Fahrenheit 451
What would happen if Mildred was taken out of the story? How would it affect the reader's views on the story/plot? Why/How did the author choose to use her in the storyline?
"No matter when he came in, the walls were always talking to Mildred."
"What was it all about? Mildred couldn't say. Who was mad at whom. Mildred didn't quite know. What were they going to do? Well, said Mildred, wait around and see."
"No matter when he came in, the walls were always talking to Mildred."
"What was it all about? Mildred couldn't say. Who was mad at whom. Mildred didn't quite know. What were they going to do? Well, said Mildred, wait around and see."
Although Mildred can be viewed as a pointless character, she plays a fairly important part in fully grasping/ understanding the story. Mildred plays a crucial part in understanding what is going on in this dystopian society, although one would imagine a dystopian society to be full of chaos, disaster, and violence; that is not essentially true about the setting of the book. Mildred's character offers us as reader insight onto what the culture and the issues of this dystopian society. Mildred can be seen as a stupid character, who has little to no thought process, all the way from her action, to her terrible grammar the author implies that Mildred is an idiot, along with a majority of the society. An interesting quote in the book which shows how Montag still loves and wants to help Mildred (a symbol for society in general) is, "I can’t talk to my wife; she listens to the walls.." (Bradbury). Mildred is the ideal example of what those who control this dystopian world want people to be (unintelligent). I believe that without Mildred we as readers would not be able to fully grasp the dystopian element of this book; therefore yes she is very important to the book.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant choice of evidence! Upinder you are right on point. I agree that Bradbury used Mildred to give awareness of their dystopian society. She served as the symbol of a foolish, close-minded, and un-individualistic civilization which only stayed inside to watch their “family” on walls and had no sense of social skills. An example of this realization from Montag is, “He stared at the parlor that was dead and gray as the waters of the ocean that may teem with life if they switched on the electric sun” (Bradbury 73). The use of this quote from the author was as a comparison of the lifeless dystopian society which was “dead” without the parlor playing at all times just as the ocean is lifeless without the sun. Indeed, I think that if Montag was deprived of Mildred in his life, he wouldn’t be able to fully grasp the horror of his society and take her into comparison with Clarisse, an intelligent individual. Plus, the plot would’ve very slowly developed if Mildred wasn’t constantly there to keep Montag and the readers with the idea of how their society was on a downward slope.
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ReplyDelete(No grade) Lovely question Diana, like the use of the quote in your question. I think if Mildred was taken out of the story it would have been harder to understand the society as Upinder previously said. I think Mildred wasn't a main character but helped contribute alot to developing Montag's character and in the discovery of why he was unhappy.
ReplyDeleteThanks girl. You are exactly correct. Without Mildred, Montag would've been slower to fathom the barbarity of his society and his unhappiness. Thus, the plot would have slowed and he wouldn't have been able to entirely comprehend how much books meant to the world and him. Additionally, he wouldn’t have realized that Mildred was the complete opposite of him because he wanted the intelligence books brought, and she did not care for it. She was another brainwashed being of the book-burning society, but when he read books he felt the depth of their writings in his soul and recognized the significance of his life. Therefore, without her influence as a supporting character, Montag wouldn’t be able to fully understand himself as a human being and the importance of books against the contrast of Mildred/a dystopian society.
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