Nick Kimmel

Erickson

English I – 2nd

May 5, 2013

Fire, it consumes all. It purifies with its warm light. Scorching away all information, destroying

what once was complete. Taking data and ending it completely. I burned yet another house tonight. I

watched the books shrivel up and turn into things like birds, fluttering away into the night. There is

something fierce about burning that makes my blood race.

Something unusual happened on the way home from the firehouse. I was walking from the

subway station, turned a corner and ran into one of the most peculiar young girls that I have ever met.

She said her name was Clarisse and she looked at everything with such a sense of wonder, as if

everything has something to offer, has something to share. She asked me some questions I have never

thought about before or at least haven't thought about in years. The one that really struck me was when

she asked, “are you happy.” My first thought was that, of course I was happy. I have nothing to be

unhappy about but the more I thought about it the more I realized that really, even though I'm not

unhappy, I am not really happy. It's almost as if my life has no meaning. The same thing happens

everyday, nothing changes.

Guy Montag.

How could saving a life ever become routine? When did suicide become something not to

worry about? What kind of state is our society in that people trying to kill themselves raises no

eyebrows?

Tonight when I got home I discovered that Mildred tried to kill herself by taking all of her
sleeping pills at once. Of course I immediately called in the emergency, but the people that came to

help were not at all what I expected. I thought they would at least send a physician's assistant. The

people who came were two men who had received no medical training. The revealed to me that cases

such as Mildred's were common, they would respond to several houses a night. I still don't know if I

will be able to sleep after seeing the total calm they had when pumping out her stomach and cycling out

her blood. It's like they took out every part of her that was her and put in something else. The thing they

put in her stomach was like a snake, seeing everything inside her and taking out all the bad. I need to

make sure we have food in the house because they said she would be ravenous in the morning. As I'm

writing this I keep almost falling asleep.

Until Tomorrow,

Guy Montag

What is in books that people are willing to run the risk of being caught to have them. Some, like

the woman tonight are even willing to give their lives for them, why? There must be something inside

that is worth that much. I am almost tempted to read one, just to see what is in it.

Tonight a woman burned herself with her books. She was just standing there, staring at us as

we destroyed her house. It was the worst experience I've had while burning a house. She just stood

there, staring, her eyes just bored into the back of my neck. I could tell she was judging me, seeing me

for the evil that I really am. Once we had piled all the books up and soaked them in kerosene I tried to

get her out but she quietly refused. Beatty was ready to burn her with her books when she pulled out a

match and lit herself and the books around her on fire. Right before she lit the match she quoted

Latimer saying that her death would set all of the country on fire. My hands, almost on their own

accord took another book home. I also have several hidden behind the vent in the front hall. I really

need to decide what I am going to do with them. I don't think I will be going to work tomorrow, I feel a
little ill.

Guy Montag.

I don't know why, I just needed to talk to someone who understood. I sat in my house I read

books out loud to Mildred. She didn't even try to understand any of them. The only reason she stayed at

all was because she was scared of me. How ironic is that? I was trying to give her knowledge, power,

and she was afraid, terrified even! She was terrified not of just the knowledge but of her way of life

being changed. Finally I remembered that strange conversation I had in the park all those years ago. He

said his name was Faber and he was a former English professor. It's really amazing what he told me

about the state of our society. How people didn't want to learn. All they wanted to do was be

entertained.

I went to Faber's house. I needed so badly to have an ally in what I was doing, to speak to

someone who understood what I was saying. He listened to me and we decided to wait for the war to

tear our society apart and we would be there to pick up the pieces, until then he is going to get in touch

with a book printer he knows and have him make copies of the Bible I found. I need to bring money to

him to help for start up costs. He also gave me a device, a lot like a seashell radio, to put in my ear that

would let me talk to him whenever I need. We also planned to plant books in the houses of firemen,

have them burn their own houses. I can only hope our plan works.

Guy Montag.

It was stupid of me but I was just so frustrated!

Mildred had two of her friends over watching a program with her. None of their husband were

there. I asked if they were off getting ready for the war. They all laughed it off but you could tell that
they were nervous about it. I kept talking to them, all the time getting more and more mad at them.

They were just like children. Absolutely oblivious to the serious things going on around them. All they

wanted to do was watch programs and have “fun.” They seemed like they didn't care at all about how

their husbands could die in this war. Honestly, I don't even know if they would care if they did die. I got

out a book of poetry and read them Dover Beach, a poem. Immediately one of them started sobbing,

the other got immensely mad at me. Calling me “nasty,” for making them think of such things. They

didn't want to be taken out of their state of ignorance. They wanted to live without having to think. The

poem brought made them think, and begin to understand something that was totally foreign to them.

