English II - Fahrenheit 451

“The Hearth and the Salamander”

Vocabulary AFL #1 - 10/5/18

DLT: I can use my vocabulary in context in an extended paragraph.

Directions: Utilizing your vocabulary notes, construct a unique paragraph below utilizing at
least 10 vocabulary words from the “Hearth and Salamander” in Fahrenheit 451. It is
important that words are being used in their proper form of speech. For instance, if a word is an
adjective, it is being used as such, and the same for a noun, adverb, and verb. It is also
important that you demonstrate through the context of the sentence that you indeed understand
how to use the words you have chosen.

There I was, suspended over the roof of a small cottage in the middle of nowhere or,
maybe it was somewhere. Below me, the cottage door was kicked in by my
comrades, the large metal hound leading the way inside. Soon after, a small family
consisting of a Mother, Father and two sons were dragged out by the scruff of their
necks by two of the others who had entered minutes before, we had been sent in
order to find a stash of books that had been reported by neighbors of these four. I was
then lowered onto the roof where, I started to hack away at it’s shingles with my tools
in order to search the top floor. I had a proclivity for hitting things, so this was
definitely the job for me. I broke through the roof, entering the attic where to my
surprise I found stacks on stacks of books piled high to the ceiling.
I called out to those below “Come upstairs!”
And I was soon greeted with a torrent of hard blows to the floorboards that were
covering a set of stairs leading downwards. My comrades from the department
flooded inside, gasoline and flamethrowers at the ready.
“All booked up” one of them said in a joking manner.
“Alright boys let’s get this over with.” the chief spoke in his melancholy tone.
I walked over to a number of books stacked high. With my large black boot i sent a
kick into the bottom of the stack, sending the books tumbling down with a loud BANG!
Those in my department carrying the gasoline started kicking stacks down, dumping
the viscous fluid all over the paper-backed menace. We, who had emptied our gas
cans all over the room started down the stairs while those carrying the flamethrowers
set the top floor alight.
We exited the building, seeing the mother and father bawling their eyes out, having
seen their entire livelihood burned to the ground in front of them. The tears that
poured out of their eyes may have been enough to extinguish the fire by itself. The
two sons on the other hand, stood stolid while the fire from the building illuminated
their faces. The mother charged at the Chief who was speaking to another member of
the department, her small, delicate hands gripping his uniform.
“Please sir, please put it out!” she cried, trying to appeal to his sense of morality but,
the chief simply ignored her.
I could respect that, chief ignoring the woman. We were the custodians of this land,
protecting it from the heresy that filled the paper backed menace that we burned day
in and day out. We were almost nomadic in our travels, not one case the same as the
other, one day the building may be vacant, others it may have a family like this. Either
way, I was glad to do my part. But that’s the end of this entry into my notebook, maybe
it’ll be a different story another time.

- Fireman Beatty