Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury

When authors create characters they design them for a purpose. In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury carefully creates each character to contribute to the story. The characters represent themes, thoughts, and feelings, as well as giving the reader room to form their own opinion. In Fahrenheit 451 Bradbury creates Mildred, the wife of Montag, who is the protagonist of the story. Mildred is included in Fahrenheit 451 to represent the book’s idea of a perfect dystopian society, to help spark Montag’s journey, to help the reader formulate his or her own ideas, and to represent underlying themes. In Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 a dystopian society is displayed in which Mildred is the perfect example. Throughout the book, Mildred is just another brainwashed

And proud of it,” her happiness is shown to be empty. In the beginning of the story, Montag finds Mildred after she had attempts to commit suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills. This dramatic course in action proves how hollow her happiness actually was. Mildred cannot even remember when she and Montag met. More importantly she does not even care about the day. A marriage is supposed to be built on mutual love, trust, and care for each other. Should a marriage not be a source of happiness? The fact that Mildred does not care shows how society had corrupted the idea of happiness, thus making her the perfect example for a woman in the book’s dystopian society. Bradbury creates Mildred for specific purposes. These include how she represents the corrupt society, and her being used as a catalyst to spark a fire in Montag. Montag asks Mildred questions throughout the book, such as “Are you happy?” and “Do you remember where we met?” Mildred’s typical brainwashed responses were part of the reason Montag is interested in finding out the truth. During one of their conversations, Montag thinks, “How do you get so empty?... Who takes it out of you?” Montag’s relationship with Mildred slowly starts to unravel as he realizes how corrupt it is. Bradbury uses Mildred’s ignorance and personality as the starting point of Montag’s journey towards learning the truth of his crooked