We Are Born Alone And We Die Alone, Everything Else Is Just An Illusion

Published in 1965 and written by Truman Capote; In Cold Blood narrates the story of the Clutter murder case in Holcomb, Kansas. Perry Smith and Richard Eugene “Dick” Hickock killed four members of the Clutter family in November 15th, 1959. They were later arrested in Las Vegas on December 30th, 1959.

Perry and Dick were taken back to Kansas so that they can be judged by the competent authorities. Their trial takes place on March 22nd, 1960 and is lead by Judge Tate. The prosecution of the case brings Floyd Wells (who once was Dick´s companion in jail and informed the police of Perry and Dick´s culpability regarding the case) as a witness. The defense brings up Dick´s father and Perry´s old friend from the Army, Don Cullivan, as witnesses in their favor. After various months in the trial, Perry Smith and Dick Hickock are declared guilty and are punished with a death penalty. Afterwards, Smith and Hickock are translated to a penitentiary in Lansing, where they wait for their hanging date to be chosen. While on jail, Smith and Hickock meet Lowell Lee Andrews, George Ronald York, and James Douglas Latham; all men waiting to someday be hanged. Perry then starts refusing to eat his meals and, after a while, is taken to the penitentiary´s hospital since his weight drastically decreased from 168 pounds to 115 pounds in nine weeks. Luckily, Perry recovered and went back to his cell, but during the time he was gone; Dick wrote various letters to lawyers asking them for a second trial since the first one supposedly took place unfairly. Russell Shultz receives a letter and calls for a fair trial. Although Shultz is not able to prove Perry and Dick to be innocent, he is able to delay his clients´ scheduled date for hanging for a total of four years. During this four-year period, all three of Perry and Dick´s friends in jail were hanged. Sadly, on April 14th, 1965; Perry Smith and Dick Hickock died on the gallows at the state prison. All of the Clutter case´s detectives were present during the hangings.

“ ´Well, what's there to say about capital punishment? I'm not against it. Revenge is all it is, but what's wrong with revenge? It's very important.´ ” (Capote, 335)

I believe this quote is said by Dick to Capote (although the author addresses himself as a journalist who visited both Perry and Dick periodically) while talking with him in jail. I think that Dick believes that all of the members of the jury or witnesses from the case think the same as him. I don't think he is aware that his definition of “revenge” can be different from someone else's. I think that revenge is just a mediocre excuse of holding on to the bad in our pasts. I wonder if Dick ever felt the need to take revenge on someone. Did he? Did he have any regrets when it came to his past? Did he want to take revenge on someone that once caused him trouble?  

“ ´It would be meaningless to apologize for what I did. Even inappropriate. But I do. I apologize.´ ” (Capote, 340)

These are Perry's lasts word before being hanged on April 14th, 1965. I was surprised with the fact that he actually feels sorry for killing four people. Dick never apologized. He never even admitted into killing the Clutters. I actually feel sorry for Perry, he chose a bad companion for a perfect crime. I think that Perry sometimes thought about the people he killed, but Dick just wanted to get out of jail. I think it's sad that Perry had to end the same way as Dick, he would've died in a more memorable way. They both died though, they both took the blame for the crime, and they both suffered the consequences.

I'm so glad I finished the book! This book was so much more than I expected it to be. It has (luckily) covered every expectation I had about it (although I still want to know what happened to Perry's squirrel friend). After reading In Cold Blood, I learned that life is not always going to be easy (or fair). I seriously believed that life would've been easier in the 1960's (I was terribly wrong) since there wasn't any technology or any factors that complicated our lives like in the 21st century. This book has also made me realize how lucky I am to be alive because for all we know, I could be murdered tomorrow. This novel by Truman Capote has also made me realize that there are possibly hundreds of stories about crimes and death that are happening in the world, but that I know nothing of. I have also learned that even though things don't work out like we want them to, things will always end the way they were supposed to. In Cold Blood has taught me that everything will be okay in the end, and if it is not okay; it's not the end.

"Goodbyes are bittersweet
But it's not the end
I'll see your face again"

Waiting Is Difficult, But So Is Regretting

Published in 1965, In Cold Blood tells the story of the multiple murder of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas. Truman Capote is able to narrate the story of both the murderers of the family and the journey of the detectives and police to find the responsible of this case.

