Dystopian Women In Fahrenheit 451

In the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the protagonist is a local fireman named Guy Montag. In this dystopian setting, a fireman is not the average fireman seen today in the twenty first century. In this novel a “fireman” is one who burns things. The government wants all books and any type of writings or thoughts from the past to be erased. Guy Montag, experiences two major women in his life during part one of the novel. The two women are Mildred who is Montag's wife, and Clarisse who is a teenager and changes Montag's looks on the society he is living in. The characters of Mildred and Clarisse serve as foils to one another in Bradbury’s novel thus symbolizing the antisocial and dark aspects of the dystopian society through Mildred, whereas the clarity and light aspects of society via Clarisse.

Guy Montag's wife Mildred, is considered a model citizen for what the government wants people to be like. She is wrapped up in the world of technology and is always watching television or listening to the radio. “There was only the singing of the thimble-wasps in her taped shut ears, and her eyes all glass”(17). Montag

Clarisse asks “Are you happy?” (10) Clarisse is a complete opposite compared to Mildred's unsocial and dark representations. Clarisse represents a side of people that the government does not want people to be like or to see. In the dystopian society they are living in, seeing a girl like Clarisse is rare and the government sees her and her family to be a threat. Her family are often reported to be heard laughing and talking which to there society, is considered a disturbance to the government. Clarisse does everything she can do to keep herself from being wrapped up in the dystopian society she is forced into, unlike Mildred who is what the government sees to be a model citizen. . She is often found outside walking or looking at the nature around