Set in a world of both ignorance and enlightenment, Fahrenheit 451 consumes the reader’s interest by projecting the life of a character who dares to escape the tight chains of censorship and intellectual repression. Ray Bradbury focuses in on fireman Guy Montag and his self conflicts as a result of a sterile world around him. Bradbury uses the findings of Guy Montag to present to the reader that knowledge is much more extensive than just power, and by involving different characters, he displays knowledge as happiness, fulfillment, and contentedness. Knowledge can be looked at in two different ways. The first idea of knowledge is that it’s facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or …show more content…
Clarisse is very different from society because she acquires a different kind of knowledge than what is common in Fahrenheit 451. Clarisse isn’t as knowledgeable about hard facts and statistics like the rest of society, but she is more knowledgeable of her surroundings making her more familiar and aware. A very interesting aspect from the novel is how no one notices things or asks questions, while Clarisse on the other hand does. The first day that Montag meets Clarisse he is caught dumbfounded because that was the first time in his life that he got to see the world through a different pair of lenses, and Montag is happy. Montag is happy because he begins to notice things. Clarisse teaches Montag how to observe the world around him, and Montag finally starts getting the answers that he was afraid to search for. A while after Montag meets Clarisse he finds himself beginning to make big life decisions, and soon after encounters a lecture with Captain Beatty. Montag finds out that Clarisse gets into trouble for the same things she has been teaching Montag, and is now dead. Clarisse is killed because her sense of knowledge is not what the government and society in Fahrenheit 451 agrees with. Clarisse is knowledgeable because she is aware and familiar because of her experiences, and as Montag begins to get to know her, he takes a part of that with him.