Nonconformity In Fahrenheit 451

Most governments, at some point or another, have condemned certain thoughts under the justification of removing the most extreme threats to stability. In Ray Bradbury’s prophetic novel, Fahrenheit 451, these thought regulations are enforced by the firemen, and the flames they start, not extinguish, are meant to consume books and the knowledge within them. Despite the entirely separate worlds inhabited by Clarisse McClellan and Mildred Montag that fashion the two women into vastly different people – the first a child of nurtured nonconformity, and the second a sufferer of harsh reality – both show Guy Montag the flaws in the current society he supports through his work as a fireman. When Guy begins to talk to Clarisse, he spends some time marveling at her strange behavior and speech. But after she tells him about “’[her] mother and father and uncle sitting around, talking’” (9) as they wait for the youngest member of their family to return home at one in the morning, it becomes clear that Clarisse’s abnormality is derived from the shelter her family provides against the oppressive, thought-controlling government the rest of her society lives under. This protection allows Clarisse to grow up unstifled by government policies designed to create compliancy, but it is a luxury that also inhibits her from engaging with her peers. Mildred Montag has no such defense, and she must cope with the hopeless reality she experiences every day on her own. While Guy is home sick, his frustration with Mildred

Strangers are the richest source of new information, ideas, and thought processes, but it is often those we know best whom we trust the most to teach us these important