“I note the obvious differences between each sort and type, but we are more alike, my friends, then we are unalike” (Maya Angelou). Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury introduces readers to Mildred who is similar to Mary, a character in “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl. As the two characters develop, there are three striking similarities that deserve thorough examination; Mildred and Mary’s lives are changed, they both betray their husbands, and they are representations of societal norms and expectations. This paper will further examine the striking similarities between Mildred and Mary.
To explain the first similarity, the author of this paper will review how Mary and Mildred’s lives were changed. In Fahrenheit 451, Mildred finds out Montag
…show more content…
In Fahrenheit 451 Mildred does not care that getting another wall is a third of her husband's salary, she only cares about the unnecessary tv wall. “‘It’s only two thousand dollars,’ she replied. ‘And I should think you’d consider me sometimes, if we had a fourth wall, why it’d be just like this room wasn’t ours at all, but all kinds of exotic peoples rooms. We could do without a few things’” (Bradbury 20-1). Mildred has conformed to societal standards by wanting more than they could afford. An example from “Lamb to the Slaughter” is that Mary is a typical 50’s housewife. “For her, this was always a blissful time of day, she knew he didn’t want to speak much until the first drink was finished, and she, on her side, was content to sit quietly, enjoying his company after the long hours alone in the house. She loved to lavish in the presence of this man, and to feel - almost as a sunbather feels the sun - that warm male glow that came out of him to her when they were alone together, she loved him for the way he sat loosely in a chair, for the way he came in a door, or moved slowly across the room with long strides. She loved the intent far look in his eyes when they rested in her, the funny shape of the mouth and especially the way he remained silent about his tiredness, sitting still with himself until the whiskey had taken some away” (Dahl 380). Mary loves everything about …show more content…
An example from Fahrenheit 451 is when Mildred runs away and leaves Montag. “ She shoved the valise in the waiting beetle, climbed in, and sat mumbling, ‘poor family, poor family, oh everything gone, everything, everything gone now…’” (Bradbury 114). Mildred turns Montag in and only cares about her tv “family”. After finding out that Patrick wants a divorce Mary feels empty. “At that point, Mary Maloney simply walked up behind him and without any pause she swung the big frozen leg of lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could on the back of his head” (Dahl 382). Mary took her anger out on Patrick in the heat of the moment. Because they both betrayed their husbands, their similarities are
Fahrenheit 451 involves such characters as Guy Montag, Mildred Montag, Captain Beatty, and Clarisse McClellan. Fahrenheit presents the firemen as the tools of censorship and illegal books. Since books rarely exist in their society they look not to things of intellectual worth, but to things with physical and non-thinking pleasure. As the people become zombies to television and the "four walls," which is a form of television in their society they become resistant to change. They like everything to happen neatly and predictably, just like the television shows. Mildred, Montag's wife, becomes totally dependent upon the "four walls" to not only bring her entertainment throughout the day, but to be a source of consistency. The programs on the television are extremely unintelligent and Montag's question why Mi...
Mildred and her society are pretty peculiar. In the story Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Mildred and her society are crazy and do things completely different. This society has made Mildred self-centered, robotic, and unfeeling.
(MIP-1) Instead of feeling or thinking about things that are actually important, Montag’s society is too wrapped up in physical objects. (SIP-A) People’s happiness in Montag's society comes from the enjoyment of having a lot of material possessions. (STEWE-1) Mildred is never happy with what she has and always wants more, like a fourth wall, even though the third wall had just been installed a couple months before. She tries to persuade Montag, "It'll be even more fun when we can afford to have the fourth wall installed" (Bradbury 18). Mildred only wants more items, and it gives her pleasure to have all these things, but she confuses them with true happiness. (STEWE-2) Rather than discussing experiences that make
Amidst the after war facade of happiness the conventional 1950s woman was created. As exemplified by the writings of Fahrenheit 451 the feminist approach undervalues women. Mildred Montag, a conventional wife in the story is parallel to the ideal woman that was portrayed on television during the 1950s. This is mostly the reason because of the time at which the story was written. Mildred fits this stereotype because she is naive, and expressions the frustrations of a woman at this time. Feminist Literary Theory exposes negative attitudes towards women and exposing the undervaluing of women in literature.
