Summary Of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451

For example, Montag has never really thought about much so Clarisse tells him to “just sit and think” so he can analyze the world (23). Clarisse wants Montag to see the world around him and think about what he is seeing. Also, Clarisse is outside with Montag as it is raining and say, “rain even tastes good”, with her head back drinking (21). This shows that Clarisse is more outgoing and adventurous than Mildred. Montag tells Clarisse that his wife is thirty, but Clarisse seems “much older [than her]” at times (23).

In the story, Clarisse is happy because her family talks and lives like people used to. But she asks Montag, “are you happy?”, which causes him to question his happiness. Montag thinks about her question and realizes that he is not happy (page 10). He meets with Clarisse again and this time she has a dandelion. She says that if it rubs off on his chin, he is in love. The dandelion does not rub off and she says, “What a shame, you’re not in love with anyone (page 22).” Montag realizes that he is not really in love with his wife, and he had been believing a lie. Clarisse was happy because she was what Beatty called “antisocial” which is actually considered social our society. Beatty called her “a ticking time bomb,” because he noticed that she was different than everybody else (page 60). Whenever Beatty suspected someone to have books, he would keep a close eye on them

Montag always loved the smell of kerosene and he loved his job. He’s changed into a man who wants to read books and understand things he doesn’t want to burn them anymore. “A book is a loaded gun in the House next door burn it.” “There were people on this section of the train but he held the book in his hands.”(Bradbury, pg 58, 76). The quote from Beatty explains how Beatty feels about books and how he’s educating Montag into think that books deserve to be burned. The quotes from Montag on the train shows how Montag changed to agreeing with Beatty how books should be burned to not caring if anyone saw him with a book because he wants to read

Clarisse is a very curious individual. Some would see her as an attention seeker, peculiar, or even insane. All of these things due to her differences. Her outlook on the world and society is completely opposed to others she is surrounded by. For example, she explains to Montag that she and her family talk. This catches him by surprise and bring curiosity because in their

Bradbury uses Clarisse’s character to foil Montag and reveal his disconnect from reality and nature. Clarisse is a peculiar girl who is different than the average person in this society. Clarisse introduces Montag to the world’s potential for beauty and meaning with her gentle

The irony of the novel is that “happiness of those who love the book is subjugated to the happiness of the masses’’ (Filler). Since having books are against the law, if you were lucky enough to read a few like the English professor and Mrs. Brown the lady that committed suicide by burning with her books, then not having books would make one unhappy. If one never read a book then they are not missing anything. Beatty stated, that Clarisse McClellan was a walking time bomb. He said her family had been feeding her subconsciously, and she was better off dead. (Bradbury, p. 60). The tragic irony takes place when Montag is looking for Clarisse and find out what he had been hoping was not true, Clarisse was dead. The more Clarisse spoke to Montag the more dangerous he would become for the society that they lived in. As Clarisse’s family, mostly her uncle, would educate her on the history of the world, in return, she would tell Montag some of the things her uncle shared with her. As Clarisse started asking Montag questions about his personal life and feelings, he started thinking about how unhappy he was with his life, and became more curious about reading books, then Clarisse ironically came up missing. It seems like someone did something to her since she was corrupting Montag with her curiosity about the world. Most people ignored Clarisse, but not Montag. He could be the reason she came up missing and tragically dead.

A lifetime of careless living has left her a shell of the women she could have been. Clarisse however has flourished within her home and has become a thoughtful considerate young woman, if a little brash. Clarisse not only truly cares about others but she is also interested in their lives and opinions. She is quite curious and approaches Montag, undeterred by his status as a fireman, simply to inquire about his life. Clarisse has true love in her life thanks to her family, she is entirely unashamed of who she is and what she believes in.

