Clarisse McClellan

Clarisse is seventeen and lives next door to Montag, asking questions nobody else thinks to ask. She walks in the rain, tastes it, watches people, and notices the natural world. In a society of screens and speed, she represents attention itself.

She vanishes early in the novel, probably killed by a speeding car in a world where reckless driving is entertainment. Her absence haunts Montag and drives his change. Bradbury saw that the most dangerous person in a distracted society is not a rebel but someone who simply pays attention.