my father is always watching over me, which keeps me doing what I do best: starting fires.
ReplyDeleteMy name is Beatty. When I was a little kid I was just like every other kid. One way I was similar to other kids is that I loved to get my bed time story before I went to sleep. My mother would read to me every night. She was one of those people that loved to read. She taught me that every book had a meaning to it and taught a message. I grew up believing this and so I read as much as I could to try to gain as much knowledge about everything as I could. I always believed everything in books which is why when my mother started to get a very serious illness when I was nine years old, I read a book that had information about the illness that she got. The book told me that there was still a chance that my mother could survive. I thought that because the book said my mom could survive, that she would. On the day of my tenth birthday my mother passed away. That day I threw out every book that I had. It felt like the book I had read lied to me. I never picked up a book since and I started telling my friends how bad books were and that no one needs them. When the chance came up to burn all books by being a fireman I had to step in and participate. Once in a while I miss those nights that I was read to before I went to sleep but most of the time I know that books do more harm than good.
ReplyDeleteCaptain Beatty was born in a small mid-western town in the middle of Minnesota. His father, Scott, was a fire chief in this small town, and he was completely normal for the times. His mother and father had gotten married when they were both quite young, both around the age of nineteen and they had only known each other for three months. Unbeknown to Beatty's father, his wife, whose name was Natalie, was an avid reader. Natalie would read books to Beatty after he got home from school, and she often kept him home from school too. Scott was clueless for many years, until Beatty was twelve. Scott became very abusive to Natalie, and Beatty noticed that there were a lot more fires in their backyard with strangely familiar shapes as the fuel. Natalie also spent much less time with his father, and she would always cry at the fires. Beatty lived with this reality for only five months, and then it was his thirteenth birthday. On the morning of his birthday, his mother came up to him and gave him a hug and told her son that she loved him. Suddenly, Beatty was alone. His father came back after about two hours and wished his son a happy birthday, but said with fake regret that his mother was found dead in a parking lot. Since then, Scott raised Beatty and tried as hard as he could to train him to love society and just accept things the way they were. Any mention of the books or Natalie would result in brutal beatings. Scott also drilled into Beatty's head how his grandfather had been a fire chief and how the tradition would be carried on.
ReplyDeleteI'm from a small town outside of Boston. I grew up on a huge farm with several brothers and sisters, my mother and father. My childhood was a happy one, full of laughter, and time spent lovingly with the family. I remember getting up at 5 am every morning to feed the animals. Cows, chicken, pigs and horses. We had them all. I loved this time of day. After the feedings i would go to school. School was a lot different than it is today. We read, we read everything from Shakespeare to Lewis Carol. Questions were encouraged. I loved learning and school. I would come home and spend hours upon ours in our library. Dissecting books word for word, immersing myself in the fictions of other worlds. Our library was connected to the barn which was a couple hundred feet away from the main house. One day i fell asleep reading, and upon waking up could smell the scent of buring, the house was on fire. I was so terrified. It turned out that terrorists from the revolution burned the house down. I lost everything. My family, my innocence, my faith in books and the world as i knew it. I was only 15 years old. While i was living behind the walls of books my entire family was murdered. What good do books do? I later joined the revolutioin myself, redefined the meaning of being a fireman, and now am living with the goal to remove books from taking the minds of our people.
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