Foil Characters In Fahrenheit 451

Mildred is seen to be immensely emotionless and does not have an ounce of remorse in her body. When Montag brought up the topic of deaths, she would talk very nonchalant and was loose over the matter. Mildred is deemed to be empty inside. Her mind, emotions, and life all show to consist of nothing. This issue makes Montag question their relationship. He begins to wonder if the woman who he has been married to for ten years was truly the woman who he thought she was. For instance, Mildred did not even know where they met for the first time.

When Montag introduced the idea of books to Mildred, an argument sparks. Mildred is unhappy when Montag reads books because he acts like they are people. Mildred says, “My ‘family’ is people. They tell me things I laugh, they laugh. And the colors” (73). When Mildred says “My ‘family’ is people” she thinks they are real people. She thinks they are people because “they tell [her] things” that reveals that the only thing she needs to classify people as ‘people’ is that they need to talk to her. This displays that she only cares about things that are superficial, which makes her shallow. Using indirect characterization of Mildred, this phrase portrays Mildred is skin-deep. Her definition of ‘family’ is a group of people that give her pleasure and entertain her with things like color. Technology makes her shallow because it gives her what she wants. Laughing and being happy are rewards given to people who have a complex way of thinking, but the TV can give her these rewards with the click of a button. She doesn’t need to be capable of serious thought because all the thinking is done by the technology. “Before this conversation takes place, Montag and Mildred are driving down the street extremely fast. After they stop, Mildred immediately put a radio in her ear and tuned out her husband. As Montag tried

Throughout the book, there are people who have tried to dissuade Montag from breaking the rules. A few of these people include Captain Beatty, Stoneman, and Black. Captain Beatty used his own knowledge of books and

In the midst of Montag’s self-discovery Millie was still willing to put her popularity status among her friends over her husband. After a confusing day of reading Mildred invited her friends over and allowed them to criticize him. “You’re nasty, Mr. Montag, you’re nasty!”(Bradbury 107). Rather than standing up for Montag she stood by her friends and later even turned him into the fire station. “Was it my wife who turned in the alarm? Beatty nodded”(Bradbury 117). Mildred was so heartless and disconnected to her real family she was willing to sell out her own husband without thinking of what would happen to Montag. As she left her home moments before its destruction the only thing she was upset about was her TV family. Mildred’s character perfectly represents the archetype of a cold wife as she is deceitful, unloving, materialistic, and

Society, and all of the 'normal' people, might see Beatty as a hero who died in action, trying to keep the world safe and happy. Guy Montag would be seen as a threat to the nation, or a man who had gone insane and turned against his coworkers and his country. He was a criminal that tried to destroy the government by attempting to make people read. Those who were considered 'odd' or 'weird,' like Clarisse, Faber, and Professor Granger, whom Montag met while running from the police, might see Beatty as an ignorant man who tried to suppress the opinions of authors because he thought that their opinions might offend people and cause conflict, while Montag was a hero who tried to bring knowledge back into the world. The Captain only saw ways in which he could take knowledge away from people could solve the problems of the whole nation, but when the former fireman finds the group of professors sitting around a fire, he realizes that, “He hadn't known fire could look this way. He had never thought in his life that it could give as well as take” (Bradbury 146). He learns that giving people information and the ability to gain knowledge is a better idea than taking it

In the beginning, Montag believed he loved Mildred and cared for her and never bothered getting into reading books. For example, Mildred wasn’t feeling good so Montag took her to the hospital, “Mildred! Her face was like

Mildred is so brainwashed by their society that she prefers not to and even refuses to think about it. This fact is shown when Mildred simply tells him to go away: “Let me alone,’ said Mildred. “I didn’t do anything.” (BradBury, 49). This unnatural relationship begins to create a type of void between her and Montag.

“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness” - John Steinbeck. Opposites often times combat each other, but the presence of each is necessary for life. In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the main character, Guy Montag, is influenced by both his wife and his new neighbor. However, Montag’s wife, Mildred, and neighbor, Clarisse McClellan, are polar opposites, which in turn change his life forever. The effects of Clarisse’s innocent rebelliousness and Mildred’s bland conformity on Montag include: changing Montag’s view on life, confirms his new found understanding of the world, and drive him to the extreme to act upon the world.

Montag is not a static character; he develops and changes due to outside influences. Clarisse’s constant questioning of the outside world influences Montag and gradually pushes over into the rest of his life, as exemplified by this quote, “He opened his mouth and it was Clarisse McClellan saying, ‘Didn’t firemen prevent fires rather than stoke them up and get them going?’” (Bradbury 34). This quote demonstrates how Clarisse’s thoughts and questions have resulted in the change of Montag’s own thought processes. Later in the story, Montag turns completely on his old life as he burns Beatty, making him “...no longer human or known…” (Bradbury 119). Beatty’s prior defence of the government and its philosophies help to strengthen this link between Beatty and the authority. Thus, Montag’s burning of Beatty represents Montag’s rejection of the

However, Montag has changed his mindset and decided it was Beatty’s time to go. So, he set him on fire due to Beatty and Montag getting into a physical and verbal altercation about the books that Montag was secretly hiding. Another example is, “Montag did not hear, he was far away, he was running with his mind…” ( Bradbury 112). This shows the complete transformation of Montag.

Mildred called in the alarm and chose to leave her husband behind. This shows that Mildred values her TV family more than Montag. We can infer that she will do anything to protect herself, even if it means helping to kill her husband. Her words “everything’s gone now” support my answer because she was referring to her TV family and how they are everything to her. She definitely loves them more than she loves Montag.

Bradbury uses Montag’s view of Mildred’s characterization to convey that Mildred exemplifies a bad character with her obsession with technology and consequential treatment with Montag. Mildred’s decision to prioritize her self desire for technology damages her relationship with her husband, Montag. Montag meets with an english professor named Faber who also believes that books need to be preserved. They have a huge discussion about how they should get everyone aware about the books. Montag is frustrated because “nobody listens any more.

I would think she is controlled by the society she lives in. They made her like this by making laws and changing what reality really is. She is just like everyone else. In The book Mildred finds a book under Montag’s pillow. It said,” Mildred’s hand had frozen behind the pillow. Her fingers traced the book’s outline and as the shape became more familiar her face looked stunned.” This means she is being controlled by what other people think about books. If everyone in her society liked books she wouldn’t have a problem with it. Mildred thinks it is wrong to have a book just like everyone

The first significant difference between Guy Montag and Captain Beatty would be their view on society as a whole. The society of Fahrenheit 451 is characterized as being one void of free, deep thought, and patience. In Montag’s society, people are not troubled with the hard, sometimes unanswerable questions of life; they simply “want to be happy”, they all live for “pleasure [and] titulation” (Bradbury 56). Both Montag and Beatty recognize that this has turned society hollow and hedonistic, but respond to this oppositely. Montag believes society to be worse off now than it was when people had free access to knowledge, he acts on his

In the novel, one major character that Bradbury presents that is significant to the understanding of this theme is Mildred. Mildred is a perfect representation of the conformity of the society as she does everything the society wants people to do without independent thought. She values technology over human life, as she only cares about her tv walls, rather than her own husband, revealing that they are not truly in love. As Bradbury connotes through a dialogue between Montag and Mildred, “‘When did we meet? And where?’... ‘I don’t know,’ she said… ‘Funny, how funny, not to remember where or when you met your husband or wife.’... ‘It doesn’t matter’” (40). As it can be seen, Mildred does not love Montag, as she shows little to no effort trying to remember where she and her husband met, saying that it is not important. As a result of her conformity, Mildred is presented in the novel a