Fahrenheit 451 Prequel: Beatty POV

Part 2

Om the first page of the book, the following words were printed in big, black, and cursive font:

Book burning was our choice.

It gave us unity, happiness, and satisfaction. Gone were the days where dog-lovers would step on the toes of cat-lovers, with professors yelling at each other over worthless jargon. People are all friendly with one another no. No disagreements, disharmony and dissatisfaction. Books are no longer there to indoctrinate us and lead us to have more differing opinions and hence arguments. People are now all aligned in their views, and can now share close relationships with one another, forming a society marked by peace and harmony. Book burning is THE enabler allowing all of this to continue happening, playing a critical role in maintaining our happiness.

Does this book make you unhappy? If it does, then, burn it away! Fire is bright. Fire is clean. But above all, fire is powerful. Burn the books and burn their ashes too. We are above books. Why let them shackle you? We, as a society, have progressed so much and no longer have any need for books. Any information can be spread through the radio. However, there are some pests who still wilfully and desperately try to hold on to these relics of the past. They infect others with their pain and suffering, being nothing but a true menace to society. This is why we need firemen. They are the righteous men who valiantly stand against the small tide of those who wish to make everyone unhappy. The work that we do is truly heroes' work. Each book burned is a life saved.
"Monday burn Miller, Wednesday Whitmen, Friday Faulkner, burn 'em to ashes, then burn the ashes."

That is our official motto.

Beatty closed the book. Standing up, he glanced quickly at the two pictures that were plastered on the bright yellow walls in a disorientated manner yet again, just like he did when he first entered the house that day. One picture was directly below the other, and each of these two pictures depicted different stages of his life.

The first picture at the top was a picture of his first ever attempt at riding the bicycle . The look of pure agony on that little boy's face as he struggled to maintain his balance and step on the paddles to move forward never failed to make Beatty ashamed of himself. In his defence, though, no one was there to guide him and hold his hand to stabilise his stance and ensure that he did not fall. Still, Beatty was now cringing as his mind brought him back to that very moment of his childhood.

The second picture at the bottom was a picture of him in his very first set of firemen uniform, looking directly at the camera ,expressionless, while standing upright in solidarity. It was taken when he had graduated from the Fire Academy, a state-owned educational institution where all aspiring firemen would learn how to start a quick fire , along with other standard protocols and procedures that applied to all book-burning sessions.

As Beatty recalled these memories that the pictures brought back, he could not stop glancing at the two photos, constantly shifting his eyeballs up and down. Soon, the short and quick glances turned into a long, intense stare that seemed to last for an hour or two. Exhausted from all the pointless staring, Beatty finally popped some lozenges into his mouth as he headed to his bedroom to catch some sleep.