In Fahrenheit 451, Clarisse has the strongest impact on Montag. It is significant that Montag almost predicts her arrival in the story, indicating the importance of her forthcoming role:
He had the most uncertain sidewalk just around the corner here… The air seemed charged with a special calm as if someone had waited there.
Once the pair meet, Clarisse talks about subjects Montag has never thought of before, like the taste of the rain...
In Fahrenheit 451, Clarisse has the strongest impact on Montag. It is significant that Montag almost predicts her arrival in the story, indicating the importance of her forthcoming role:
He had the most uncertain sidewalk just around the corner here… The air seemed charged with a special calm as if someone had waited there.
Once the pair meet, Clarisse talks about subjects Montag has never thought of before, like the taste of the rain and life before the firemen. Her carefree and non-conformist attitude is like a breath of fresh air for Montag.
Clarisse contrasts strongly with people in Montag's life like Mildred and Beatty, who personify orthodoxy and conformity. Clarisse, in contrast, gets under Montag's skin and elicits the strongest response, as we see in his conversation:
You're peculiar, you're aggravating, yet you're easy to forgive.
The strongest evidence of Clarisse's impact on Montag comes later and through Bradbury's description. From this quote, we see the beginning of Montag's identity crisis which will alienate him from Mildred and Beatty and push him into rebellion with Faber:
He felt his body divide itself into a hotness and a coldness, a softness and a hardness, a trembling and a not trembling, the two halves grinding one upon the other.
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