From Ashes, Arises New Hope

Fahrenheit 451 Alternate Ending

Christain Brown 2nd Hour

 As I walked around, exploring the camp, I searched for others that I possibly knew,

or at least recognized. There were countless amounts of people whose homes I personally burned

down and destroyed, living their lives homeless and hungry. People whose lives I destroyed.

They had everything snatched and engulfed in flames by me and other firemen. As I walked,

gawking at people and gloomily walking, I pondered to myself. I wondered how could people

who have nothing, still be so happy and positive. I asked a small woman, How are you all still

so light-spirited?. She responded, How are you not? We have everything that we risked our

lives for when we lived in the city. Even if we do not have our fancy houses, we are free. We

have not only books, but we have each other. As you live without the auxiliary benefits that you

once had, you learn what truly brings you happiness,. Granger noticed me and walked over to

speak, I noticed that you have met Jamie, she is actually a part of a special division of books.

She is 7 different Magic Treehouse books, and her brother James is another 7. They teach

children when they are young how to comprehend basic themes as they age to build up to larger

and more complex ideas. I stood in amazement, a person who not only memorized an entire

book front to back, but 7 different books. I wondered if this was a feat that I could accomplish

myself.

Granger escorted me to my own living quarters. It was a small tent with various

blankets laid down as a bed for me to rest on. This was what my life has come to. Reduced to

rags from living in a large house in mere hours. The past 30 years of my life has come into

fruition to produce a homeless, fugitive. I have destroyed homes and lives. I am a monster, this is

why Mildred abandoned me. I curled up and quietly cried myself to sleep.
 I woke up to the smell of burning books, a scent all too familiar to me. A small

gathering of people were around a fire, heating up canned goods, which was fueled by books and

wood. I thought to myself, Why, why have I left my life of burning books only to be welcomed

to another society which burns them?. I quickly remembered Grangers words, how they

destroyed them in order to not get caught with them. They can burn the books, but they cannot

destroy the words on their pages. The words live on forever in the minds of people. Thats when

Granger approached me, Whats that book that you have there under your jacket?. I

remembered, it was my bible, Oh, its just a bible., I responded. We have been looking for

someone else to help memorize half of it, from Timothy to Revelation. That could be you

Montag. I froze. Do I have what it takes to memorize even half of a book? I thought of Clarisse,

and all of the others who have lost their lives trying to continue this practice that I was afraid of

doing for so long. Yes, yes I can, I responded sternly. I spent months, painstakingly

memorizing every letter of the second half of the Bible. During this time, our numbers grew

substantially. More people from the city who had their homes destroyed by the bombs searched

shelter, and those who read books found that shelter among us. We no longer had to read in

secrecy to each other. It feels good to say we and truly feels as if I belonged, something that I

never felt when I was with Mildred or with the firemen. Granger began exploring, taking small

crews out to search for others, and they brought back books, people and stories. Stories of places

with people who were just like us, people who read books. We all decided to link together, and

form something much greater than what we could accomplish as small towns. The utopia of

Phoenix would be founded to welcome all of those who read books, and those who have
neutral views of them. From the ashes and rubble of the destroyed city we will rebuild. Finally,

there will be a place, where those who seek knowledge could roam free.