Clarisse McClellan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Clarisse McClellan is a character from Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451.

In Bradbury's original book, Clarisse is a sixteen-year old girl (although she claims to be "seventeen in two months").

As a supporting character, she is vastly alienated from society, preferring to reflect and ponder rather than engage in action-packed behaviour which the society portrayed in the novel encourages.

She represents a free-minded individual. She is described as a perfect, innocent woman - in the sense that she has not been contaminated by the hedonistic, self-destructive society she lives in. The author clearly builds her as an angel-like figure.

Clarisse serves as a plot device in the novel. She encourages Guy Montag to think about what is wrong with the society in which he lives, which eventually instigates him to break free from an otherwise uninteresting life. Montag is initially disturbed by her attitude, but later she makes him realize how empty his life is, contrary to what society would have him think. After meeting her, everything in Montag's life seems clear. He starts to separate from his life from that moment on.

Clarisse later dies, having been, according to Captain Beatty and Mildred Montag, run over by a speeding car.

In the movie Clarisse is a young adult who aspires to be a teacher. Clarisse later meets Guy Montag at the bibliophile camp. She is portrayed by Julie Christie in the film. Christie portrays Linda (Mildred) Montag in the same film.

In the book, Clarisse mentions an uncle who was arrested for taking a walk at night. This is a reference to Bradbury's "The Pedestrian", in which a man is arrested for taking a walk at night.