Mildred is obsessed with the parlour shows. In other words, she is a television addict. She has no interest in literature, books, or anything that requires critical thinking. She is comfortable with her life and sees no reason to change. In her society, she is a model citizen. She is happy (in ignorance) and does not question or challenge authority.
Clarisse is Mildred's opposite. Clarisse is curious about everything. Note how engaged she is in her conversations with Montag. She asks him question after question and even inquires about something basic, yet meaningful: she asks Montag if he's happy. Afterward, this affects Montag profoundly. He remarks that Clarisse has made him think deeply about himself. He does not get this kind of thought-provoking conversation with Mildred:
How rarely did other people's faces take of you and throw back to you your own expression, your own innermost trembling thought?
Clarisse is introspective, socially engaging, and full of life. While Clarisse intellectually and emotionally engages other people, Mildred channels her intimacies with her "family" on the television shows. She takes sleeping pills and places radio pieces ("seashells") in her ears while she sleeps. She is consumed with television, radio, and sleeping drugs. Therefore, she is removed from any real social interaction. Since Mildred is comfortable in this brainwashed state, she is never introspective. Clarisse is the opposite.
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