After fleeing to Mexico in hopes of never getting caught for the crime they committed back in

Holcomb, Perry Smith and Richard Eugene “Dick” Hickock are obliged to go back to Kansas because of the lack of work across the country. They are able to steal a car and change its license plate, but they are not able to go unnoticed by the police. Kansas Bureau Investigation detective, Harold Nye notifies Garden City Sheriff, Alvin Dewey about the fact that both the criminals are in Kansas. The police officers are not able to arrest Smith and Hickock until they reach Las Vegas. On December 30th, 1959; Perry Smith and Dick Hickock were arrested in Las Vegas for parole violation. Officers and detectives from Kansas go to Las Vegas to interrogate the suspects. After hours of questioning, Dick confesses that it was in fact, Perry who killed all four of the Clutters. On the other side, Perry confesses that it was Dick who killed the two women and he killed the other two men. They are later transferred to Holcomb, Kansas where Perry tells the story of how Dick and him found a door that was not locked and broke into the Clutter residence the morning of Sunday, November 15th, 1959. He talks about how all they were looking for was money and that, once they couldn´t find it; killed the family in order to leave no witnesses. They later find out that the jury is contemplating the idea of a death penalty for the criminals, but that nothing has been decided yet. Dick and Perry´s trial is scheduled to be on March 22nd, 1960, but until then; Perry befriends a squirrel that lives outside his cell and names it Red.

“ ´The secret is: People are dumb.´ ” (Capote, 217)

I think that Dick is smarter than what he is believed to be. Although he uses this intelligence for doing bad things, he is still able to form marvelous plans that only benefit one person: Himself. When Dick is asked about the real reason for writing false checks, his answer is simple yet deep; he believes people are not able to surpass his intelligence. Perhaps his definition of “dumb” is someone else's definition of “innocent”, but with innocence comes foolishness and this is something Dick is completely aware of. Why is Dick so obsessed with the idea of superiority? Has he ever felt inferior to someone else? Is his pursuit for power a sick idea of revenge?

“ ´We'll use no force, no threats, and we'll make you no promises.´ ” (Capote, 216-217) 

I think that police interrogations in the 1960's were very different from interrogations nowadays. I also think that it was nice of the detectives to tell Dick that they were making no promises, it prevented Dick of disappointment. Personally, I think that it's better to tell the truth than to lie, even if it can cause us some trouble. I also liked the fact that detectives are completely honest with Dick and Perry and don't tell them lies in order for the criminals to confess anything. If I was Dick, I would actually feel relieved since the policemen are saving me from possible disappointment and anger. I would like for people to be straight up honest because if not, we will just continue to consider lies to be an answer to everything.

I read about 216 pages (if not more) to finally know about the criminals'  arrest, and let me just say; I wasn't one bit disappointed. Capote was so descriptive while illustrating this event that I actually felt as if I was part of the story. I was actually surprised when Perry finally told the story of the murders from his point of view (I guess it just wasn't as sanguinary as I expected it to be). I'm actually a bit worried about where the book goes from here, I have actually no clue of what could happen with Perry and Dick (although I do want to hear more about Perry´s squirrel friend). I already know that Perry and Dick are going to end up dead (thanks, Google), but I would still like to know if they believe in heaven and hell, or just life after death in general.

Everything Is Difficult Before It Becomes Easy

In his bestselling novel In Cold Blood, Truman Capote narrates the story of the murder of the Clutter family from Holcomb, Kansas. In November 15, 1959; Herb, Bonnie, Nancy, and Kenyon Clutter were murdered at their own home by two men that had never spoken a word to the family. Capote follows the story of Perry Edward Smith and Richard Eugene “Dick” Hickock; murderers of the Clutter family.

The criminals flee to Mexico after killing four people in Kansas. They don't stay there long though, their money runs out and they need to go back to the United States. When packing up to leave Mexico, Perry finds a manuscript written by his dad that tells the story about Perry's life. It talks about Perry's siblings and how his oldest brother (Jimmy) killed himself because his wife did the same, his sister jumped off of a building`s window and his other sister was the only one who was able to get married and raise a family. The manuscript depicts Perry`s life as a soldier who fought in Korea and how his life was while living in Alaska during his teenage years. Later in 1958, Perry's sister Barbara wrote him a letter while Perry was in jail, the letter intended to be a “compassionate demonstration of Christian principles” and depicted the fact that Perry never cared about his family; but instead ignored them. Both Perry and Dick end up in the Mojave Desert in hopes of finding a ride to California.

