Fahrenheit 451: Mildred's "Friends"

In the novel just about all of the common people in the society are dull, mindless, and impressionable sheep who do nothing of value in their lives and spend their days watching television and listening to the radio while the news programs force-feed them lies which they are all too willing to accept. Two other common people introduced in the novel are friends of Guy Montag's wife Mildred. Their names are Mrs. Phelps and Mrs. Bowles. Both of them are friends of Mildred's who talk to Guy on one or two occasions. The one he has the most important discussion with is Mrs. Phelps to whom he shows a poem that affects her deeply and makes her feel a large variety of emotions that she has never felt before in her life. Mrs. Phelps has had three husbands and most recently the third has been sent off to fight in the front lines of the war that was mentioned several times throughout the novel. Despite this she cares almost nothing for his well being and is basically entirely unaffected by his departure. This just goes to show how entirely unattached to their lives and emotions the people of the society really are. Even worse it Mrs. Bowles who has gone through three husbands, one by divorce, one by suicide, and one by a traffic accident and she doesn't seem to care at all. Even better is the fact that she has two children who seem to despise her more than anything, and what does she do about it? She goes back to watching TV and playing with technology like a good, obedient, mindless sheep. The way Bradbury portrayed the apathetic and technology obsessed society in Fahrenheit 451 is a truly amazing testament to his writing ability. He so masterfully pulls off a dystopic view of the people in his society that it is truly believable how uncaring their society is. This is one of the reasons why his novel carries such weight.