As Montag walks home from work that night, he meets Clarisse McClellan, his 17 year old neighbor. Montag is at once taken aback by and drawn to the precocious girl's inquisitiveness. Clarisse loves nature, doesn't watch television, and hates cars that drive fast. She questions him steadily about his perception of the world, leaving him with the query "Are you happy?" Clarisse leaves a strong impression on Montag, and he continues to reflect on their brief encounter and her very different way of viewing the world. After some time, Montag comes to terms with his answer to Clarisse's final question. He is not happy.
Montag enters his modern home and retires to his bedroom, where he finds that his wife, Mildred, has overdosed on sleeping pills. Montag is shocked and immediately calls the paramedics. Technicians arrive at the house, pump Mildred's stomach and give her a complete transfusion with various technological instruments. Neither of the paramedics are doctors, a fact Montag finds surprising. However, the paramedics explain that they perform these same procedures many times a night, and that it is a very regular occurrence. When the medics depart, the relieved yet shaken Montag reflects on the impersonal and tragic nature of his society.
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When Montag attempts to discuss the issue, Millie reacts with dismissive disbelief, eager to return her attention to the diversions of the seashell radios constantly inserted in her ears and the people on the three-wall television, whom she calls her
Montag feels at the begining of the novel that the communication is greatly lacking in society. People are becoming very ignorant and turning reallife realationships aside. They now turn to their "tv families". One victim of neglecting real life realtionships is Mildred, Montag's wife. Montag truley hates this. "Nobody listens any more. I can't talk to the walls because they're yelling at me. I can't talk to my wife; she listens to the walls. I just want someone to hear what I have to say. And maybe if I talk long enough, it'll make sense. And I want you to teach me to understand what I read." (2.125). Montag hopes that his wife and him can rejoin their connection through the books, but is sadly wrong and must find some one else, Faber.
Clarisse tells Montag this, and it makes him wonder if anyone really does care. Montag realizes that he lives in a world of conceited people. He realizes that he does not really care about anyone, including his wife Mildred. People in his society don't think about others feelings when acting. From this, Montag learns the meaning of caring. He learns what a terrible place it is to live in, where no one cares about anyone but themselves. This only changes Montag for the better. At one point, Montag and the other firemen go to a house because a lady has books concealed in her home. The lady, not concerned about being burned to death, is determined to stay with her books. Montag is stunned by her decision, and cares very much about her safety. “Montag placed his hand on the woman's elbow. 'You can come with me'” (Bradbury 39) This is a turning point for Montag, in which he starts to care about everyone and their feelings.
Montag’s Wife, Mildred, is a negative influence on him, trying to push him away emotionally and physically. She does not know who she really is and lives in an illusionary world with her obsession of television shows and believing they are real. He is so confused because she tries to ignore it ever happened thinking about all the bad things; “fire, sleeping tablets, men disposable tissue, coattails, blow, wad, flush...Rain. The storm. The uncle laughing...The whole world pouring down..." (19). After this incident he looks at Mildred in a different light and is someone who he can’t relate to. Another way she separates herself from Montag is through her "family", which is a television show. Montag constantly asks Millie “[if that] family loves [her]… love [her] with all their heart and soul" (83). Her world isn’t based in reality; they are clearly on different paths. Hers is one of illusion and his is becoming that of a totally self-aware person. She blocks everything and everyone out that is around her and lives within the show. Mildred opens Montag 's eyes to the real world and shows him that most people are uncaring and narcissistic.
Guy Montag, the main character in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, goes through a huge change in his life. He changes from a typical fireman who follows the laws, into a person who challenges the law. Montag wakes up from being numbed and realizes that he is unhappy. Montag 's wife, "Mildred", who is addicted to Television and radio, did not care about Montag 's feelings. However; Clarisse and Faber played a big role in Montag 's life. Montag is a metaphor for a numbed society and his courage is demonstrated as he wakes up and evolves into his real human self throughout the book.
