Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 was written to show the danger of disconnection and how important conformity is in society. The protagonist Guy Montag is considered an outsider in his new, technologically advanced reality. He doesnt agree with the direction the world is turning and he does what he feels necessary to block the new world and bring society back to the morals it was built on; even having to be reminded to not let anything “knock the torch out of his hands” (78). Montag does not particularly find an association with the people surrounding him like his wife Mildred, a main character who furthers Bradbury’s point of getting lost in the new society because over time Mildred completely lost her personality and ability to control her own mind. But Montag

Television provides a new way of life and distracts people from what's going on outside the room. Bradbury does this to show the danger of not being connected with reality. Montag is a character who protected reality and its true meaning from the people that were brainwashed into the new society. Montag, “reminded himself again that this was no fictional episode to be watched on his run to the river; it was in actuality his own chess game he was witnessing, move by move” (131). The TV is a mechanism from the government to control people making them so mindless that they lose all true personality or thought. The television also interrupted the importance of family. Montag asks his wife, Mildred, “Will you turn the parlor off” (36)? And the woman he vowed to spend his life with responded, “That’s my family.” Mildred got so addicted to television that she lost control of herself and the truth of life. The tv has taken the place of her real family and gives Mildred the illusion of actual feelings and relationships taking her off reality and brainwashing her into thinking that they are real

Clarisse is a free-spirited character who also struggles to relate to the people in her society. Clarisse was a curious young woman who asked a large number of questions that easily puzzled Montag. For example, Clarisse asked, “Are you happy”(7)? Which left Montag numb and questioning his own wife because of her disconnection from Montag and any real human connection at all. Her question made him realize that no, he was not happy at all. Clarisse and Montag's relationship was not able to evolve because Clarisse disappeared early in the novel. Even though Clarisse left Montag’s life early she played an important part in his character development. Clarisse and all her questions led to Montag’s realization that “You can make people listen. They have to come round in their own time”(146). Clarisse’s free-spirited mind sparked Montag's awakening as a character. Clarisse couldn't always be present for Montag but she taught him to always try to be happy and she gave him a sense of hope he needed regarding