Theme Of Conformity In Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury. I am writing about Clarisse McClellan, Guy Montag, and Mildred, wife of Guy. I’ll be writing about the way these three act and why I chose them and not others. Guy and Clarisse met on a dark night, where he started to actually think. The characters Guy and Clarisse show non-conformity, while Mildred shows conformity.

Guy Montag is a fireman who, on one night runs into Clarisse. She asks him more and more questions, making him think about his life. He soon starts reading the few books he has secretly hidden away in his home over the years, unable to stop thinking about everything. His wife finds out, throwing a fit, about to throw the books into an incinerator he grabs her, saying “Listen. Give me a second, will you? We can’t do anything, we can’t burn these. I want to look at them, at least look at them once. Then if what the Captain says is true, we’ll burn them together,

believe me, we’ll burn them together. You must help me.”(Page 63). This quote shows how he doesn’t want to burn books like most people would, shows he actually wants to read the books he has. Hes looking for more in life than just moving on, doing simple minded, no thinking things, like Clarisse did.

Clarisse would head out into the woods, walk around, looking at things, stay up all night, watch the sun rise. All things the average person doesn’t do anymore. She took time to smell the roses. She often left different things at Montag's door, the first night they met saying, “I’m seventeen and I’m crazy. My uncle says the two always go together. When people ask your age, he said always seventeen and insane. Isn’t this a nice time of night to walk? I like to smell things, and sometimes stay up all night, walking, watching the sunrise” (Page 5). This shows how different she is from all the other people who just rush around doing things or not doing anything at all. For example Mildred who is always in the parlor with her “family”.

Mildred shows conformity because she doesn’t think about anything, is very forgetful and just does nothing.

She rarely leaves the house and doesn’t even care about the oncoming war. She even calls the firemen on Montag after he starts spouting poetry to her company, she leaves the house muttering “Poor family, poor family, oh everything gone, everything, everything gone now,” (Page 108). This shows she only cares about material things, not about her husband who she basically just had arrested. She’s only thinking about her things in the house.

That is why I chose Guy Montag, Clarisse McClellan and Mildred to show non-conformity and conformity. Those three are perfect examples of the two ways, Clarisse being a person who thinks, looks around. Montag being someone who wants to read, be able to understand books. Mildred, doing nothing, not thinking, just enjoying simple minded entertainment. Clarisse died for being how she is though, Montag was forced to flee from the city, and Mildred only moved, though none of that matters with what happens in the

end.