In
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the protagonist Guy Montag, interacts with two very different women. One is his wife named Mildred and the other is his teenage neighbor named Clarisse. Mildred and Clarisse are foil characters in this novel. Foil characters are used in a story to emphasize the differences in characters and exaggerate certain traits. Clarisse is a young girl that sees the world around her what it is and enjoys thinking (Bradbury 23). Through her deep and profound thoughts she strikes Montag as being ancient and someone that he has known for a long time (Bradbury 23). Mildred on the other hand can only keep her attention on her television (Bradbury 20). She hardly talks to Montag and when she does its to whine about not having a fourth television like a petulant child (Bradbury 20). I think that the author used the age difference to show how much mature Clarisse is compared to Mildred. Clarisse is just a teenager and seems to be ancient and wise while Mildred is an adult but still comes off as a spoiled child. This shows how much more Clarisse has mentally developed compared to Mildred due to thought.
In this novel these two characters are used to contrast the differences in lifestyle between the people like Clarisse who still bother to engage in thought, and the people like Mildred who are attached at the hip to their technology and do not want to think at all. Clarisse seems happy and fulfilled in her lifestyle of enriching thought (Bradbury 9). Mildred on the other hand tries to commit suicide at the beginning of the novel with a bottle of sleeping pills (Bradbury 13). This difference shows that people like Clarisse who think and really live life are much happier and adjusted to life than the people who are like Mildred and do not think. I think the differences in Mildred and Clarisse even helps Montag make his choice about whether he should try to revive books. He sees that Clarisse was happy and that Mildred was not.
Bibliography: Bradbury, Ray. Farenheit 451. New York: Ballantine, 1953. Print
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ReplyDeleteSorry, anon who posted this at 5:27am on the 20th of July, 2020, but I believe we are all here for assistance on an ELA assignment, or something of the sort, not to commit evil deeds in the sight of the holy God himself and his blessed child Jesus Christ who has come to this wicked Earth to save us from our iniquitous selves, or at the very least those who choose to even acknowledge him. Say, you, who has read until the very very end, should be very intrigued by the very thought of Jesus Christ and God! The first step is acceptance, then you must WASH AWAY YOUR SINS!!! WASH THEM AWAY, NOW! And thus another child of Jesus the lamb is ready.
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