In Ray Bradbury's depiction of a futuristic, dystopian
society in which books, with the knowledge they contain, are outlawed because of the
threat they pose to social stability, the character of Clarisse represents the innocent
but inquisitive perspective, untainted by maturity and the responsibilities of
adulthood. As Professor Faber and Captain Beatty point out to Montag, albeit from
vastly different perspectives, knowledge can be a dangerous thing. The conveyance of
information unapproved or unsanctioned by the government has been made illegal or, at a
minimum, more difficult to conclude. It is in this context that, late in Part I of
Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury has his protagonist, Montag,
reflect back on a conversation with Clarisse. It was in that conversation that the
subject of front porches came up, about which the teenage girl told Montag the
following:
"My uncle says there used to be front porches.
And people sat there sometimes at night, talking when they wanted to talk, rocking, and
not talking when they didn't want to talk. Sometimes they just sat there and thought
about things, turned things over. My uncle says the architects got rid of the front
porches because they didn't look well. But my uncle says that was merely rationalizing
it; the real reason, hidden underneath, might be they didn't want people sitting like
that, doing nothing, rocking, talking; that was the wrong kind of social life. People
talked too much. And they had time to think. So they ran off with the
porches."
Just as books
threaten regime stability because of the knowledge they contain, routine conversation
between citizens is considered potentially subversive because of the thoughts and plans
that could coalesce as a result of such conversations. If eliminating front porches
made it less likely for people to sit around and talk, they were less likely to conspire
or to question authority.
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