Communication & Secrets

This section begins by describing two devices used to cleanse Mildred of the pills she overdosed on.  Montag is surprised that a doctor was not sent, but instead only two men who operate the devices.  One device pumped everything out of the stomach and the other device drained Mildred's blood and put in new, fresh blood.  To the device operators, this overdose is no big deal since they "get these cases nine or ten a night" (p.15).  He tells an angry and worried Montag matter-of-factly that, "You take out the old and put in the new [blood] and you're okay" (p. 15).  The device operators were in-and-out as they had another call to get to.  Seems like these overdose cases are plentiful.  Why is everyone overdosing on sleeping pills in this book's world?

The next morning, when Montag wakes up, Mildred is up and eating toast.  She wonders why she is so hungry, with no recollection of the events the night before.  At first, Montag doesn't have the heart to tell her what happened, but later in the afternoon, he finally tells her and she denies that it happened, saying, "What would I want to go and do a silly thing like that for?" (p. 19).  Instead of arguing the point, Montag just goes along with it.  The book again mentions the "Seashells" that are permanently in Mildred's ears, so much so that she has become "an expert at lip reading" (p.18).  I am beginning to equate these ear seashells to a teenager who constantly has their iPod/iPhone earbuds in.  There's also another piece of entertainment technology that the book describes in this section called wall TVs.  Mildred complains to Montag that they need to get a fourth wall TV to complete their room, since they only have three.  Montag argues that it's expensive -- $2000, which is one-third of his yearly salary.  When reading, I immediately calculated his salary in my head and thought $6000/year?  This book's world really IS different than ours!  I have to remind myself that this book was originally written in 1953, but still, in comparison with the cost of living today, it surprised me.  Also, it seems that Mildred does not work at all.  She seems a little crazy to me, in fact.  I am surprised that her and Montag are still married, or how they came to be together in the first place, since they seem so different.  Was Mildred always this way?  Or did something happen to her after Montag married her that made her this way?

When Montag leaves for work that day, he runs into Clarisse again.  While reading their conversation, I got a bit of a flirtatious vibe between these two characters, which seems a little scandalous to me since she is 17 and he is 30, besides the obvious fact that he is married (although not exactly happily).  Clarisse also questions Montag about why and how he became a firefighter in the first place.  She tells him, "You're not like the others... When I talk, you look at me... The others would walk off and leave me talking.  Or threaten me... That's why I think it's so strange you're a fireman.  It just doesn't seem right for you, somehow" (p. 23-24).  Montag does not respond to her questions and instead tells her that she better get going off to her psychiatrist appointment.  Montag seems to be really intrigued by Clarisse and her family.  He doesn't understand how they can stay up late at night talking.  He wonders, what do they talk about?  It seems that communication in this book's world is rare and not normal.  Perhaps this is an effect of not being allowed to read books?

The last piece in this section introduced me to "The Mechanical Hound," which is a type of robot dog, but with eight legs instead of four.  The Hound is a type of weapon used by the firefighters to hunt and kill, I would guess people who own books (although it does not say specifically in this section).  Montag swears the Hound doesn't like him, since he has growled and nearly attacked him multiple times.  A new character, Captain Beatty, tells Montag that the Hound is incapable of having feelings and that Montag must be mistaken.  However, Montag insists that since the Hound is programmed to hunt for certain things, maybe someone programmed it to hunt him.  The Captain assures him that he has no enemies at the station, but Montag has a secret that, if discovered, makes him think otherwise.  The author writes, "Montag did not move and only stood thinking of the ventilator grille in the hall at home and what lay hidden behind the grille.  If someone here in the firehouse knew about the ventilator then mightn't they "tell" the Hound?" (p.27).  I can only assume that Montag has stolen a book and stashed it at his house, which was very surprising to me.  What book did he steal?  Why did he steal it?  Does he even know how to read?  Does someone at the firehouse know about his secret and did they program the Hound to kill Montag?  Or perhaps the Hound can sense the smell of books and Montag has a faint hint of it on him?!  So many questions...