While reading the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, I immersed myself in its myriad of interesting characters. Among others, there were free thinkers like Clarrise, law abiding conformists seen in Guy Montag, and quiet rebels who lived in the shadows and the woods know to us as the "scholars". However, there were also members of the community willing to take a stand against what they considered to be the censoring authority, outright and publicly like Mrs. Hudson and others that simply needed time to find their inner courage. It was evident to me that Bradbury put a great amount of effort into developing all of these distinct characters to paint a clear picture for his readers of what life was truly like in this world and the trials and

According to Montag, she, “...thinks too many things(9)… [is] peculiar...aggravating...easy to forgive…”(23). She helps Montag realize more about himself and society by making him wonder about the world with her. Before meeting Clarisse, Montag never stopped to think about the world around him. Clarisse makes him

Beatty is a conformed character, who is a prime example of what authority is in this society. He burns books and kills people to enforce his way of thinking; trying to “keep the peace”. Throughout the book Beatty says that books are useless, and no one needs them. This is another example of how he enforces his opinion on everyone. After an old woman is killed by firemen, Montag doesn’t want to go to work, so Beatty goes to his house. Beatty explains to Montag how he, Beatty, thinks the history of the world and firemen . After Montag questions Beatty about books, he replies saying, “They’re about nonexistent people, figments of imagination, if they’re fiction. And if they’re nonfiction, it’s worse, one professor calling another an idiot, one philosopher screaming down another’s gullet.” (p.59). He sticks with the same mindset throughout the entire book, and even dies for what he believe is

Beatty exhibits no remorse for the woman when he mentions, “don’t worry about it” to Montag and doesn’t care. “Clarisse McClellan? We've a record on her family. We've watched them carefully. Heredity and environment are funny things. You can't rid ourselves of all the odd ducks in just a few years” (38). Beatty calls Clarisse as an ‘odd duck’ in reference to her outward thinking nature and that’s what makes her different. It’s evident here that Beatty doesn’t appreciate Clarisse as Montag does and in fact, sees her as strange and weird. As a fireman captain and nonbeliever of literature, Beatty is not deserving to be called a hero.

Examining Clarisse, she owns components that the whole association in the book completely lacks. Her aspects not present within the other characters in the book makes her seem lifeless. As for Mildred and Montag’s relationship, Mildred’s lack of communication and ignorance announces that she is also metaphorically dead. As they both depart from Montag recalls each of them. What Montag said about Clarisse makes it seems that as if her way of living characteristics are unique and are not present in others, which proves that she is nonexistent. Montag also has a moment of recalling his wife as someone who never existed between their marriage relationship. This all ties back that Clarisse and Mildred are physically active and alive, but in that moment of their natural existence, they are deep down nonexistent in terms of society and

We can see that Clarisse is a huge part of the book in how Montag's reacts to events even after she dies, and even how she contributes to Montag unhappiness. Like for example in Fahrenheit 451 Bradbury writes “yes I am very much in love he tried to conjure up a face fit the words, but there was no face(22)” it clearly shows that this relates with the argument because in the book he starts to get a little nervous when she asked him is he in love and that can affect the way he thinks in the long run because of the problem he is having with his wife. A better part of the book where we see how Clarisse is affecting Montag point of view of stuff is when they first met and she asked him if he was happy and in Fahrenheit 451 Bradbury writes “happy of all the nonsense(10)” you can clearly see that this also relates to the argument because for the second time in the book she asked him a simple question and he has over thinked it or he has just responded with anger. The importance of this quote is to show the reader that how he can get distracted from his life when Clarice is around telling stuff to really think about.

Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is a display of how humans are relying more and more on technology for entertainment at the price of their ability for intellectual development. It is a novel about technological dystopia, often compared to other novels such as, George Orwell’s 1984 and Asimov Ender’s Game. Although today’s technology has not quite caught up with Bradbury’s expectations, the threat of having his vision of a dystrophic society is very realistic. He sees a futuristic society in which this submission of thought is highly valued. In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury displays a futuristic utopian society where "the people did not read books, enjoy nature, spend time by themselves, think independently, or have meaningful conversations" (Mogen, Pg. 111).

Change, no matter how big or how small, is inevitable; one just have to notice it. Different permutations of story lines work their way into movies, books, and more importantly, characters such as Guy Montag. In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, a mindless and insensitive part of the majority named Montag meets a girl named Clarisse who shows him the joys of awareness which transitions him from travelling aimlessly through life to realizing that it is better to be cognizant of the world and to try to gain knowledge even when it might make one feel the godawful reality of society; a first push from a friend made him stop and ponder the world, his own actions made him further his knowledge and seek others to help change what was already a dying country, and a group helped him realize that fighting fire with fire is worse than preserving the motive to fight in the first place.