Knowledge In Fahrenheit 451

It is a well known fact that knowledge is power. Knowledge is connected to how someone can develop relationships with others, which reflects how someone lives their life. The more an individual knows the less likely they are to conform to a society that takes advantage of those who are not well educated. The one who conforms to society lives a closed off life and lacks knowledge. The one who is living a free life has not conformed to society and is full of knowledge. Who is living the better lifestyle? In the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, it proves that having more knowledge gives an individual a better relationship with others and life, as shown through the contrast of the characters Mildred and Clarisse.
Clarisse did not
While Montag is home sick from work, Mildred is watching tv in the parlor, “The parlor ‘aunts’ began to laugh at the parlor ‘uncles’. “Will you turn the parlor off?” “That’s my family” (Bradbury 46). Montag asked Mildred to turn the tv off, but Mildred refused to because she stated that the people in the tv are her family. This is because Mildred cannot develop real relationships with real people around her, so she made up a way to feel she can have a relationship with something. Montag complains to Mildred about a woman the firefighters had burned for having books and knowing more than an average person, “She is as rational as you and I more so perhaps, and we burned her.” “That’s water under the bridge” (Bradbury 48). Mildred does not care to see the viewpoint of Montag, she thinks like an average person in the society by thinking it was the right thing to burn a lady who knew too much. When people have a relationship with others they know details about each other, but Mildred does not care to. When Montag is reading a line from a book Mildred buts in, “That favorite subject, Myself.” “I understand that one, said Mildred” (Bradbury 68). Mildred is self-centered and lacks knowledge of others. She does not care to learn more about others, she only cares about
Clarisse has feelings towards other characters in the book, such as Montag. Clarisse has a better connection with Montag than Mildred does, and they are married to each other. While Mildred can only develop a fake relationship with people on her television, Clarisse is friends with everyone she meets. She befriended Montag when he was walking down the road thinking, “You know, I’m not afraid of you at all…So many people are. Afraid of firemen, I mean. But you’re just a man, after all…” (Bradbury 5). Clarisse approaches a stranger with a carefree attitude because she is wants to be social. Others would hide from someone like Montag like Clarisse said. She thinks in depth which gives her the ability to understand others and feel compassionate towards them. Mildred only worries about herself and she is careless to think in depth or think about how others feel, giving her the inability to have a real relationship with anybody. Clarisse is has an outgoing personality and will talk to anybody about anything because she has so much knowledge that nobody else has making her stick out in society. Mildred stays home hanging with her parlor family that she spends more time with than her husband, and lacks in depth thinking.
Overall Bradbury has shown that knowledge is related to the kind of relationship developed with others. Clarisse had tons of knowledge and did not conform to the norms of society.