What are character descriptions of Montag, Clarisse, Mildred, Beatty and the mechanical hound as found in text details?

In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, the characters are not as fully developed as they often are in novels because it is the setting and plot which support better the theme of this novel. Nevertheless, there are distinct characteristics to the following personages of this novel:

• 
  Guy Montag - The most developed character of the novel and the protaganist, Montag is a third-generation fireman. He"grinned the fierce grin of all men singed and driven back by...

In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, the characters are not as fully developed as they often are in novels because it is the setting and plot which support better the theme of this novel. Nevertheless, there are distinct characteristics to the following personages of this novel:

• 
  Guy Montag - The most developed character of the novel and the protaganist, Montag is a third-generation fireman. He"grinned the fierce grin of all men singed and driven back by flame." (p.2) This smile comes into question later by Clarisse, who asks him why he smiles and laughs, accusing him of not stopping to think about what he does (p.6). This accusation plays out when he is at the house of the woman who owns so many books and he impetuously grabs a few that fly through the blaze, later hiding them around and in his house.
  Montag has difficulty acting independently. He cares for his wife Mildred, but does not know what to do to re-engage her in life after she overdoses. After he takes the books, he tries to read to Mildred (p.95) and her friends in order to demonstrate that there is something more to life than their "family" on the four walls. "He was not happy" (p.9).
  When Montag speaks to Clarisse, she tells him he "is not in love anymore." Truly, Montag does feel alienated after Mildred's near suicide because his attempts to engage her in reading have failed.
  After Mildred reports him for having books, Montag is accosted by Beatty, the fire chief, who informs him that his wife has made the call on his possessing books. Acting out his subconscious desire to rebel, Montag impulsively sets fire to Beatty (p.113).He has been in contact for some time with Faber, an English professor, whom he met earlier. This man tells him that he can join a group of people who are "living books." While the planes of war fly overhead, Montag joins the groups as he is the Book of Ecclesiastes.
  

• 
  Mildred Montag - The  wife of Guy Montag, Mildred fills her empty life with watching something like sit-coms on the parlor walls. She is a mere shell of a woman, driving at dangerous speeds and consuming many sleeping pills. She has become so dehumanized and numb that she does not remember even why she took the pills (p. 73).
  When Mildred realizes that her husband has books, she becomes fearful. She asks Montag, "See what you're doing? You'll ruin us! Who's more important, me or that Bible?" (p.72)
  Mildred calls the firemen and turns in Montag.


• 
  Captain Beatty - A brilliant and well-read man,for some reason Beatty chooses to reject them. He is sarcastic and shrewd in his observations of others, providing much of the history of the country and background of books. Ironically, he can quote from many works of literature, but he uses these passages in arguments against novels.He tells Montag that "fire's real beauty is that destroys responsibility and consequences" (p.108). Strangely, when Montag comes at him with the torch, it is almost as though Beatty wants to die. 


• 
  Clarisse - A beautiful seventeen-year old, who lives near Montag, Clarisse and her family are anachronisms. They talk with one another about the beauty in nature and human feelings. She asks Montag if he has ever read any of the books he burns (p.5), and wonders why he does not think about things she asks, or why he laughs when there is nothing funny. She makes quite an impression on Montag.
  Clarisse, however, suddenly disappears.


• The mechanical hound - A technical device that "sniffs" out people with sensors. When this dangerous robotic creature is put upon the scent of a person, the hound has a long needle that comes out and injects itself into the leg of the victim. This injection causes the person to lose all feeling in this leg. Thus hobbled, the police can easily apprehend the person.