What Does Clarisse Symbolize In Fahrenheit 451

Everybody has a point in life where someone reminds them of something they have long forgotten and suddenly everything make sense. In the dystopian novel by Ray Bradbury titled Fahrenheit 451, the curious, sweet girl of the name Clarisse pops the bubble that Montag lives in. Bradbury includes Clarisse in the story to act as an eye opener for Montag. She introduces him to a past where firemen put out fires instead of starting them. Clarisse remains immune to the chatter of television and instead gazes through a kaleidoscope of colors that filters out the dull views of the government. Clarisse McClellan symbolizes everything the government and society disapproves of by questioning the rules and logic of their world, enjoying nature, and not going along with what society deems socially acceptable.
Clarisse McClellan questions things she experiences which make her a threat to the so called perfect world they live in. In a conversation with Montag, Clarisse recalls the time that her “....uncle was arrested….for being a pedestrian”(Bradbury 7). Clarisse recognizes that being a pedestrian does not call for being arrested. The government’s laws suggest that they are hostile and

As Montag strolling home one night, he spots Clarisse with her head tilted to the sky, seeing this Montag inquires to her as why she stay there facing the sky and she simply replies “I like to put my head back, like this, and let the rain fall in my mouth. It tastes like wine”(20). In the futuristic world that Bradbury creates, people who linger behind and smell the roses, much like Clarisse, seem crazy to the rest of society and fail to fit in with the crowd. She worries not about getting where she needs to go but focuses more on what was on the way. This leads Clarisse to seem mentally unstable and even she begins to believe it. Clarisse identifies as strange due to her out of the normal