Mildred+-+Group+1

=//__The Members!__ The Book!//= =-Fahrenheit 451(Ray Bradbury)=

Daniel Khong -3S2 Kevin Chew -3ST Beal Lim -3ST**
 * Lennon Chua -3ST

=__**Mildred Montag**__=

STUDY THE SETTING IN WHICH MILDRED IS INTRODUCED TO US FOR THE FIRST TIME. WHAT IMPRESSION DOES IT PRODUCE AND WHY?

1) She is careless and forgetful.

Evidence: "The small crystal bottle of sleeping tablets which earlier today had been filled with thirty tablets and which now lay uncapped and empty in the light of the tiny flare" - Page 13

Elaboration

This piece of text suggests that she had overdosed on sleeping pills. The cause of this, intentional or accidental, is yet to be uncovered. This could be caused by not paying attantion to the pills when she ate them, or entirely forgetting that she ate them at all. This rises to the conclusion that she may have been careless when eating them.

WHAT TWO EFFECTS DOES MILDRED HAVE ON MONTAG?

1) She makes Montag worry about her with her carelessness.

Evidence: " There had been no night in the last two years that Mildred had not swum that sea, had not gladly gone down in it for the third time." - Page 12

" If only someone else's flesh and memory. If only they could have taken her mind along to the dry cleaner and emptied the pockets and steamed and cleansed it and reblocked it and brought it back in the morning. If only..." - Page 16

Elaboration

Referring to the first piece of evidence, the phrase 'had not gladly gone down in it for the third time' suggests that she may have gotten into several similiar near-death situations, only Montag to save her. This must make Montag very ancious, as he is forced to step into the role of the 'lifeguard', having to go home everyday and check if his wife is dead or not, because he loves Mildred very much so. The second piece of evidence could point to a certain fragment of his mindset, to his agony of sadness over his wife's carelessness, illustrated in the constant repetition of the phrase "if only" in the seccond piece of evidence.