Fahrenheit 451 Strengths And Weaknesses

Slowly, today’s society is slowly turning into the dreaded, bookless society Ray Bradbury wrote about in his book Fahrenheit 451. In this book, the media addicted Mildred and the lively Clarisse have many individual strengths and weaknesses and they both have multiple differences and similarities with each other. They both also impact Montag’s journey, showing him the mindless present and the thoughtful past.
Mildred shows a hidden complexity to her with her strengths and weaknesses. Her weaknesses include being detached, not thinking, being empty, and refusing to feel emotion. Mildred shows her lack of human connections by blocking her relationship with Montag by having her “family” and TV act as walls, lacking empathy when talking about

Clarisse’s death, and in many other ways. Also, she overdoses on pills when Montag reads poetry to her friends which suggests that she drowns her emotions with sleeping pills and television. Mildred’s strengths are rather events than traits that include her tiny slips of emotion. Mildred expresses these moments quarter-way of the book when Montag asks her where they met; she laughs and thinks about it. Secondly, she expressed another surprising quality of patience midway of the book when she spent an entire forty-eight hours reading books with Montag. These two events show that even though Mildred is distant, she can still learn how to feel emotion; however, she goes back to watching TV because she is afraid she will start thinking, feeling emotions, and breaking society’s laws. Thirdly, Mildred spends all her life watching TV and otherwise being saturated by sound. At the end of the book, as he thinks about Mildred, Montag states, “I think of her hands, but I don’t see them doing anything at all. They just hang there at her sides or they lie there on her lap or there’s a cigarette in them, but that’s all. (page 148)”
Clarisse McClellan shows many strengths throughout her brief time in the book, which leads to her disappearance. The first time she meets Montag, she immediately asks questions about his career and then asks, “Are you happy?” Later on in the book, she consistently asks more questions and informs Montag of dew in the morning, of the rain’s taste, of the man on the moon, and many other little things in nature people in their society usually don’t pay attention to. Clarisse is not afraid to think, ask questions and talk to people, whereas many others simply mindlessly watch entertainment, which is why she is watched by the government. Clarisse also observes people carefully. In her first encounter with Montag, she noted that he laughs forcefully and doesn’t think about what she is talking and asking about. Later on, she says Montag’s laughter sounds much more relaxed and he also joins in her leaf-smelling, rain-tasting and observation of the billboards. Clarisse’s strengths are also her weaknesses. Due to the fact that she is insanely curious, she is then killed off because the government treats this trait as a weapon. Secondly, she is unable to save herself by acting like an everyday citizen. Clarisse consistently sticks out, whether it is at home, at school, or at her psychiatrist's office because she always wants to know the ‘why’ and observes the little things in life.