Back in Kansas, Floyd Wells confesses to the police that he knows the people responsible for the Clutter´s murder. Wells had worked for Herb Clutter in 1949 and had shared a cell with Dick Hickock at Kansas State Penitentiary, where he told Dick about the Clutter`s wealth and about the existence of a supposed safe in Herb`s office. Dick had then admitted to Floyd that Perry and him were planning on robbing the residence and kill the Clutters in order of leaving no witnesses. Working at the Kansas Bureau Investigation, Harold Nye interviews Dick`s parents and Perry`s sister in hopes of knowing the killers` location at the moment. At Holcomb, Alvin Adams Dewey; agent of Kansas City, gathers information about Perry and Dick in order to help with the case.

Perry Smith and Dick Hickock are able to go back to California but, when no work comes up for them; the only place they can go back to is Kansas City.

“But we have very little control over our human weaknesses, and this applies also to Fern and the hundreds of thousands of other people including ourselves- for we all have weaknesses.” (Capote, 140)

These are not Capote´s words, which surprised me. Desperate to help her brother and make him reflect about his actions, Barbara writes a letter to Perry in which she reflects hers and Perry´s lives altogether. She mentions the fact that Perry has not come to admit his mistakes- or weaknesses, and that he does not seem sorry for being in prison. Perry knows what he did wrong, he just doesn't consider them failures or weaknesses like his sister does. What Barbara considers to be “human weaknesses”, Perry considers to be failures of those who are weak. Perhaps that is why Perry was able to murder a whole family. Barbara on the other side, hopes that her brother will someday think just like her and will apologize for all the supposed wrongdoings he has done in his life.

“There is considerable hypocrisy in conventionalism.” (Capote, 144)

Willie-Jay (Perry´s only “true friend”) is a truly remarkable individual. Too bad he ended up in jail because he had a bright future ahead. He wrote Perry a letter titled “Impressions I Garnered From The Letter” in which Willie-Jay depicted his opinion of the letter from Barbara. He believes that the reason behind all of the siblings´disagreements are because Perry does not fulfil Barbara´s definition of “conventional”. I think that this term varies across  the world and across families and communities. I think that morals, geographical location, and perhaps economical and ethical background define our term of “conventional”. Willie-Jay considers conventionalism hypocritical because of the fact that people usually lie to fit in these definitions, what ever they might be. But, what is Willie-Jay´s definition of “conventional”? Does he consider himself “conventional”?

Sadly, the murderers still haven't been caught. I'm still hoping for the actual description of Perry and Dick´s arrest. I hope that in the next chapters, the actual arrest will take place and I will finally know their intentions and thoughts while killing a whole family. I'm also glad that the book offers a lot of stories from Perry's childhood since it makes it able to imagine life from his own perspective. These stories show me that no life is perfect and that we all have dreams and goals we will like to accomplish. Perry had a dream about being saved by a yellow bird just before being eaten by a snake (is not as half as weird as it sounds), but I guess we all have crazy dreams sometimes.

The Universe Will Always Finds A Way To Surprise Us

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote narrates the story of the multiple murder of the Clutter family in 1959. The morning of November 15 th, 1959, the Clutter family was found dead at their home in Holcomb, Kansas. When Nancy Clutter's friends, Nancy Ewalt and Susan Kidwell, came knocking on the residence on Sunday morning since they had expected to find the family asleep, not dead. Later that day, the local Sheriff and the Sheriff from Garden City came over to prepare investigations and to test the bodies. Both Herb and Kenyon´s bodies were found in the house's basement and Bonnie and Nancy´s bodies were found in each of their rooms. After these events, three of Herb´s closest friends decided to clean the house and burn everything that had a trace of blood in it. The three friends then remembered the good times they shared with Herb and realize that everything in life can end in the blink of an eye. Most of the Clutter's relatives travel to Holcomb to attend the family´s funeral, in which more than a thousand people are present. One of the Clutter older daughters decides to get married in Holcomb three days after the tragedy. To help find the murderers of this case, a team of detectives from Kansas are hired to find the killers.

