Fahrenheit 451 Group

Question:


clairenguyen
Student
High School - 10th Grade

Clarisse causes Montag to recall a childhood memory in which a wish was involved. What is the significance of the memory and the wish?

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Posted by clairenguyen on Sunday November 16, 2008 at 5:41 PM and tagged with characters, details, fahrenheit 451, novel, summary, theme.

Answers:


  1. ladyvols1 Teacher
    High School - 9th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    Montag had been talking to Clarisse.  He noticed that the saw himself in her eyes, "suspended in two shining drops of bright water."  This makes him remember a candle.  "One time, as a child, in a power failure, his mother had found and lit a last candle and there had been a brief hour of rediscovery, of such illumination that space lost its vast dimensions and drew comfortably around them, and they, mother and son, alone, transformed, hoping that the power might not come on again too soon..." (pg 111)  The candle is important because it casts a warm light of closeness that Montag hasn't felt in a long time.  He has lived a life of alienation and Clarisse's attentions make him begin to question his situation and his loneliness.  Even though he says he is "happy" in reality he has not been happy for a very long time.  The candle is enlightenment.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/fahrenheit-451/characters
    http://www.enotes.com/fahrenheit-451/summary
    http://www.enotes.com/fahrenheit-451/themes

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    Posted by ladyvols1 on Sunday November 16, 2008 at 7:00 PM