Fahrenheit 451 Clarisse

Clarisse isn't in the book for very long before her meeting with a car that caused her untimely death. "You know, the high school girl. Clarisse, her name is." Oh, yes," said his wife. "I haven't seen her for a few days, four days to be exact. Have you seen her?" "No." "I've meant to talk to you about her. Strange." "Oh, I know the one you mean." "I thought you would." "Her." said Mildred in the dark room. "What about her?" asked Montag "I meant to tell you. Forgot. Forgot." "Tell me now. What is it?" "I think she's gone." "Gone?" "Whole family moved out somewhere. But she's gone for good. I think she's dead." "We couldn't be talking about the same girl." "No. The same girl. McCellan. McCellan. Run over by a car. Four days ago. I'm not sure. But I think she's dead. The family moved out anyway. I don't know. But I think she's dead." (Bradbury 47) Prior to her death, Clarisse acts as a catalyst that caused Montag to start questioning whether he was truly happy with his life. "Of course I'm happy. What does she think? I'm not? he asked the quiet rooms. He stood looking up at the ventilator grille in the hall and suddenly remembered that something lay hidden behind the grille, something that seemed to peer down at him now. He moved his eyes quickly away." (Bradbury 10) Beyond causing the events in the story to start happening, she really does nothing else worth noting, and if she had never been there to cause Montag to question himself, then he would have simply died in the bombing with everyone else. So in a way Clarisse saved Montag's life. Pertaining to her death, it is later revealed that most people drive in a way that causes them to not want to stop when someone is standing in the road, or simply choose not to stop, thus killing them. This makes me wonder why the law enforcement does nothing to stop this.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451;. New York: Ballantine, 1953. Print.