Fahrenheit 451 Death Analysis

Author of the popular book series A Song of Ice and Fire once said, “I try to make readers feel they’ve lived the events of the book. Just as you grieve if a friend is killed, you should grieve if a fictional character is killed. You should care. If somebody dies and you just got more popcorn, it’s a superficial experience isn’t it.” When a character dies in a story there is a sort of shock the reader receives when that death actually happens. Although Clarisse died very early in the book, most people would have some sort of reaction towards her death whether it be sadness or confusion or both Bradbury gets a response from the reader. Clarisse’s untimely death on page 29 not only affected Bradbury’s readers it also affected the characters of
The author of the story’s real intentions for killing Clarisse was to make an impact on Montag that would change his path in life. Montag, as we know from the beginning, didn’t really follow the rules. “But Montag did not move and only stood thinking of the ventilator grill in the hall at home and what lay hidden behind the grill. If someone here in the firehouse knew about the ventilator then mightn’t they ‘tell’ the Hound…?(Bradbury 24)”. As we know, in this society reading books is illegal and the Hounds job is to kill people/ put people under anesthesia. There is nothing that Montag could have have that would make the Hound in the firehouse want to attack him, especially if some other fireman knows that he is hiding books. Although Montag had all these books he didn’t really do anything with them he never really read them and he conformed to the society he was living in. After Clarisse came into Montag’s life, Montag wanted to have more engaging and thought provoking conversations. Clarisse also taught Montag about the past and about how firemen used to stop fires instead of creating them. All this information Montag gets from Clarisse gets him hooked and he wants even more of that knowledge and insight that his new friend Clarisse will be able to give to him. Clarisse is a beacon of hope for Montag, when she comes into his neighborhood he appreciates how different she is and they become friends in a matter of days. When a friend dies, your reaction towards that should be shocked and then you might get angry or depressed. When Clarisse dies this is anger and confusion plagues Montag and it starts to make him question his own life and the rules of society just like Clarisse would have questioned the rules of society if she were still alive. When Mildred finally tells Montag that Clarisse died he gets angry over the