Second, Mildred is self-centered. One time she is self-centered is when she wants to buy a fourth tv wall. A quote from the story is “That’s one third of my yearly pay,”Montag says. “It’s only two thousand
Mildred cries out as the walls of her hotel room go dark, because in her final moments, she sees her own face is reflected there, “in a mirror instead of a crystal ball” (159), and it was such a vacant, expressionless face, alone in the room, touching nothing, consuming itself for there is nothing left to consume, finally she recognizes it as her own and immediately looks to the ceiling as it and everything above her crashes down upon her. Many symbols are brought up throughout Fahrenheit 451, but one that leaves a lasting impact is, mirrors. At the start of the book the protagonist, Guy Montag, describes Clarisse as a mirror, and she is the kindling that leads to Montag’s evolution as a character. Montag’s wife, Mildred, had also become a mirror in her own way, she was a mirror image of society. Their society mindlessly fed off of whatever the parlor walls threw to them,
In addition to unawareness, abnormal relationships develop in the society because without books one couple may struggle in communication. After Beatty’s visit Mildred concluded Montag’s question “My ‘family’ is people. They tell me things: I laugh, they laugh! And the colors!”(75). Mildred feels her family is just people as if she thought people were just objects roaming around the earth.
On the other hand, Mildred is the selfish gold-digger everyone would consider “normal”. She does not express her views of the world, since she spends her days watching and “communicating” with the parlor walls. Because of this, she is very forgetful of personal events and careless of others. Bradbury, 40, Montag thinks back to when he and Mildred first met. “The first time we met, where was it and when?”
Within the many layers of Montag lay several opposite sides. For example, Montag is a fireman who burns books for a living but at home, spends time reading novels, poetry, and other written material. Although Montag could be called a hypocrite, he does not enjoy both the reading and the burning at the same time; he goes through a change that causes him to love books. Humans have the power to change and grow from one extreme to another, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. In addition, when Mildred is with Montag, Montag does not have feelings for her but thinks of her as she is killed by the bombs. He possesses both the knowledge that Mildred does not love him and the heart that truly cares, but he knows not how to deal with this. His feelings are oppressed; it takes a major event (the bomb) to jolt them from hibernation.
Mildred is so wrapped up in technology that she has no idea what is going on outside of her house. In part 1, Mildred talks to Montag about installing the fourth wall and she says, “It’s really fun. It’ll be even more fun when we can afford to have the fourth wall installed” (20). She depends her life on these walls because these
Fahrenheit 451, written in 1953, still advocates for a traditional monogamous relationship for the protagonist. Much unlike The Handmaid’s Tale, which was written in 1985 – a time in which the feminist movement was at large – and wanted a chance to break away from traditional relationships. Initially, Montag is happily under the impression that his relationship with Mildred is acceptable; however this is called into question after her suicide attempt. Montag slowly breaks away from conformity as he realises that their relationship is hardly one at all, that they are unable to connect with each other. Even when he tries to bond with her, asking her about how they met, her Mildred’s response is impersonal and unsympathetic. This is reinforced when she informs him of the death of his friend, Clarisse telling him “she’s gone for good. I think she’s dead” in a nonchalant manner, disregarding her husband’s feelings. His relationship with Clarisse, however, defies what is expected. Upon their first meeting, Montag asks her “But what do you talk about?” showing his shock at the thought of a relationship like that. The society in which they live supports the idea of a lack of communication, as it is easier to conform if the populace cannot connect with one another, thus isolating them; in concordance Aleš Kozel notes that “The emptiness of their bond can be supported
I believe that the characters Beatty and Mildred were catalysts for Montag’s awakening in Fahrenheit 451. Beatty was responsible for tempting Montag with the idea of reading books, and so he is the main reason that Montag grows a hunger of knowledge for themes and ideas of literature. Mildred is also a reason for the awakening of Montag, because she was his wife but had no emotional ties for him, so instead of having love from his wife he decided to search for love in other places resulting in a love of
Society changes people in a positive and negative way. In the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury; Mildred is the wife of the main character Guy Montag, and she acts in certain ways that seems odd or strange. Captain Beatty, the fireman captain, gives a speech to Montag. Beatty’s speech explains why Mildred acts the way she does, which had just started to become a mystery for Montag.
Through the use of contrasting characters; Mildred and Montag the author reveals the important theme of ignorance vs knowledge. By showing the
Of all characters, Bradbury uses Mildred Montag to effectively portray the idea that the majority of society has taken happiness as a refuge in nothing but passive, addictive entertainment. She immediately reveals her character early in the book, by saying, “My family is people. They tell me things: I laugh. They laugh! And the colors!” (73). Mildred is describing her parlors, or gigantic wall televisions, in this quote. Visual technological entertainment is so important in her life that she refers them to as “family,” implying the television characters as her loved ones. By immersing herself in an imaginary world, Mildred finds herself able to relate to fake characters and plots, giving her a phony sense of security. This is necessary for her to achieve her shallow happiness, or senseless plain fun, as she lifelessly watches other people in her walls with a senseless mind. Her family in real life only consists of Guy Montag, her husband, whom she has no fond feelings about. Montag is so frustrated with Mildred because of her inability to express feelings for ...