Throughout Fahrenheit 451 Guy Montag goes through many changes and by the end of the story, he is ultimately an entirely different person. He is not responsible for all of the changes on his own however, and several characters play an essential role in shaping who he eventually becomes. At the beginning of the book, Montag encounters a teenage girls named Clarisse. Clarisse is only present for a short time, however she immediately gets Montag to think in a way he never has before. She looks at the small things in life and goes against what the current society tells her to think and do. She is different from everyone else in a very freeing way and Montag starts to be drawn into her personality. She is like a burst of fresh air for Montag
Montag is sick, physically and emotionally. Realizing his wife would rather watch TV than care for him; that the world is an empty, cruel place; and that there are things out there which are worth dying for makes him even more so. Technology starts to become a main influence on the actions of the people in society. Montag’s wife, Mildred, is said to have “lost herself in technology”. She confines herself in the living room of the couple’s house to three life-sized television screen walls. These walls speak to her and hold conversations with her more than actual people do. Mildred yells at Montag for turning off her “family”. Montag is her husband, but Mildred relates fictional programmed characters to her only family. The issue of technology technically brainwashes the people of this science fiction society. People believe that if technology gets more advanced it would end society because people would probably forget about everything. Bradbury thinks that with technology surrounding us, people will stop reading books. If people stop reading books they will forget about things that are extremely important, which include history, how and why people act in different ways, how life began, and other things that are important today but with technology they are going to fade away. Another thing that could happen if
When walking home from another duty as a fireman Montag stumbles upon his new neighbor, Clarisse McClellan. The two engage in philosophical conversation, mainly driven by the young, “socially ill” neighbor. Before heading into his home, Clarisse asks Montag a question. She asks if he is happy. He laughs at the question at first but after looking at Clarisse’s bright, cheerful home, Montag realizes he may not be as happy as he thinks he is while standing in his cold bedroom. A metaphor describes his feelings as Bradbury writes, “He wore his happiness like a mask and the girl had run off across the lawn with the mask and there was no way of going to knock on her door and ask for it back,” (12). Then as matters couldn't get worse, he discovers his wife has attempted suicide shortly after accidentally kicking an empty sleeping pill bottle on the floor. From that moment on he continues to refer to this incident, wondering why his wife took the pills in the first place. Even after calling for help and saving her life, Mildred continues to bother Montag with distrust and ignorance. She even reports Montag’s interest in books to the fire department, leading Montag to completely change the way he thinks about their
Over the next several weeks, Clarisse and Montag develop a friendly relationship. They talk about ideas and thoughts in a way that no one in this society seems to do anymore. Because of Clarisse's influence, Montag grows more concerned about his own life. Then one day, Clarisse disappears and Montag is troubled. Work troubles him even more, for he must participate in burning an old woman's home. Refusing to leave her books and her belongings, she lights her own fire and stays inside, dying a martyr. Montag is moved by the woman's bravery and sees it as a symbol of what is wrong with society. Almost in protest, he steals a book from the woman's house.
He also meets Clarisse right before that, which introduces him to the fact that he is not happy and points out how flawed his society is. This causes him to have a sort of identity crisis which brings in the man vs self conflict. Another man vs society problem that goes with the main conflict occurs at the same time. During the book, especially after meeting Clarisse, Montag develops a pronounced hatred of technology. This is shown in Montag’s metaphors applying to technology throughout the book. Most commonly, he refers to technology as undesirable animals/objects. For example, when Mildred is getting her stomach pumped by “the black cobra”(12) and Montag refers to Faber’s two-way radio as a “green bullet”(112) and a “gnat tickling his ear"(88). Also when he burns his house, he makes it a priority to burn his wife’s three TV-walls. Finally, there is a man vs man conflict between Montag and Beatty. Once Montag is “sick” after the burning of the old woman’s house and Montag’s stealing of the Bible from her house, this reveals later Montag’s secret stash of books. But Montag plainly gives away to Beatty that he took a book
She sits home all day and watches her three walls in the living room, that they had equipped with giant TV’s. Mildred bugs Montag for a fourth TV wall. She thinks it would be necessary to achieve the full effect of her TV programs, but Montag refuses knowing that it is a useless and expensive investment. Montag finds Clarisse waiting at the bus stop the next day. She then informs him that she doesn’t go to school because she’s been labeled anti-social by her teachers. Montag and Clarisse continue to carry on a conversation for a while before he eventually had to go and head off to work. Once he arrives at the fire station an alarm sounds to notify the firemen that someone is in the procession of books and that it is time to perform their duty of burning the house of books. Before the firemen begin to incinerate the house, Montag snatches two of the criminal’s books, and when the old lady who owns the houses refuses to leave her personal possessions to be burned the fireman are ordered to burn the house and its books along with her. This act dwells on Montag to the point where is makes him feel sick and very depressed about the inhumane actions he had performed.
