In the dystopian fiction novel, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Clarisse has the biggest impact on Montag. Clarisse meets Guy Montag on a late night walk. She tells Montag that she is “17 and crazy.” She doesn’t hang out with kids her age, and she knows lots of information about things. Clarisse asks Montag many questions about himself. Montag is overwhelmed by this because he is not used to thinking a lot. Montag is a 30 year old fireman who loved starting fires and burning books. He doesn’t seem to know a lot, and he loves the smell of kerosene. When Clarisse and Montag meet, he starts questioning himself. “Of course I’m happy. What does she think? I’m not? he asked the quiet rooms” (Bradbury 8). Once Clarisse asks if Montag if he is happy,
At the beginning of the book, Montag is a proud fireman with a "happy" life in their society. "It was a pleasure to burn. … his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history" (1). However, after meeting Clarisse, a young and beautiful teenager with unconventional thoughts and questions challenging Montag's worldview, he starts questioning his role as a fireman and the way of their society with her question, "Are you happy?" (7).
He is seemingly proud and passionate for his job while remaining completely oblivious to the true nature of the society. Montag lives a simple life with very little thinking or feeling. He is numb to the problems with the world and lives surrounded by technology that replaces true human connection. Montag’s perspective begins to change after Montag meets a girl named Clarisse. Clarisse is seen as strange and abnormal compared to the average citizen.
Montag is having a mental dispute. Clarisse just messed with his mind. Montag believed he was happy. He had never really thought about it until Clarisse dropped the question on him. Montag now wanted to believe he was happy.
The theme that Bradbury is trying to convey to his audience television is dangerous and too much of it can be detrimental to society. On pages 70-71, Bradbury writes, “The old man admitted to being a retired English professor who had been thrown out upon the world forty years ago when the last college shut for the students and patronage.” This quote makes it clear that it wasn’t the government that originally decided to ban the books, it was the people who stopped reading them. It was the television that caused people to lose interest in activities and learning, and it was the television that is the true reason books were banned. Bradbury writes the conversation between Mildred and Montag, “‘Will you turn the parlor off?’
She says, “That’s why I think it’s so strange you’re a fireman, it just doesn’t seem right for you, somehow”(21). This gets Montag thinking about his life and purpose. Clarisse gives Montag a sense of repentance. This is important because this opens Montag’s eyes to real society.
Through the course of the book Montag learns he is lonely, unhappy and conflicted. Montag is usually stuck at home with his wife Mildred who ignores him all day or he is at work with the other fireman waiting anxiously for a call about someone with books. When Montag meets a 17 year old girl named Clarisse she opens his eyes up to the harsh reality of the world and makes him realize that he is unhappy with his life. At the beginning of the book he tells us “It never went away, that smile, it never went away, as long as he remembered.
Because the reader is more knowledgeable about the character and can predict how Montag will change, Bradbury creates a moment of dramatic irony by showing Montag's interest in Clarisse. Montag begins to recognize the limitations of his prior self, this is the turning point in his change. Furthermore, As Montag reflects on his conversations with Clarisse, he tells Mildred, “She was the first person in a good many years I've really liked. She was the first person I can remember who looked straight at me as if I counted” (68). Montag conveys his loneliness and social isolation at the beginning of the book through his reflection on his chats with Clarisse.
and Clarisse’s relationship grows, Clarisse starts to question Montag’s whole life, starting with his relationship with his wife to his occupation. This affects Montag as despite the questions generally being simple-minded, he begins to dig deeper into his responses and how he truly feels. Montag responds, “Happy! Of all the nonsense. He stopped laughing,” when Clarisse asks him if he is happy, a simple question which he never truly thought about (Pg.8).
Montag is at a loss for words when confronted by Clarisse and instead laughs. No one in society takes the time to reflect on the choices they make or the things they say aloud. Unlike the rest of society, Clarisse is not afraid to ask questions and spend her time wondering why and not how. Montag finds this fascinating as he has never met somebody with such unusual
Have you ever found unexpected familiarity with someone? Guy Montag is a firefighter and the main character of the dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury. Montag has a job as a firefighter that does not put out fires but instead starts them. He has a day to day life of burning old books that society deems as useless and illegal to have obtained. One day when Montag has a conversation with a unique teenage girl, Clarisse, he realizes that everything in his life is not what it seems.
In addition, taking after Clarisse, Montag begins to ask questions himself, and realizes that the way society functions isn't right, and he is no longer happy with his choice of profession.(STEWE-1) " ‘I've tried to imagine,’ said Montag, ‘just how it would feel. I mean, to have firemen burn our houses and our books’” (Bradbury 31). Here, Montag has his first realization that being a fireman is not only wrong, but also an inaccurate, untruthful version of who he wants to be.(STEWE-2)
Before Montag met Clarisse, he never thought about reading books, and he was never curious about how things were done before (history). Clarisse makes Montag question his surroundings, such as his society, and happiness. Everything started with a simple walk in the neighborhood to Clarisse’s house, followed by the question “"Are you happy?,"” introducing Montag's first internal problem, himself (7). After his first encounter with Clarisse, Montag seemed to have a crisis over his happiness, “Of course I'm happy. What does she think?
At first Montag is confused why she would even ask him such a question. He feels as if everything is fine and that he is happy. He then “felt his smile slide away, melt, fold over, and down on itself like a tallow skin, like the stuff of a fantastic candle burning too long and now collapsing and now blown out. Darkness. He was not happy” (9).
One night, Guy Montag is walking home from work. Being a fireman, he does not hold much knowledge about the world and is only taught to burn everything in life. When Montag first meets Clarisse, he is awestruck by the way she thinks, taking every aspect of her life into interest. Before they part, she asks him if he is happy. Montag questions the young girl’s thoughts and wonders if he is really happy with his career and marriage.
She is the first person who challenges Montag and gets him to truly think. She triggers Montag’s questioning of life, what he is doing, and his relationship with his wife Mildred. Upon their first encounter Clarisse begins asking Montag questions, questions about a time when firefighters put out flames not started them, a time when life was a bit slower. She asks, “Are you happy?” once Clarisse is home Montag responds, “Of course I’m happy.