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Roles in society
The importance of individuality in today's society
The importance of individuality in today's society
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The characters, Clarisse and Mildred illustrate a contrasting look at individuality verses conformity in a society. Clarisse represents individuality, which is demonstrated through her interaction with Montag. On the other hand, Mildred represents conformity based on how she spends her days and nights. Clarisse is led by internal factors, while Mildred is led by external factors. Clarisse is described as a beautiful and intelligent girl. She is overtaken by her thoughts to the point where she is no longer accepted in society. “I like to smell things, and look at things, and sometimes I stay up all night, walking, and watch the sun rise.” She even has a “kind and gentle hunger” in her to touch and experience everything. Her curiosity …show more content…
She brings clarity to Montag; therefore, allowing him to begin to see within himself and reach for his individuality. Furthermore, Clarisse spends the time to observe Montag, recognizing that he is just a man, while others see his profession of being a fireman, which translates fear and danger. She notices his difference in comparison to her peers. “I’m afraid of children my own age. They kill each other….I’m afraid of them and they don’t like me because I’m afraid.” She fears mindlessness, where children are not encouraged to think, but regurgitate. Likewise, these children will kill without a moment’s thought, not understanding the very act they have committed or the impact of it. Therefore, she’s not afraid of Montag because he is doing his job, but the children are committing random acts of violence. She is not afraid of him, for he is not after her. She sees the man outside of being a fireman, his human side, the part of him that shows himself, his …show more content…
There was only the singing of the thimble-wasps in her tamped shut ears, and her eyes all glass, and breath going in and out , softly, faintly, in and out her nostrils, and her not caring whether it came or went, went or came.” She is a cold depressed person, who shows no remnant of feelings. She only watches the parlor walls and listens to her thimble radios without a care in the world. This seems to be a form of escapism. These radios make a constant crackling noise in her ears. The result is the numbing of her brain, significantly reducing or eliminating her thinking. Her listening to nothing, keeps her from thinking. It is possible that she wants to die because of this nothingness, which conformity brings on. She has no family and no life. In fact, almost no one in this society knows anything about family or life. In one’s opinion, family is scripted, where everyone knows every move something or someone is going to make. Everything has to be predictable. “Every night the waves had come in and bore her, wide-eyed, toward morning. There had been no night in the last two years that Mildred had not swum that sea.” The listening of the thimble radios also helps her escape the reality that she cannot sleep. She is so brainwashed by society that she keeps forgetting that she has
And everything she said made Montag start to think. While Montag and Clarisse were walking, Clarisse asked Montag “ How long is it since you were really bothered?” she said knowing he didn’t think enough to even be bothered by something. “About something important, about something real?” He heard this question and never thought about it, he reacted impulsively and thought she was crazy for asking such a question. Clarisse later asked him a very deep question and said “Are you happy?” Of course Montag said the first thing that he thought he felt, and said that yes, he was happy. but clarisse knew the truth, that he didnt know what happy was to be able to say that and thats why she asked. Even though Montag didnt think about the question then, once he enters his house he cant shake the question. When clarisse asks these questions she asks them seriously. However when Montag hears these questions he thinks they are obscure and laughs as if his answers are obvious. So clarisse asks him another brain teasing question and says “You laugh when i haven’t been funny, and you answer right off. you never stop to think what i have asked you.” This really gets into Montags head, weather he knows it, or not. And things Soon begin to change.
Firstly, Montag is influenced by Clarisse McClellan because she is the first person he has met that is not like the rest of the society. Clarisse is a young 17 year old girl that Montag quickly becomes very fond of. Clarisse influences Montag by the way she questioned Montag, the way she admires nature, and her death. Clarisse first influenced Montag by the way she began questioning him often. Her questions would make him think for himself unlike the rest of society. “Then she seemed to remember something and came back to look at him with wonder and curiosity. “Are you happy?” she said. “Am I what?” he cried. But she was gone- running in the moonlight” (Bradbury, 10). Clarisse was one of the only people that Montag had ever met that had ever asked him that. This question that she asked him influenced him because he thinks about, and Montag asks himself tha...
The questioning from Clarisse has led Montag to a loss of self-esteem. Clarisse, Montag’s new neighbor, starts a conversation with him. Clarisse has a different personality than the other people Montag knows at the fire station. She is very outgoing, likes nature, and is not into socializing. When Clarisse asks about Montag’s job, she says that Montag is a fireman without the typical fireman qualities.
Not all rules are always agreed on by every individual. Oftentimes people tend to keep to themselves about their differentiating views, but others fight for what they believe in. In order to make any type of progress for a specific cause, effort and determination needs to be put into a person’s every attempt towards a positive development. Individuals who rebel against an authoritarian society are often faced with the challenges to fight for what they believe in in order to make a change.
