Mrs. Fruchey
English 11B
11 January 2013 In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury shares his message of the importance of books to society. The main character, Guy Montag, discovers his discontentment in life by reading books and realizing what he is missing in life. Montag is able to conquer his moral dilemmas: he is trained to do a job he begins to feel conflicting morals about. Bradbury evokes many different deep sentiments, such as ambivalence, apathy, and empathy. Montag’s turmoil and inner conflict about what is right for him and society is one that resonates with many readers. Ray Bradbury communicates that should society decide to burn and banish books, society would be on a downward spiral emotionally and spiritually. …show more content…
Mildred, Guy Montag’s wife, clearly shows dissatisfaction through her actions by continually wearing her wireless headphones and constantly talking with her “family” in the parlor. This causes her to be distracted even from her own discontent. During a casual conversation Montag brings up the previous night and mentions that she had overdosed and she responds with an irritable voice saying “Heck, what would I do a silly thing like that for?” (Bradbury, 19). This shows her dissatisfaction, and how hidden it is even from her own eyes. She can no longer fix her own dissatisfaction because it is hidden under her surface. She does not recognize it, she unknowingly keeps her self distracted with the use of “toys” she has. Instead of looking to books for wisdom and …show more content…
Mildred highly depends on technology and the distraction it gives her. She shows this demonstration of her distraction when she continually ignores Montag during a conversation over turning the television or “parlor” down. While he lays sick in bed he asks for aspirin and she again ignores his simple request of a “sick man” as he puts it. Mildred no longer cares for her real family, but only for her “family” or her parlor, which is a four-walled television room (Bradbury, 48). Some seem to think “Books are taking a backseat to technology” with iPads and nooks; books do seem to be taking a backseat. Past authors have wisdom and understanding in their books and it is always important to have an authenticity to a book. Also research shows that screens may heart your eyes after looking too long. This supports what Bradbury has to say and teach