Clarisse McClellan

I was thinking today about Clarisse McClellan, who is maybe my all-time favorite character in literature.

Does anyone remember Clarisse McClellan? She was a young woman in Ray Bradbury's Farenheit 451. If you haven't read this book, or haven't read it lately, you should. It is about a future world dominated by television where reading and books are illegal, as is eccentric behavior in general. Clarisse is not a major character in the book, interestingly, but the way she is portreyed is so full of life:

"I sometimes think drivers don't know what grass is, or flowers, because they never see them slowly," she said. "If you showed a driver a green blur, Oh yes! he'd say, that's grass! A pink blur! That's a rose garden! White blurs are houses. Brown blurs are cows. My uncle drove slowly on a highway once. He drove forty miles an hour and they jailed him for two days. Isn't that funny, and sad, too?"

"You think too many things," said Montag, uneasily.

"I rarely watch the 'parlor walls' or go to races or Fun Parks. So I've lots of time for crazy thoughts, I guess. Have you seen the two hundred-foot-long billboards in the country beyond town ? Did you know that once billboards were only twenty feet long? But cars started rushing by so quickly they had to stretch the advertising out so it would last."

"I didn't know that!" Montag laughed abruptly.

"Bet I know something else you don't. There's dew on the grass in the morning."

He suddenly couldn't remember if he had known this or not, and it made him quite irritable.

Clarisse is the only person in this grim future world to show liveliness, curiosity, delight in simple things. She enters the story and touches the life of Montag, the hero, before she mysteriously vanishes.

I always felt heartbroken that the only ray of light in that dark world was snuffed out but I guess that is the author's point.

Do you remember this character? Or the book in general?

I've never read this book what's it about?

True about the character describing a drivers view on life.

That's why I don't drive. I like to walk.

Originally posted by DAZ21
I've never read this book what's it about?

True about the character describing a drivers view on life.

That's why I don't drive. I like to walk.

You should read it!

In the future, everyone watches these kind of virtual rality/surround TV systems called the "parlors." If you read literature or try to preserve books, the government "Firemen" are sent around to burn you to death. The main character, Montag, is a Fireman who begins to question his role in maintaining a system of ignorance and repression. He gradually wakes up to the reality of what the world has become. It was written a long time ago but it has some strong paralells with today's world.

reply to post by Partygirl


Wow, sounds good.

It's sounds a bit like 1984, one of my favourites, I'll have to give it a read. Thanks

reply to post by DAZ21


It is similar in a lot of ways, and if you like 1984 you will certainly like Fareinheit 451. It was written in 1951, only a few years after Orwell's book.

The world in 451 is a little more comfortable than Orwell's world, and people hardly have any political consciousness at all. Basically the paradigm is the sedated couch potato. People have artificial virtual "family" that they "interact" with through their massive TV rigs...sound familiar? Life is very shallow. However there is a kind of underground of people who long for a different kind of world. They are ruthlessly and quietly executed by the "Firemen" without any comment and the whole community just goes about its business like nothing every happened. Also there is reference to a vague and ongoing "War" but it's never made clear where or with whom. They talk about automated planes and mechanized warfare...like I said, the paralells are eerie for a book written 60 years ago.

reply to post by Partygirl


Yes it's so true, I'll look for this book.

I wonder if the governments read these books and thought, what a wonderful idea makes you wonder doesn't it?

Well if you like 1984 you might like Blind Faith by Ben Elton, very similar again but a bit more humorous in places. In my opinion anyway. That's if you haven't read it already.

I read the book probably something like 15 years ago, but I don't even remember this character Wish I did, though.