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Clarisse's main role in the novel is to function as a catalyst for Montag's reassessment of pretty much everything. Clarisse is a breath of life in a world gone stale. She is an anomaly that helps break him out of his trance-like state induced by methodical state-run brainwashing. She asks Montag to begin asking questions beginning with the simple yet profound, "Are you happy?" Everything about Clarisse is different from her enlightened manner, to her attractive youth to he family who actually talks to each other. Montag begins to question his relationship with people, his job, Mildred and society as a whole.