Bradbury shows how the people in this society make ridiculous mistakes due to the distraction of the technology that surrounds them. Mildred, Montag’s wife, is known to be very oblivious to her surroundings like most of the society. Mildred ends up doing something that could’ve ended her life if she had not received help. When Montag returns home, he realizes something awfully strange about Mildred. On the floor there was an empty container of sleeping …show more content…
After witnessing the woman burning in the house, he wasn’t feeling too good about his actions. Montag felt really sick and expected his wife to care for him the way a spouse should. He expected Mildred to bring him some medicine and care for him since he was obviously not feeling well. His expectations were let down mainly because of the parlor walls that interfered with their “connection”. Montag asks,"Will you bring me aspirin and water?" "You've got to get up," she said. "It's noon. You've slept five hours later than usual." "Will you turn the parlour off?" he asked. "That's my family." "Will you turn it off for a sick man?" "I'll turn it down." She went out of the room and did nothing to the parlour and came back. "Is that better?"(Bradbury 84). At the end, Mildred didn’t comfort her husband by providing him with comfort, turning down the parlor walls, and she didn’t bring him aspirin to soothe his pain. This quote shows how the parlor walls don’t allow there to a strong connection between spouses. The parlor walls are almost viewed as if it was a replacement for a child, it was the only thing that brought her happiness, and the only thing that she cared about. Usually when a child comes into a family, the attention is constantly given to the child, sort of how Mildred treats the parlor walls, which then causes …show more content…
When Montag returns home from a long day at work, he walks into his bedroom and sees his wife already sleeping. People in this society have a “robotic” lifestyle in which each action they do requires some piece of technology. Mildred didn’t bother to stay up for her husband and wait for him, comfort him, or just wake up from his presence. She was only concerned about blocking out ambient noise with her seashells. Bradbury writes,“The little mosquito-delicate dancing hum in the air, the electrical murmur of a hidden wasp snug in its special pink warm nest. The music was almost loud enough so he could follow the tune. He felt his smile slide away, melt, fold over, and down on itself like a tallow skin, like the stuff of a fantastic candle burning too long and now collapsing and now blown out. Darkness. He was not happy” (Bradbury 24). This quote clearly shows how much her actions impacted Montag. Her sleeping there with headphones on caused him to feel unimportant. Mildred was unable to show how much she sympathized with her husband because the “rift” technology caused between them. The headphones resemble their ignorance towards reality. When someone has their headphones on, they are