She is different from everyone else because she actually watches the world around her: “‘I like to smell things and look at things, and sometimes, stay up all night, walking, and watch the sunrise’” (5). Clarisse’s behaviors begin to rub off on Montag. He starts asking more questions about the world, and himself. She is like a mirror that Montag sees his true self in: “Impossible: for how many people did you know that refracted your own light to you?” (8). When Clarisse asks if Montag is happy, it triggers a crucial moment of self-reflection. He realizes he is not happy and knows Clarisse brought on this moment: “He wore his happiness like a mask and the girl had run off across the lawn with the mask and there was no way of going to knock on her door and ask for it back” (9). There is no way for Montag to return to his prior state of blissful ignorance after Clarisse opened his eyes to the emptiness of his life. This was the self-discovery part of Montag’s
She is different from everyone else because she actually watches the world around her: “‘I like to smell things and look at things, and sometimes, stay up all night, walking, and watch the sunrise’” (5). Clarisse’s behaviors begin to rub off on Montag. He starts asking more questions about the world, and himself. She is like a mirror that Montag sees his true self in: “Impossible: for how many people did you know that refracted your own light to you?” (8). When Clarisse asks if Montag is happy, it triggers a crucial moment of self-reflection. He realizes he is not happy and knows Clarisse brought on this moment: “He wore his happiness like a mask and the girl had run off across the lawn with the mask and there was no way of going to knock on her door and ask for it back” (9). There is no way for Montag to return to his prior state of blissful ignorance after Clarisse opened his eyes to the emptiness of his life. This was the self-discovery part of Montag’s