Montag is the protagonist in this novel. He is thirty years old. He is a fireman whose job is to make sure all books are burned therefore he believes strongly in what his society stands for: all books should be burned. Or so it seems. Throughout the beginning of the novel, it’s obvious that he is conflicting on what he actually believes, everyone around him thinks he believes books are bad. At the beginning of the novel, he is very self absorbed and doesn’t question any of his actions just like everyone else. He lives the perfect life with his wife and her “parlor family”. At his job, he burns blindly just like the rest of the firemen. All of this is turned upside down when he meets Clarisse. She asks questions and is curious, which is unheard …show more content…
She seems to be a stay at home wife who doesn’t seem to do a lot. She spends her days at home in her bed or she’s in the parlor with her ‘parlor family’. Like most people in society, she is wrapped up in the parlor family and believes them to be real. She is totally encapsulated by the ideas that society has implanted in her. She doesn’t seem to pay much attention to Montag and doesn’t really seem interested in what he has to say. Montag never talks to Mildred about what’s going on in his life but after Mildred snapped at Montag and he revealed his secret about hiding the books, she went a little crazy. She wanted to make sure it was kept a secret and demanded that Montag get rid of them, but he didn’t. Throughout the novel she went from crazy to even more crazy, being demanding and not knowing how to handle situations she’s put in because the way that society conditioned her to be. She is short tempered, easily manipulated, impatient, and seems to lack any sympathy or empathy for anyone. At the beginning of the novel she attempted suicide. This may indicate that she is not happy with her life and is depressed. When Montag finds her dead, he describes how she is cold, distant from her body and this is also a part of her personality, she is cold and distant toward Montag and that’s her attitude about life, being