What happens when we follow society too much? In the book Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, we meet the wife, Mildred, of the main character, Guy Montag. Mildred has become self-centered, robotic, and unfeeling due to the ways of society. First, you can tell Mildred is self-centered because she wants more and more for herself. For example, she asked Montag when he was getting her a fourth wall put in. In the book, she states, “How long you figure before we save up and get the fourth wall torn out and a fourth wall-tv put in? It’s only two thousand dollars.” She wasn’t worried about the cost, only the fun she could have. To make her this way, society cut many of the things, things that we have in school, out of their school programs. They …show more content…
The time Montag had to count how many times she swallows a pill shows this. The book says, “He tried to count how many times she swallowed and he thought of the visit from the two zinc-oxide-faced men.” The quote shows that this is a normal thing that happens in this house. It’s as if Mildred doesn’t know any better to stop at one pill. Society “gives them fun,” as Beatty says. “Everything the people need.” Not having to think for yourself gets you in the habit of just doing. Never stopping to ask yourself, ‘have I done this already?’ ‘Is this wrong?’ ‘What about right?’ No, we only do, or rather the people from the book only do. Finally, you start to see how unfeeling Mildred is. This happens when she tells Montag he isn’t sick, and shows no sympathy for him. She stated, “You’re not sick.” Then again, when talking about the death of Clarisse, she states, “She was simple-minded,” “That’s water under the bridge.” These quotes show how Mildred feels no type affection toward anyone. Society has trained and brainwashed everyone to only care for themselves. Convincing people that nothing else, other than their own well being, matters. Not even those they are closest to. Mildred has become self-centered, robotic, and unfeeling due to the ways of society. The society of the world in the book Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, has made Mildred, wife of Montag, into someone that doesn’t care, think, or feel. This is what happens when