People can alter someone’s life in many ways: good and bad. In Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag has been greatly influenced by Clarisse and Mildred. Both characters enable Montag to look at his life with a new perspective. Mildred and Clarisse McClellan have very different personalities yet they’re both significant in Guy Montag’s life by affecting and influencing his values and behaviors in negative and positive ways. Clarisse and Mildred have opposing qualities. Montag took notice and figured out that Clarisse “think[s] too many things” and questions Montag about his life and his way of thinking (3). Clarisse is interested in Guy Montag’s life; she asks him things that make him wonder the same way Clarisse did. Mildred spends most of her time at home with her “family” doing nothing else but watching tv; she doesn’t do anything to help Montag or anyone else (9). Mildred doesn’t take the time to consider Montag or his feelings, her only care in the world is her tv. Montag was concerned about Clarisse and when he asked Mildred about her, Mildred said “Clarisse was gone” and hadn’t been seen (47). Montag liked talking with Clarisse and when he hadn’t seen her he confronted Mildred about it. …show more content…
Clarisse asked “[Montag] are you happy”, this made Montag question his happiness and realized he wasn’t happy at all (4). Montag took Clarisse’s question to heart and proved that the significance of the question impacted him to change his life. Montag “[couldn’t] remember where and when’ he and Mildred had met; proving that Mildred didn’t have a great amount of importance in his life (20). Montag not recalling how he had met his wife shows how much Mildred had meant to him. Clarisse made an impact on Montag enough for him to ask Mildred if “[she] had seen” Clarisse around (22). Montag was concerned about Clarisse, and had been interested in her appearance to ask his wife about
A difference between Mildred and Clarisse is their polar opposite personalities. Throughout Fahrenheit 451, Mildred is a very selfish, conceited woman. This is shown when she talks about herself to Montag. “He opened the book. ‘That Favorite Subject, Myself’ … ‘I understand that one,’ said Mildred.” (Bradbury 72). Mildred's comment exemplifies her conceited attitude toward herself. She dislikes books yet chooses that one to relate to. In contrast to Mildred, Clarisse is a selfless, caring girl. There’s a lot of examples of Clarisse being selfless, but a big one is when Montag talks about her to Mildred. “But Clarisse’s favorite subject wasn’t herself. It was everyone else, and me … She was the first person I can remember who looked straight at me as if I counted.” (Bradbury 72). Montag explains Clarisse's selfless side very well. He knows from experience that she loved others more than herself. These two contrasting examples prove that Mildred and Clarisse have different personalities. But, personalities aside, they have differing values as well.
He reveals to Mildred about the countless books he hid over the course of the years as a fireman in a vent. Montag implores his wife to aid him in finding meaning in the stolen books. To understand why people would go to such great lengths for them, just like how that one woman died for her books. As he and Mildred rummage through the books, Mildred spots a phrase that she could finally comprehend from a book. "That favorite subject, Myself" After hearing this, Montag is frustrated with their progress. "But Clarisse's favorite subject wasn't herself, it was everyone else, and me. She was the first person in years I've really liked. She was the first person I can remember who looked at me as if I counted" (page
Montag had never analysed or stopped to think of what was going on with his life. As Clarisse starts to ask Montag questions and as they walk together, that makes their friendship closer. They build some sort of confidence and become
First off, the actions of Mildred and Clarisse change Montag’s thinking on the world and its laws. When
He seems worried and asks Mildred if she knows anything. Mildred says she thinks CLarisse got run over and seems unperturbed by it.. Montag however is deeply affected and comes down with a fever and does not go to work. This shows us he is gaining empathy, since no one else seems affected, and he demonstrates caring, awareness, and an attachment to another person, something no else seems to be as everyone else seems to be detached. At this point in the story Montag’s character is moderately different than it was at the beginning.
her mind. On his way to work, Montag again encounters Clarisse and is left pondering things like
Montag is the unhappy, complacent protagonist. He's thirty year old and has been a fireman for ten. He meets Clarisse and finds her outlook odd, but refreshing. Mildred is Montag's wife who's self destructive. She considers television characters as her family. Clarisse is seventeen and enjoys conversation. She's very non-conforming. Finally, Captain Beatty is the antagonist. He's Montag's superior. He is well read and uses this to fight books and curiosity about
After Montag returns to his house after talking to Clarisse, the author hints that there are other dimensions to Montag’s character by stating that Montag is in denial of his own unhappiness and he is hiding something behind his ventilator. 7. When the reader first encounters Mildred, she is described as someone who does not enjoy human interaction and only listens to the Seashell radios in her ears. Also, she is very pale and empty because she overdosed on sleeping pills.