Guy Montag.

How did Beatty learn so much about books if he is so much in support in their destruction? I

tried to use logic I got from books when confronting him but he knew most of my quotes already and

had his own arsenal of them to throw at me. Somehow I think there is much more to Beatty than meets

the eye. I bet he has had an education or at least reads many of the books he is supposed to burn. I must

be much more careful in the future to steer clear of Beatty. He could very much be a danger the plan

Faber and I came up with.

Guy Montag
 Why did I think I could get away with having the books? Especially with Beatty obviously

knowing I had them. We got a call tonight and when we arrived it was to my house! Apparently

Mildred called in that I had books. Imagine that! My own wife reporting me and having our house

destroyed. Whats weird is that when she arrived she walked with her things straight out to the taxi

without even looking at me. I've been thinking about it and really I'm not in love with her anymore like

Clarisse said. I feel a little saddened because we lived together for so long but I am not nearly upset as I

should be.

Beatty gave me a flamethrower to burn the house down with. Honestly, even though it was

painful to destroy all that I had worked so hard for, it was a relief to not have to worry about it all

anymore. As each of the three wall TVs were destroyed I just was amazed at how easy it was. I do not

know what will happen when I finish, but I guess I will worry about that later.

Guy Montag

He wanted it to happen. I'm sure of it. I didn't want to do it. Why did I do it??? The image will

forever be burned into my mind. Beatty engulfed in flames writhing around on the grass. Trying

desperately to put himself out yet at the same time knowing that he wont be getting up again. He

confronted me after I finished with my house and threatened to arrest me. I pointed the flamethrower at

him, not really thinking about what I was doing. He said that I would never pull the trigger, he took a

step towards me, so I killed him. I sprayed liquid fire over him, sweeping back and forth. The other

firemen stared on impassively. Not caring that I had just reduced their chief, my chief, into a pile of

smoldering bones and tendons of melted asphalt. I knocked them out then ran away. What else could I

do?
 Guy Montag.

I've run away. I had to go somewhere, I didn't know where to go so now I'm at Faber's house,

watching the police hunt for me from Faber's small television. On my way here I almost got run over

by a car full of kids and my leg still hurts from where the mechanical hound injected me. I need to

figure out a way to get out of town.

Ok, Faber just told me about a group of intellectuals that hides out on the railroad tracks that I

need to reach. I gave Faber the money I brought for him to use to pay the printer. Also, I am having him

burn everything I touched in the house and turn on the water sprinklers so that the mechanical hound

doesn't come here. I got some alcohol and old clothes from Faber and I 'm going to get into the river,

change into the other closes, douse myself in alcohol, and hopefully throw the hound off my scent.

Wish me luck.

Guy Montag

The group of people I have joined is pretty amazing. They are mostly former teachers and

professors. Apparently there is a nationwide group of people who have all memorized different groups.

So really all the great literary works are not lost, they are just spread out.

Granger, one of the men I met, has given me a bottle of liquid that, since I drank it, should

throw the Mechanical hound off my scent. I don't even think they are hunting me anymore because we

watched them try to find me on the portable TV Granger has. They found some other poor fool who

was out walking at night and killed him instead. They never even showed the face of the man.

I wonder if Mildred is upset about my “death.” She probably doesn't even care. I can see her in

my minds eye, sitting in a hotel room, plugged into one of her programs without a care in the world. I
wonder if she will ever think back to the time we spent together or if I to will just become a shadow of

a memory in her mind.

Guy Montag

The city is gone. It was there one moment, then all we heard were the rush of jet engines. Then,

about twenty seconds later, the giant explosion that ripped the city apart. The war has only just begun

yet it is already over. I can only hope that Faber has already left town to see his printer friend. Still, I

wonder about Mildred. What were her last moments like? Sitting in a hotel room, trying to block out

the sound of the jet engines from overwhelming her program, totally oblivious to the destruction

descending upon her all too quickly. What were her last thoughts? I will never know.

The remaining survivors and I begin our slow walk toward the city. I don't know what we hope

to find. I can tell from where I stand that the destruction was nearly total. Yet there still might be some

small soul. Waiting for us to come and rescue. Willing to learn and commit themselves to our cause. We

have a long day ahead of us.

For the last time,

Guy Montag.