Fahrenheit 451
In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury develops several characters to makehis case against the evils of censorship. In a world void of books andintellectual freedom, reins brain-dead Mildred and control-freak Beatty.In sharp contrast, Clarisse is a happy young girl thirsty for knowledgeabout the world around her. Clarisse is a catalyst for her friend Montagto transform his life from a mindless drone to an intellectual thinker.Although Clarisse fails to survive society's intolerance for breaking therules, Montag escapes to enjoy a new and better life. Bradbury uses Mildred as a character to illustrate what happens to aperson that is devoid of information regarding what is going on in theirown world. Mildred lives a robotic, unhappy life as evidenced by herattempted suicide and her reliance on technical diversions from reality and
closeness with her husband such as her seashell radios and three-walltelevision. This represents Montag's frustration with notbeing able to grasp truth and, therefore, not being able to fulfillhimself. Even her relationships with her friends revolve aroundwatching and talking about television. Immersed in ignorance and herbelief that books are worthless, she is unaware of her own unhappiness. The city he hasleft behind has been destroyed in the war, signaling that Montag can returnas a new man. Armed with his MechanicalHound, Beatty tracks down and destroys anyone that has a different idea ofwhat the world should be like. Unlike Mildred, Clarisse is happy and is excited by learning about theworld around her. When Beatty orders Montag to burn his ownbooks and when Beatty allows Montag to kill him, Bradbury shows the readerBeatty's desperate need to be in complete control over the lives of others. The old Montag is dead and Bradbury even writes about thepolice killing another person and passing him off as Montag to hide theirincompetence in letting Montag escape. He isdisillusioned with himself and others for leading a shallow life devoid ofany real meaning. Montag has begun to realize that he is trapped in a loveless marriageand feels that his life is not fulfilling and lacks purpose. As he tries to retain what he reads from the Biblebefore he will have to surrender the book to Beatty, all that comes to mindis a toothpaste jingle. As Clarisse becomes friends with Montag, her questionsawaken him to the realities of his own unhappiness. And, Mildred's failure to mention the death of Clarisse to Montag,as though she never existed, shows just how much a controlling society candehumanize a nonconformist.
Common topics in this essay:
Clarisse Montag,
Ray Bradbury,
Bradbury Mildred,
Mildred Clarisse,
Mechanical Hound,
Chief Beatty,
Beatty Montag,
Montag Montag,
Hound Beatty,
,
world clarisse,
mechanical hound,
clarisse happy,
own unhappiness,
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Acceptance Essays
