Clarisse Mcclellan

“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.”

I feel that this quote speaks of Clarisse and her stand in society. Clarisse McClellan is a seventeen-year-old girl who opened Montag’s eyes to see the world’s potential. She made him question the government, society and even himself. She was able to change society itself with her warm innocence and curiosity. She had an independent will that will never fade no matter what goes against it.

To be free, as stated in the dictionary, is to enjoy personal rights or liberty, as a person who is not in slavery. But is that all? Being free does not necessarily need to deal with rights and the government. You can see freedom even the simplest act of breathing and living. Your rights protect your freedom and your life is freedom in action. I consider the society Clarisse lived in as unfree. You were forbidden to read and discover new things. It was like living in a jar and slowly suffocating. And in this jar, there were holes too. What kept society from withering from all their restraints was their lack of knowledge. Knowledge they could find in books they weren’t allowed to read. If they had known better, they would have been able to live more freely. The government was like a king, who skillfully manipulated his pawns until he hears the words “check mate”.

Despite the tough society Clarisse live in, she was able to view the world with a positive outlook. She saw the greatness and beauty of every aspect in the society she was born to. Covered with chains and locks, when was free like a bird. No matter how much people criticize her, she still had faith in herself and believed that she could be whoever she wanted to be. She faced hardships with an open mind, ready to accept faults and learn from them.

Absolute means free form imperfection, complete and perfect. By small acts like expressing her opinions and beliefs, she fought reality and walked against the flow of society. Her inner being was omnipotent, infinite, perfect and absolutely complete that to amount of potency could touch her. She, herself was the enigma of the absolute.

Existence is the totality of existent things; the state of existing. Clarisse was so unique and special that it was something people couldn’t comprehend. Society viewed her as an outcast, in spite of that, she stood tall and strong. How could her existence be considered a rebellion? She was never defiant to the government and society. She never resisted to any authority, control or tradition. She had the power to withstand whatever the government throws. She effectively influenced the people around her just by existing.

Clarisse lived in a society that was manipulated by an extremely corrupt government, Inspite this, she was a pure and positive girl with an absolute inner being that can bear whatever government brings. Her existence was so strong yet gentle that is exceeds comprehension and threatens those who lack knowledge.