In the midst of Montag’s self-discovery Millie was still willing to put her popularity status among her friends over her husband. After a confusing day of reading Mildred invited her friends over and allowed them to criticize him. “You’re nasty, Mr. Montag, you’re nasty!”(Bradbury 107). Rather than standing up for Montag she stood by her friends and later even turned him into the fire station. “Was it my wife who turned in the alarm? Beatty nodded”(Bradbury 117). Mildred was so heartless and disconnected to her real family she was willing to sell out her own husband without thinking of what would happen to Montag. As she left her home moments before its destruction the only thing she was upset about was her TV family. Mildred’s character perfectly represents the archetype of a cold wife as she is deceitful, unloving, materialistic, and
In the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, there is a story of the character Guy Montag who is a fireman in a dystopian society, a society in which people get entertainment from giant TVs they call “Parlor Walls” and houses have been deemed fireproof. Since fireman do not need to run around and eliminate fires, they start them. The job of a fireman in this dystopian society is that they burn books and the places that contain them, all the while being the official censors of the state. But there is something different about Montag, he used to be a proud fireman, he had the look of one: “black hair, black brows... fiery face, and... blue-steel shaved but unsaved look” as it states on page 30, the feel of one: “It was
Clarisse McClellan, a young, seventeen-year-old girl, is the first person to help spark a change in Montag’s views on what the society finds to be normal behavior, but what is actually supposed to be considered outrageous, dangerous, and highly unnecessary. With behavior that Montag finds to be peculiar, Clarisse is able to shed light on the flaws that exist in the current society by talking about her uncle and how she views society. She mentions that her uncle was arrested “for being a pedestrian” (Bradbury 7), and with the simple question, “are you happy?” (7), Montag is able to think on his own by realizing that “he wore his happiness like a mask”(9). However, because Montag’s experience with Clarisse encourages him to think for himself, his current occupation as a Fireman also aids in transforming his
Clarisse says, “I tell them that sometimes I just sit and think”(21). Finally, Montag is made aware of this simplicity. When he is trying to find happiness himself, he remembers that Clarisse finds contenment through siting, observing and thinking. Montag begins to notice that his wife is a foil as she had never done either one of those things. Bradbury supports Jameson’s quote of happiness by showing how Mildred is suicidal and has no connection with people and her only connection is with her “Family” in the walls on Television. Montag begins to find himself and starts to realize that he really doesn’t care about Mildred, that she is an empty vessel. Later in the book Montage feels a stronger connection to a girl that he has only spoken to a handful of times versus his own wife whom he is suppose to have a strong connection. When Montage almost died by getting run over he says, “I wonder if they were the ones who killed Clarisse! He wanted to run after them yelling. His eyes watered.” (114). Montag knew Mildred for years yet he realizes that when she leaves him she will never miss him or mourn him; Montag feels closer with Clarisse as marvels at her idea of happiness. Montag starts to develop deeper feelings about thoughtful people like Clarisse. He would cry for this girl he barely knew more than he would for his own wife whom he felt no connection to.
Montag, the main character of the book realizes his desperation for happiness and notices that he could never find that in his wife. Mildred who has isolated herself into these walls, her electronical family that long ago replaced Montag in his own home. She has isolated herself into her mind where her state of being is living but not alive. Throughout the book one may wonder why and how she has gotten herself to this point of desolation. As Montag is identifying his own insanity, he is seeing his wife as a completely different person, and as the book progressed readers can sense the change in Mildred. This once happily married woman is now depressed and has slowly pushed herself into