"Being with people is nice. But I don't think it's social to get a bunch of people together and then not let them talk, do you? An hour of TV class, an hour of basketball or baseball or running, another hour of transcription history or painting pictures, more sports, but do you know, we never ask question, or at least most don't; they just run the answers at you, bing, bing, bing, and us sitting there for four more hours of film-teacher. That's not social to me at all. It's a lot of funnels and a lot of water poured down the spout and out the bottom, and them telling us it's wine when it's not. They run us so ragged by the end of the day we can't do anything but go to bed or head for a Fun Park to bully people around, break windowpanes in the Window Smasher place or wreck cars in the Car Wrecker place with the big steel ball."

Basic set up:

Clarisse McClellan, a character in the Ray Bradbury's novel, points out that things aren't so wonderful in the "perfect" society she lives in. Uh oh. Dystopia alert.

Clarisse's words about her society in this passage suggest just how dystopian it is. On the surface, things seem nice. People are brought together all the time to do fun things, like playing basketball or baseball.

But, as Clarisse points out, they're not allowed to talk to each other. People are only allowed to do prescribed activities under very strict regulations. And right there we can see dystopia rearing its ugly little head. Dystopian societies seem like utopias on the surface, but actually they're societies in which people have very little freedom.

We're getting a view of this dystopian society through Clarisse's words in this passage. So the passage is presenting us with an alternative view of this "perfect" society. We're seeing, through Clarisse's point of view, that things aren't quite what they seem in this world.

Dystopian fiction often depicts characters, like Clarisse, who are dissatisfied with the world in which they live. These are the characters that see beyond the herd mentality of those around them and beyond the propaganda. By giving us a view of this society through Clarisse's voice, the novel forces us to see all that's wrong with this world.