Everyone, no matter the age, gender, ethnicity, or sexuality, wants to belong. Most people dress according to the latest styles, talk like their peers, and strive to look like the people they see on social media, magazines, TV, or like those around them. Before they know it, everyone looks the same, acts the same, and has the same opinions. Because of the majority doing the same thing, they feel pressured to conform, whether they would like to admit it or not, in order to gain that sense of belonging. This idea is also evident in the novel Fahrenheit 451. By using conflict, flat characters, and symbolism, Bradbury shows how conformity can lead to a lack of individuality and how it can stifle free thought. Bradbury uses conflict throughout Fahrenheit 451 to exemplify how technology has become …show more content…
Clarisse is one of the only characters who lived her life the way she wanted, not dictated by society or those around her. Bradbury tells how she spent time outdoors, spoke frankly, and asked profound questions (28); all activities looked down upon by society. She notes to Montag, “The psychiatrist wants to know why I go out and hike around in the forests and watch the birds and collect butterflies.” (Bradbury 23). The fact that she even has a psychiatrist shows that society thinks her behavior is wrong. This uniqueness eventually led to her being killed in a car accident. Her death symbolizes how society cannot accept such a free thinker like her. Beatty tells Montag, “She was a time bomb….The poor girl’s better off dead” (Bradbury 60) and Mildred agrees with him. They speak of her death so casually, almost as if they prefer her dead. This indifference proves how those that try to experience life, like Clarisse, are shunned and they have no place in their current