Approximately four hundred miles east from Garden City, Kansas, Perry Smith and Richard Eugene “Dick” Hickock were sharing a booth in a diner at Kansas City. Perry tells his companion about the various articles he has read in the newspaper concerning the crime they committed. The duo then start to doubt if they are completely sane or if there is something wrong with the both of them since they committed such a horrible crime. They steal some clothes, sell two TV sets illegally, and drive off to Mexico; where they cross the border without problem and start a new life the United States was never able to offer them.

“ ‘It's all the same in eternity. Just remember: If one bird carried every grain of sand, grain by grain, across the ocean, by the time he got them all on the other side, that would only be the beginning of eternity. So blow your nose.’ ” (Capote, 69)

Mrs. Clare is a widow whose husband passed away seven months and twelve days before she made this statement to Capote while he was writing In Cold Blood. Just like society has different ideas of life after death, or heaven, or hell; we all have different ideas of eternity. Mrs. Clare makes it very clear that death is not something to be played with, and that when your time comes; nothing will save you. This woman does not pity the Clutters nor did she cry over their deaths, she believes that everything is bound to happen and that death is inevitable. Mrs. Clare thinks that, when we die, eternity begins and our lives are forgotten. I disagree. We are all worth something, even if we think we are not. Perhaps our lives won't matter a million years into the future, but we will always have the present (and the past). I think that eternity is not necessarily about our existence after death, but maybe something beyond that. Somewhere beyond religion and beliefs and our universe, somewhere where forever can last for a minute, and nothing can change that; not even me (and not even you). 

“That was a riddle that Perry had pondered. He felt he'd solved it, but the solution, while simple, was also somewhat hazy: ‘No. Because once a thing is set to happen, all you can do is hope it won't. Or will- depending. As long as you live, there's always something waiting, and even if it's bad, and you know it's bad, what can you do? You can't stop living.’ ” (Capote, 92)

Perry Smith is scared that both Dick and him might get caught because of the crime they committed back in Kansas. Unlike Perry, Dick doesn't think about the fact that he might end up in a cell in jail again, he thinks the plan has no flaws. Perry is realistic, he understands that the world is not just sunshine and butterflies. Dick on the other side, believes that no one can harm him and that he'll get away with everything he does, even he is a murderer himself. Perry knows that, even if they get caught, his life won't stop. Dick does not reach this conclusion, stubborn as always, Dick is convinced that actions have no consequences (good or bad). They have eachother's back though, they are good friends and they certainly know how do things right (even if they are wrong).

This movie is about getting to know yourself and accepting how our perspectives may change along the years, but that doesn´t mean we should stop enjoying our lives.

This book has been nothing like I expected it to be so far. The book offers so much background information for both the family's relationships with people in the town and the killers´ childhood stories that the author leaves no doubts for the readers. I expect the story to continue with the killers´  persecution and, maybe, their arrest. I actually hope that everything can go back to normal in Holcomb, Kansas. It is such a small town that when an event so extraordinary like a murder happened, the people didn't know how to react. I also hope that Dick and Perry´s reasons for murdering the Clutter family are revealed later on the book. It would be a shame for these reasons to remain unrevealed since I don't think any murder case is complete without some psychological background. So far, this book is a vivid example of how tragedy can strike in the most unusual time, and to the most unusual people.  

Just Like The Old Times

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote narrates the story of the multiple murder of the Clutter family in 1959. Capote starts the book by introducing the village of Holcomb, Kansas. It stands on the wheat plains of western Kansas about seventy miles outside of the Colorado border. The owner of the River Valley Farm was Herbert William Clutter, a forty-eight year old man that stood just under five feet ten inches and was a Methodist. His wife,

Bonnie Fox, sadly suffered of clinical depression and would more often than not have nervous attacks and would have to get treatment at the Wesley Medical Center. The couple had three daughters and a son. The eldest daughters had left town to study or to live with families of their own. Still living at Holcomb, fifteen year old Kenyon and sixteen year old Nancy both enjoyed the seclusion of the town and lived happily with their parents. Town darling Nancy, was dating Bobby Rupp; the school basketball hero (who would be later interviewed in order to give evidence to the competent authorities about his girlfriend's murder).