However, throughout this novel Montag there are many people that come and are already in his life that make him change who he really is. First person being a seventeen-year-old girl named Clarisse McClellan. Clarisse is the type of person in this society who is naturally cheerful, and is really outgoing since most of the time Guy Montag sees Clarisse on the streets at night. She is like fresh air to Montag, the white pale face of hers representing pureness in literature. Guy Montag wouldn’t be who he is at the end of the novel if it wasn’t really for Clarisse. The question that sparked Montag’s mind was when Clarisse asked him “are you happy”(Bradbury)? At that instant Montag should have said yes; however, he took a moment to really think about his answer, which in this case was a sign of that Mildred and Guy Montag were not in a good relationship. This embarrassed Montag and he tries to deny it, but inside, he knows it is true. Only a short time after meeting Montag Clarisse disappears without any explanation, although Mildred and Captain Beatty claim she was killed in a car accident. This really moves Montag because for the first time in his life he was actually sad. In the end Clarisse is responsible for making Montag realize that he wasn’t happy in the life that he was
The first character in the novel Fahrenheit 451 who influences Guy Montag is seventeen year-old Clarisse McClellan. The first time Guy and Clarisse cross paths occurs when Guy is walking home from work close to midnight. They meet on an empty sidewalk and quickly begin conversation. As they continue talking, Guy notices that Clarisse is not an average teenager because of the deep questions and thoughts she has. Clarisse questions Guy’s contentment and makes him realize the absence of love and pleasure in his life. Clarisse acts as a goad to push Guy towards a much needed self-examination that later helps him overcome his fear of bringing out the books he has collected over the years and start to look for the meaning in them. Because of Clarisse, Guy is able to transform into a more self-aware man who can now decode his feelings and realize what he needs to have a flourishing life. The second character I chose who impacts Guy Montag is Professor Faber. Guy met Faber in a park a year before this novel takes place when Guy suspected Faber of having a book. When Guy finally builds up his interest in wanting to know more about his secret books, he calls Faber for aid. With Faber’s knowledge, Guy is able to understand viewpoints from different authors and eventually escape the city after he is reported for having books. Alongside Clarisse, Faber is able to help Montag from being completely molded into an average city citizen who is isolated from the knowledge that books are,
In the novel fahrenheit 451,Guy Montag is a firefighter whose day to day is influenced by other people's opinions.The opinion of Clarisse drove him to question his own happiness.Captain Beatty who tries to influence him to not read books and show the uselessness of books.And professor Faber who shows guy the importance and the blandness of the world without them.
He realizes what little personal connection he has to his wife. The following morning, Montag asks his colleagues some of Clarisse’s questions, and they shun him. A few days later, Mildred informs Montag of Clarisse’s death shortly after he met her. The next day, he goes on a firefighting call where a woman burns herself alive, which inspires him to take home a book from her house.
The characters Guy Montag and Clarisse McClellan in Fahrenheit 451 are interesting because they both possess traits of extreme curiosity and rebellious nature, which is against the structure of the society they live in. Specifically, Guy Montag demonstrates the most personal growth and change, which is apparent throughout the novel. At the beginning of the novel, Guy is initially proud of his job because he is a fireman who burns books and houses for a living. One day at his job, Guy hears the fire alarm sound and sees an old woman with books at her house. By procedure and law, the firemen are required to burn down the house because the books in the house are illegal. Despite this substantial pressure of breaking the law, the old woman refuses to leave the house and
People can change your point of view of things due to the influence of other peers. Guy Montag used to be a book burning fireman, and due to Clarisse influence on him he is now a independent knowledge seeker. In Fahrenheit 451, Clarisse, the burned lady, and Professor Faber helped him become the person he was in the end of the book.
Clarisse and Mildred were both, at some point, appealing to Montag since he married Mildred and also thought that Clarisse was beautiful. Mildred was cold and dead, while clarisse was quite the opposite. When Montag first meets Clarisse he thought of her as a “Hot Chick” and a “Curious Baby” these show us what Montag saw in her, In the text, it states "The girl's face was there, really quite beautiful". Which shows how he felt towards her. Montag obviously saw things in her personality as well, like how she's so curious and strange, and how she's kinda like mom and a curious baby at the same time, which is what probably what intrigued Montag to keep talking to her..