Clarisse shares with Montag that her entire family was almost killed by the government for knowing too much. The government said we were a threat to society and needed to be eliminated. Clarisse’s Uncle was very educated and knew the things they had to do in order to live. They then escaped in the night, but the government did not seem to care. The government then tried to cover it up by saying that she got hit by a car. Clarisse’s family then made it to the same intellects that Montag had been with, and they directed them to the city. Their family then reached the city, where Montag is now. They realized that books were allowed and accepted in that society, and have been living there for the ever since. About three hours go by of Clarisse pouring her brain out to Montag, and finally they look around and see that it is nighttime. The two of them gaze at the stars and let out a small
Bradbury describes Clarisse as a teenage girl who is a genuine lover of life. The novel describes that she is a nature lover and is very outgoing. Bradbury has Clarisse contradict Montag's wife Mildred. Clarisse was the main reason Montag starting questioning his happiness and books. Bradbury adds Clarisse’s character to the novel, so her words can be help Montag examine his current life decisions. By her doing this Montag suddenly comes to see some of the missing pieces of his life. Ray Bradbury uses his power of words through Clarisse’s character by having her be different from everyone else in the
... ideas in books and understand them. Before this Montag never questioned the way he lives, he was blinded by all the distractions. The role that Clarisse plays in the book enables Montag to break free of the ignorance.
First major significance Clarisse has on the reader and the society is that because of her and others like her the society had become a censored society. Clarisse represents individuality and personality which creates an uneven society. This leads to society being dumb downed and censored to eliminate characters like Clarisse and to create an even society. "I'm antisocial, they say. I don't mix. It's so strange. I'm very social indeed. It all de...
The seashell radio is a device that is inserted into the ear, much like headphones. This device allows its listener to hear radio broadcasts. Mildred, who is married to Montag, is the character that is depicted as over using the seashell radio. She appears to be very antisocial and withdrawn when listening to Montag talk. When her husband and her are lying in bed, Montag glances over at his wife and notices that "her Seashell was tamped to her ear again, and she was listening to far people in far places, her eyes wide and staring at the fathoms of blackness above her in the ceiling" (Bradbury, p. 42). Montag follows this with a sarcastic thought, thinking to himsel...
Montag is influenced by Clarisse a lot. And, her impact on him is tremendous. She questions his whole life, teaches him to appreciate the simple things, and to care about other people and their feelings. “You're peculiar, you're aggravating, yet you're easy to forgive..”(Bradbury 23) Through all Clarisse's questioning, Montag knows that she is trying to help him. Because of her help and impact on him, Montag is changed forever.
Clarisse is the happy one in the book. She is a young girl who meets Montag one day when he is taking a walk. She can tell that Montag doesn’t look happy. “He wears his happiness like a mask.”(pg.5) This is saying that his happiness was just to cover up his true discontentment inside of him. Because he is wearing his happiness just to cover up his discontent, Clarisse tries to show him that he is truly not happy. He tries to say that he is happy, but he knows that he really isn’t happy after all and he thought he was. The Healthy Living Website says ...
When Montag meets Clarisse, his neighbor, he starts to notice that there is more to life than burning books. Montag states, “Last night I thought about all the kerosene I have used in the past ten years. And I thought about books. And for the first time I realized that a man was behind each one of those books” (Bradbury 49). It begins to bother Montag that all he has done for the past years is burn books. He starts to rethink his whole life, and how he has been living it. Montag goes on to say, “It took some men a lifetime maybe to put some of his thoughts down, looking around at the world and life and then I come along in two minutes and boom! It is all over” (Bradbury 49) Before, Montag never cares about what he has been doing to the books, but when he begins to ignore the distractions and really think about life he starts to notice that he has been destroying some other mans work. Montag begins to think more of the world
Ray Bradbury knew that the screens isolated communities, just as they did with Mildred and Montag. This isolation is expressed by Montag in the following quote: “He reached over and pulled the tiny musical insect out of her ear. ‘Mildred. Mildred?’ ‘Yes.’ Her voice was faint. He felt he was one of those creatures electronically inserted between the slots of phono-color walls, speaking, but the speech not piercing the crystal barrier. He could only pantomime, hoping she would turn his way and see him. They would not touch the glass” (Bradbury 47). In here technology is again represented as a barrier between Mildred and Montag. Bradbury refers to the device as an insect, giving it negative connotations. The communication between them is
Clarisse is Montag’s first mentor in his journey; she is the one who first opens his eyes to the world around him, as well as asking the ultimate question “Are you happy?” (7) To which Montag cried “Am I what?” He never gave whether he was actually, truly happy a real, legitimate thought in his entire life. He just woke up, ate breakfast, went to work, ate lunch, went home, ate dinner, and went to sleep; and all with a big grin fixed on his face. But now, after a bit of consideration he came to the realization that “He was not happy…. He wore his happiness like a mask and the girl had run off across the lawn with the mask a...
Through Montag's conversations with Clarisse, I have learned that sometimes the simplest exchange of words and ideas can leave the greatest mark on a person. Clarisse is the light that wipes away the haze and fog from Montag's life. Without knowing it, she influenced him to clearly evaluate his life, beliefs, and choices. Montag simply went about his business during his prominent position as a fireman. Yet after meeting Clarisse, he began to question his thoughts in ways he has never thought to before. He at first laughs at her controversial questions and thoughts from reading books, to practicing the act of "watching people." The turning point for Montag from his past ways was simply a three letter phrase, "Are you happy?" (Pg 10)