Foil Characters In Fahrenheit 451

Throughout Ray Bradbury’s bestselling novel Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag’s wife Mildred is introduced, described, and explored. From start to finish the novel tells us of Mildred’s fears, changes our perception of her, and most importantly, describes who and what she represents. But the question is, who is this apparently cowardly, inconsistent zombie of a character.

The society in Fahrenheit 451 is flooded with corrupt, brainwashed people that can’t seem to think for themselves. For example, in one of the first chapters of the book we meet Mildred, Montag’s wife. She first appears almost dead as a result of an intentional drug overdose. We see this on page 11, “The small crystal bottle of sleeping tablets which earlier today had been filled with thirty
The traits and personality of Mildred help to strengthen those opposite of her, Clarisse McClellan, a character that is very contradictory to Mildred, is a great example of this. Not only does Clarisse embody the strength and originality of those that stray from their “enslaving” community, but she symbolizes the salamander and the flame, because she braves the engulfing flames. This is a great contrast to Mildred who is buried underneath them and is greatly influenced by society’s clout. There are many times in the story where Mildred will say something that is the most adverse thing to something Clarisse had said earlier and vise versa. An example of this would be on page 21 when Montag finds himself comparing Mildred and Clarisse, “And my wife thirty and yet you seem so much older at times,”(21). The way the Mildred spoke and acted was seemingly more immature to Montag then the way Clarisse would speak. Clarisse would speak in a more observant straight to the point way while Mildred was more of an “avoid the subject” kind of person. This just proves that Mildred’s character was critical in the role of strengthening Clarisse’s