Class 12 English Notes Chapter 5 On Destroying Books

Yes, the writer had a sad feeling for those books once he got rid of them. He thought that they deserved a better fate than falling into the cold torrent and settling down at the bottom of the river in the cold night. In short, it was a bitter-sweet experience for him.

With some difficulty, the writer mustered up the courage, at last, to fling the books into the river. He was quite nervous and a multitude of frightening ideas crossed his mind. He thought that it was the last chance to get rid of those books. At last, he let the sack go into the river. He came back a happy man.

On a cold, starry night, the writer came out on the street carrying the sack of books on his shoulders. He came across a policeman and a passer-by. His heart trembled because he thought the police officer might look upon him as a thief or suspect him as a person throwing a baby wrapped in a sack into the river. A multitude of frightening ideas crossed his mind. Mustering up the courage, he threw the sack of books into the river.

After thinking of all possibilities and rejecting all other ways of destroying books, the writer decided to throw the books into the river. He took a sack, stuffed his books into it, put it over his shoulder, and made his way to the river.

The author could not burn the unwanted books because he lived in a multi storied flat in Chelsea. He had no kitchen range to toast them on the gas cooker. Moreover, his study fire was too small to burn them leaf by leaf. He would have to open them one by one, which would be very time-consuming.

It is difficult to destroy books because his house is littered with unwanted books. The writer is at loss as to how he should destroy books for many reasons. He can send all this rubbish to the soldiers but he does not want to give them any trouble. He wants to sell them but no one will take interest in buying books of inferior poetry. Moreover, burning such a huge quantity of books is a gigantic task.

Bad books should be destroyed because it is absurd to keep useless books only because they are printed material. It is positively a public duty to destroy them. The action of having them disposed of has many benefits. It makes room for new books and saves one’s heirs from the trouble of sorting out and disposing of these useless books and storing them.

It appeared that people had sent them to the soldiers with the wish to get rid of them because many of the books were useless. Perhaps, they got tired of those useless books and wanted to dispose them off. It was like they got an opportunity and turned it into account.

British public sent different kinds of books to the troops. Although some of the books presented to the soldiers were suitable, yet a lot of them were merely useless rubbish. These included some of the oddest things to be presented such as twenty-year-old magazines, guides to the Lake District, and bank numbers of Whitaker’s Almanac. It appeared that the owners wanted to get rid of these useless books.