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Mildred Montag Mildred Montag is one of the most controversial characters in Fahrenheit 451. This is because we cannot suggest that she if fully deprived, in spiritual sense of this word, especially when we meet her at the beginning. But as storyline progresses, Mildred distances herself more and more from her husband. This is because she is being brainwashed to such a degree that it made her incapable of having any critical thoughts about book burning doctrine. Her suicidal tendency leaves no doubt that Mildred is genuinely unhappy. But her unhappiness derives from the fact that she has nothing to occupy herself with.
This corresponds to the contemporary realities in America, when many women waste their time pursuing the illusion of conventional happiness, while being unhappy deep inside. But, in my opinion, many Mildred's psychological inadequacies have biological nature. For example, she is obsessed with watching TV. This is exactly the situation with many modern housewives, who cannot live without watching primitive soap operas. This is despite the fact that reading books is being encouraged nowadays. The reason here appears to be simple women are less capable of understanding the essence of abstract concepts.
They simply cannot relate them to the reality. At the same time, they think of soap operas as real and absolutely legitimate, in artistic sense of this word. This is because the soap operas action revolves around the idea of sexual tension between the characters. Therefore, it would be wrong to suggest that Mildred's unhappiness is caused by the repressive nature of Bradbury's futuristic society alone. Even if she was allowed to read books, she would not, because it would require an intellectual effort, on her part.
Yet, she appears to be incapable of it. This is exactly the same reason why Mildred believed that the official policy of burning books was morally justified. We can relate it to the modern doctrine of political-correctness, when emotional properties of peoples opinions are considered to be socially inappropriate. This is because emotionalism makes such opinions offensive. What is truly frightening about Mildred is the fact that she could not think about anything, outside of soap opera. She was looking at the world through the screen of TV.
This is why her understanding of ethics was so distorted. There is no doubt that she did not experience any psychological discomfort, because of betraying her husband. In fact, she thought that she was doing a right thing. This indicates the fact that Mildred lived in totalitarian society, which tried to present itself as being truly politically-correct, by constant brainwashing: We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the constitution says, but everyone made equal...
A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. (Bradbury). Mildred reminds us those hysterical left-wing politicians, who prefer to live in the imaginary world of universal equality, who strives to build multicultural utopia in U. S. , despite numerous indication that this will never work. The ultimate reason for Mildred's unhappiness is because her existence is deprived of any point. She was just killing time, by watching TV.
Yet, somehow she was aware that such state of affairs is grossly unnatural. Mildred wanted to be more active, in the social sense of this word. But her intellectual limitations prevented her from doing this. Nevertheless, Mildred wanted to justify her spiritual depravity in her own eyes - that is why she thought of betraying Guy Montag as something that would benefit the society, as whole. There are many women like Mildred in our time. Their sexual dissatisfaction leads them to become judgemental and overly moral.
They cannot expand their minds, because of being intellectually deprived. Yet, for some strange reason, they think that they have a right to impose their crippled morality upon others. Therefore, I would much rather think of Mildred in terms of a symptom, then in terms of human being. Bibliography: Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451.
New York: Ballentine Books, 1953. "Bradbury, Ray. " World Literature Criticism: 1500 - Present. James R. Draper, editor. Vol. 1.
Detroit: Gale Research, 1992. Williams, Walter Racial Diversity at the Expense of Intellectual Diversity. November 4, 2006. Capitalism Magazine.
December 15, 2006. web
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Research essay sample on Sense Of This Word Soap Operas