Unlike the Clutter family, Perry Edward Smith and Richard Eugene “Dick” Hickock weren't admired in a community since, sadly, they weren't part of any community. Both men had shared a cell at Kansas State Penitentiary and were now on their way to Holcomb, to commit a crime that would ultimately end their lives, as well as four others. Unlike criminals with a mediocre understanding of the world that are usually depicted in novels and movies, Perry Smith was a literature lover; a poet himself. Dick on the other side, was the father of three children and had been married twice, and had got a divorce twice (not to mention half an hour late to his meeting with Perry but had an IQ of 130 based on an average of 90-110 nevertheless). At the invitation of Dick to rob a family in Holcomb and then flee to Mexico, Perry was more than delighted to start a new life and the night of November 15, 1959; the two convicts advanced towards the Clutter´s residence in a black Chevrolet.

“You are a man of extreme passion, a hungry man not quite sure where his appetite lies, a deeply frustrated man striving to project his individuality against a backdrop of rigid conformity. You exist in a half-world suspended between two superstructures, one self-expression and the other self-destruction. You are strong, but there is a flaw in your strength, and unless you learn to control it the flaw will prove stronger than your strength and defeat you. The flaw? Explosive emotional reaction out of all proportion to the occasion. Why? Why this unreasonable anger at the sight of others who are happy or content, this growing contempt for people and the desire to hurt them? All right, you think they're fools, you despise them because their morals, their happiness is the source of your frustration and resentment. But these are dreadful enemies you carry within yourself--in time destructive as bullets. Mercifully, a bullet kills its victim.” (Capote, 43-44)

This quote is an excerpt from the farewell letter that Willie-Jay, the only person who Perry thinks ever understood him,  wrote to Perry the day of his departure from jail. I think that this quote tells the reader a lot about not only the type of person Perry is but also about his relationship with his friends, or, in this case; the lack of them. This quote also made me see Perry as a very resentful man with anger issues, but I also think he sums up the basis of human behavior and emotions. He wants to hurt people even though he doesn't have an apparent reason to do so (perhaps that is why he murdered four people that he'd never spoken a word to in his whole life). We are all resentful and feel as if someone else's happiness is the source of our grievance, even if we don't admit it. The unusual thing about Perry is that he does admit it. He was generally bothered by human nonsense and actually tells Dick about his bad habit of wanting everyone to speak with a correct grammar. I also think that this quote is trying to tell us that, although self- destruction and self-expression shouldn't depend on each other, they do (sadly). Perry Smith is just a little bit broken and maybe a little bit lost but, truth is, we all are.

This movie is about a girl who feels lost and can´t express
herself. To find herself, she escapes from her town but leaves
clues to a friends of hers.

“Then, touching the brim of his cap, he headed for home and the day's work, unaware that it would be his last.” (Capote, 13)

Capote uses this quote to describe Herb Clutter's last day of life, and he couldn't have been more right. I think that we will never know if we'll be doing something for the last time until it is too late. We will never know if the last time we see a person is actually the last time they will see us, or anyone. I also think that this quote is very realistic since none of us know when we will die or how it will happen and, if you think about it too much, is actually scary. I just hope that Herb was satisfied with his life since it ended so suddenly but, was Herb Clutter truly happy with his lifestyle? Was he proud of his achievements? Was he ashamed of his accomplishments, whatever they may have been?

I was honestly taken aback by this book. I would not usually read non-fiction books but this book is definitely making me change my mind about the genre. The only guess that I can make from this point of the book is that on later chapters, Capote will narrate the actual murder of the Clutter family. Something else that I absolutely liked about this book is the fact that Truman Capote dedicated this book to Harper Lee who is the author of To Kill A Mockingbird. I was surprised when I found that these two were friends back when Capote was alive (he died in 1984). I genuinely have no clue of what can happen next, the Clutter family were very respected within the community and were admired as well but their success as individuals and as a whole would ultimately lead to their deaths. I know that the Clutter family is going to die in the next pages but what will happen to Perry and Dick? How long will it be until they get caught? How long will it be until they get killed?

How To Conquer The World - Step 1: Get A Cape

Guy Montag is a fugitive, but it wasn't always like that. He used to be a fireman; he would burn books, and then he would burn the ashes. Now, he hides books; and runs away with them.

