Analysis Of The Seashells In Fahrenheit 451

While Mildred’s characterization is an exaggeration, with today’s technologies she has become more relevant, relatable, and tragic.

It is remarkable how much prescience Bradbury demonstrated in writing Fahrenheit 451. The Seashells Mildred uses resemble modern day earphones, and how she tunes out the world in favour of “an electronic ocean of sound” (19) predicted how people today would do the same while listening to music or podcasts on their mobile devices. Her TV walls are much like the numerous digital screens that permeate all parts of our lives and hold our attention. Or, the TV parlour and the scripted parts Mildred plays in the shows can be seen as an early concept for virtual reality video games. The media spectacle of Montag’s chase

Bradbury took these aspects to the extreme to convey his message using a dystopian world, and the character that most embraces and embodies the values of this society is Mildred. Mildred, as a typical citizen, is the opposite of the enlightened Clarisse. She is always watching television in the parlour, and when she is not doing that she is listening to her Seashells. When Montag brings books into their house, she is horrified and she ends up being the one who reports Montag to the firemen. By all accounts she appears to have fully bought into the lifestyle that her society promotes, and says that she is happy that way and “proud of it” (68). Mildred is the representation of everything wrong with the world and its people depicted in Fahrenheit 451 and this is why I want to focus on her

Even if it is just for a short distance, I plug my earphones in and listen to a podcast because sometimes being left alone with my thoughts is just too scary. I am always either reading something or listening to something and I am happier that way. Introspection is difficult and frightening. I understand that it is necessary, but it is so easy to reach out and grab my phone for something, anything to occupy my mind. This is not the way I should live my life, but the temptation is always there and almost impossible to ignore.
These are the reasons why I relate so Mildred and why I find her fate tragic. The line that most resonated with me, and one I think expresses one of the core messages of Fahrenheit 451 comes from Montag: “We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while… About something important, about something real”. This book was a much needed reminder that I need to leave my TV parlour, take out the wasps in my ears and be bothered, or else I will end up empty and