Clarisse McClellen was Montag's neighbor. She was a teenage girl, yet she was not like any of the other teenagers that Montag had ever met before. There was something quite curious about her. She was unlike the others in many ways.

Clarisse would ask questions. Most people were going through life just trying to be happy and were not worrying about anything else. Bot not Clarisse. She questioned things. She also sat and thought about things. That was unusual. At times she would not do anything but think. Most people are kept so busy that they don't have time to think, but Clarisse made time.

Later on in the book, the reader finds that Clarisse was killed by the firemen because she was not normal. Upon hearing this, Montag says to his wife, referring to Clarisse, "And men like Beatty are afraid of her. I can't understand it. Why should they be so afraid of someone like her?" (Bradbury. 67.)

That is a very interesting way, that Montag looked at the situation, and it raises a good question. Yes, the only reason the firemen would have killed her is because they viewed her as a threat. So why would they be so afraid of someone like her?

Actually, men like that have a very good reason to be afraid of a girl like her. She is a threat. She is not a threat in any obvious physical way, she actually is very innocent. It is her own innocence that makes her a threat. She is a threat because she thinks. She takes time to ponder things and realize that the way the world is, is not how it is supposed to be. She, because of her innocence, has an advantage in seeing things for how they really are. She is not absorbed into her television. She does not speed around in a car. She takes her time and is observant. Someone like that is the biggest threat of all. However, she was young, so many people would not listen to her, which is why she survived under the radar for so long. It was thanks to Clarisse that Montag started his whole revolution and revival of his life.

Bradbury, Ray. The Hearth and the Salamander. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon & Schuster. 1993. 67. Print.