Guy is on the run, the government is persecuting him and they have got another Hound after Guy too. He luckily escapes from the city and manages to circumvent the televised chase. He ends up in the river and jumps inside, Guy just lets himself flow downstream. When Montag finally gets out of the river, he finds the old railroads and not much later, finds the walking camps. These are people that are also fugitives for hiding books, their leader is a man named Granger. He tells Guy that all of these people memorize a book so that they can pass the knowledge to other generations without getting caught. Watching the chase on T:V., Montag finds out that the government killed someone who looked like him in order to make citizens believe that crimes were not taken lightly. In the distance, the city Guy just escaped from ends up destructed from bombings. War had been declared days before and now, everybody was surely dead. Guy hoped that professor Faber had been able to leave the town before the bombing took place. Although the group of exiles were a bit shocked because of the bombing, they are not incapable of continuing their path. Granger tells the other exiles about how before Christ, existed a phoenix that every hundred years would burn itself up and would sprang up from the ashes right after. He compares the phoenix to mankind since men tend to start again over a failure. They continue their path to the poor excuse of what used to be a city so they can help rebuild society.

“ ´There was a silly bird called a phoenix back before Christ, every few hundred years he built a pyre and burnt himself up….But every time he burnt himself up he sprang out of the ashes, he got himself born all over again. And it looks like we’re doing the same thing, over and over, but we’ve got one damn thing the phoenix never had. We know the silly thing we just did. We know all the silly things we’ve done for a thousand years and as long as we know that and always have it around where we can see it, someday we’ll stop making the funeral pyres and jumping in the middle of them. We pick up a few more people that remember every generation.´ ” (163)

This movie is about how we should keep
moving forward even if it looks like we´ve
already lost.

 This quote is said by Granger to all of the exiles when they are about to go back to the city. I find it quite interesting how the author compares mankind to a mythological bird associated with rebirth. I agree with the author though, there have been countless of times when humanity had no other choice but to rebuild themselves due to past nonsense they had committed. For example, Germany had suffered heavy losses during World War II but were able to rebuild themselves as a country. About 7.5 million Germans had been killed and most of its cities were damaged due to bombing but Germans still managed to keep moving forward and, by 1991; Germany was allowed to become fully sovereign. This is why I think that, as a whole, humanity does resemble a phoenix and that its values have not perished totally.

“ ´He was a part of us when he died, all the actions stopped dead and there was no one to do them just the way he did. He was individual. He was an important man. I've never gotten over his death. Often I think what wonderful carvings never came to birth because he died. How many jokes are missing from the world, and how many homing pigeons untouched by his hands. He shaped the world. He did things to the world. The world was bankrupted of ten million fine actions the night he passed on.’ ” (156)

This quote is said by Granger to Guy just before the city is bombarded. Turns up that Granger´s grandfather died a long time ago but his actions still have an impact on Granger's life. I think that all of us should make an impact in the world or in someone. I think that we should all accomplish something in our lifetimes that we are proud of and can look back to. I also think that if you want to do something then you should do it right and hopefully be remembered for it. I hope that stuff that I do won´t be replaced in the future since the way I do things is unique and different from everybody else and I hope that what I do won't be forgotten forever.

So, I finished the book. First of all, I would like to say: WOW! I wasn't expecting the end, but truth is, I don't know what I was expecting. Fahrenheit 451 has taught me a lot of things but the main one is that our own willpower can do great things if it's strong enough. This novel taught me that even the people who look the happiest might be hiding something and that there will always be people who will see a brighter future while living a gloomy present. Also, I really, really hope that this book does not become reality because I would not like to see a reality where mankind has failed as a whole. Anyway, I don't know what to do now since the book is over, but I'll figure something out (I always do).

Don´t Trust What You See, Even Salt Looks Like Sugar

Guy Montag used to be an ordinary fireman; he used to burn books, and then he burned the ashes. But things changed when he stole a couple of books, met a professor who taught him to understand the words in the books and together, they formed a plan. They figured out that if they were able to hide a couple of books in the fire station, the firemen would be forced to burn down the station.  If the fire station collapsed, people could no longer call firemen to burn the books found in the city.

