What Is The Significance Of Clarisse In Fahrenheit 451

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The characterisation of Clarisse in Fahrenheit 451 reinforces Bradbury’s idea that knowledge is neutral but can be used for positive purposes. At the beginning of the novel, Clarisse and Montag run into each other at night, after he finishes work. Montag describes Clarisse as a girl with a “face bright as snow in the moonlight” (13). Bradbury’s symbolic use of the moon and its lunar cycle represents the cyclical nature of book burning and destruction. This also foreshadows Montag’s change of heart, and the new knowledge he is about to gain under Clarisse’s guidance. This guidance is seen when she breaks Montag’s world by prompting him to reconsider the pleasure to burn. She acts as the catalyst in Montag’s evolution, stopping his cycle of mass