Beatty's words (Selso)

3. Captain Beatty says, “A book is a loaded gun in the house next door...Who knows who might be the target of the well-read man?”  What power is he giving books?  Why do you think his society decided it was easier to ban books than to teach people to think?  Can you see this happening in our world?  Why or why not?

He is comparing a book to a gun. He is giving books as much power as a gun has. They probably decided that because people are less dangerous if they aren’t smart, a smart person could easily beat a person that is not smart at almost anything. Because the smart person can think, he or she can easily think of a plan to win or beat the other person a person that is not smart can’t think up a plan to win because he lacks that ability if he has never read before. Yes I can see it happening to our world but differently, instead of the fireman burning the books most people will just give up books on their own. A lot of people already don’t like reading it is mostly the younger people that do not like reading most of the older people do like reading. And if they do end up giving up on books the same thing will happen as in the book. They won’t be smart enough to survive on their own with out knowledge.