After leaving the house of the professor with an earpiece to communicate with him, Guy gets home and makes the mistake of reading a book to his wife and her friends. He leaves the house and goes to the fire station with some books in his arms but turns one into Captain Beatty (so he doesn't raise suspicion) and when Guy is about to hide the rest of the books, an alarm goes off indicating that the firemen should leave to burn some books somewhere in the city. Guy is surprised (to say the least) when they arrive at his house. It turns up that Guy´s wife was the one who called the fire station and then left the house with all of her belongings. Guy is forced to burn down his own house with a vacuum that ejects some type of liquid fire. On the communicator, Faber tells Guy that he should try to get out of that house as soon as possible if he doesn't want to go to jail. Guy can't get out of there though, “The Hound” is in his neighborhood. Unfortunately, Captain Beatty discovers the communicator in Guy's ear and takes it away. Worried that the captain might discover Faber, Guy burns (and kills him in the process) the captain with the vacuum but is attacked by “The Hound” that injects Guy in his leg with a liquid that makes his leg go numb. Then, Guy destroys “The Hound” and retreats from the crime scene with a few books he was able to save in his hands (and a couple hundred dollars just in case). Montag becomes a fugitive, he can hear alarms going off in the city and announcements for the citizens to look out for a man with books in his hands that is running on foot. He later arrives at Faber´s apartment and tells the professor that he should take all the money since he could be dead by noon. Faber tells Guy about the “walking camps” that live past the river and the railroads, they are people just like Montag that broke the law because of reading books and now live with other people just like themselves. Montag leaves in search for these people.

“´This is happening to me,´ said Montag. ´What a dreadful surprise,´said Beatty. ´For everyone nowadays knows, is absolutely certain, that nothing will ever happen to me. Others die, I go on. There are no consequences and no responsibilities. Except that there are. But let’s not talk about them. eh? By the time the consequences catch up with you, it's too late, isn't it, Montag’ ” (115)

This quote is said by Captain Beatty to Montag while Montag is burning down his own house. I think that what he is saying is completely and utterly true. I think this because Beatty killed people when he burned down their houses, yet he thought no one will ever kill him or that he would never die. His consequences did catch up with him and he ended up being murdered by the one thing he loves the most; fire. Not to mention that he was killed by his own coworker (which is a bit sad to be honest). But something that I will never understand (and neither will Montag), is that Beatty wanted to die. He didn't even move out of the way when Guy pointed the vacuum to him, he stayed in his place and kept talking nonsense to Guy (he definitely had a death wish). Montag, on the other side, was open to  the idea of death. He knew that nothing lasts forever and that one day he would be nothing more than a heap of ashes, but he never thought that his own house would have to be destroyed because he owned books. He was always the one that burned the books along with the houses in which they were hidden, yet now, he is burning down his own house and trying to save the books that were hidden inside of it.

“‘I feel alive for the first time in years,´ said Faber. ´I feel I'm doing what I should've done a lifetime ago. For a little while I'm not afraid. Maybe it's because I've done a rash thing and don't want to look the coward to you. I suppose I'll have to do even more violent things, exposing myself so I won't fall down on the job and turn scared again. What are your plans?´ ” (131)

Faber was scared, but he's not anymore. Why? Because he is not alone anymore. He's got Guy now, and together they can do the things that neither of them would've done alone. I don't think I've ever been scared enough so that I regret my choices like Faber. I like to think that there hasn't been anything in my life so far that prevents me from making the right choices. Faber on the other side, had the government against him since he believes books shouldn't be banned (and I completely agree with him). He doesn't go with the flow and maybe that is the reason for his fright or cowardice. Maybe I am going with the flow and that is why I'm not afraid of making choices.

So this is almost the last post and there are still things happening in the book that surprise me. For example, Mildred is a traitor. She just told on her husband and left the house they lived in together! But I guess you can never trust anyone these days. Anyway, I really, really hope that Guy can get to meet the “walking camps” before the book ends or before he ends up dead (which can always be a possibility). Also, I'm very happy due to fact that “The Hound” is officially dead (was it alive in the first place?). Captain Beatty is also dead so that was astonishing to me but I can't say that I'm not relieved because he literally screamed trouble. I have no ideas on how the book will end so I can't make a guess like I usually would but I just hope that it doesn't end in disaster.