How Does Mildred Represent Society?
Is there anyone that you know who truly represents the role of society as a whole? As the main character in Fahrenheit 451 who accurately portrays the world in which Montag lives, Mildred serves a prime example of someone like this. Mildred’s multi-faceted personality provides a glimpse of the easily-influenced and corrupt society. Her overuse of technology causes naivety, and the ignorant people with which she surrounds herself with played the role of deceiving her into hating knowledge, cultivating her hatred for books. So she lives two lives; one of truth and one of utter falseness.
Mildred’s obsession with technology and her overuse of electronic devices is deemed normal in the society of Fahrenheit 451.
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Mildred’s fake friends drag her into believing the wrong things revolving around physicality, hence she just does not know anything about truth. Her friends only vote on politics based on looks and manners (93), so Mildred thinks the book Montag reads to her “doesn’t mean anything! The Captain was right!” (65). But she only believes Beatty because he seems logical to her and no one told her against his ideas. In fact, no one is even allowed to know anything because of government laws, so they have nothing to support their false claims. In addition, the bumps and falls in Mildred’s life do not bother her, and when Montag asks her if she lives with true happiness, she responds “I am… And proud of it” (62). She fakes to be joyful and satisfied, and she never asks “why?” about anything, and does not know what a “good life” means. To her, a “good life” is one filled with fun entertainment, when in reality, the challenges and struggles one has develops them into the person who is able to enjoy more of life. Influenced by her uneducated friends, Mildred’s naivety leads her to think she can hide her mistakes by pretending everything is