Journal Entry 2

One day Montag met Clarisse walking in the rain in the middle of the sidewalk as he left his apartment.  She had her head tilted back catching the rain drops.  She is so different than anyone that Montag has ever met, other than the old man he met in the park a year ago. Clarisse then made Montag upset by testing out the dandelion trick.  She rubbed the last spotted dandelion from spring that she found under her chin.  Her chin turned yellow underneath so that meant she was in love.  When she tried it on Montag it did not turn yellow.  This implied that he was not in love.  He denied that the dandelion worked and got upset.  Clarisse then told Montag about the psychiatrist that she goes to.  He says that she’s a regular onion because she keeps him busy peeling away the layers.  After Montag denies the fact that Clarisse needs a psychiatrist she continues with the thoughts of her psychiatrist.  She says “The psychiatrist wants to know why I go out and hike around in the forests and watch the birds and collect butterflies.  I’ll show you my collection someday (Bradbury, 23).”  A lot of the stuff that Clarisse does is strange to other people when it’s actually normal in our time frame.  It’s crazy that she needs a psychiatrist for some of the things that we do normally.  She then goes on to question Montag about his job as a fireman.  She states how he’s different then most firemen because he listens to the things she says and tries them.  She says “You’re one of the few who put up with me (Bradbury, 23).”  People in this time frame that the book takes place in is always in a fast pace it seems like.  They never have time to really look into detail at the things around them.  For example, on page nine Clarisse told Montag about the dew on the ground every morning.  He then suddenly couldn’t remember if he had known this or not, and it made him quite irritable.  Clarisse is very observant and notices the simple things that everyone else ignores.  After being asked question after question by Clarisse, Montag simply says “You’d better run on to your appointment (Bradbury, 24).”  After she did as she was told he tilted his head back in the rain, for just a few moments, and opened his mouth to catch the rain drops falling just as she did.  He seems to be very curious in the things that she does since he always tries the things that she recommends or just does.