“We need not to be let alone.”

November 14th, 2006 · 48 Comments
Fahrenheit 451

Leave Me Alone

Let you alone! Thats all very well, but how can I leave myself alone? We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real? (52)

- Montag

Montag says this to Mildred after the traumatic experience with the old woman burning herself. Why does he say this to her? What does he mean by this? Do you think that he has a point?
Do you agree with this statement and is it good to be bothered? Why or why not?

Create a free edublog to get your own comment avatar (and more!)

48 responses so far ↓

1 Angelica // Nov 14, 2006 at 1:52 pm

Montag is pointing out that thier society never really thinks they either take things as they are or the choose to ignore them ( like Mildred with the sleeping pills
2 Angelica // Nov 14, 2006 at 1:56 pm

I also think that Montag is trying to express his anger about being bothered by the woman, Clasrisse’s death , meditating on his life. MOntag is misunderstood and all of this is probably bothering him. he probably is thinking about how before his new mentality nothing really bothered him and now he is challenging the rest of the people in his life to do the same.
3 Kevin // Nov 14, 2006 at 1:58 pm

I think he is saying that everyone ignores each other and avoids interaction, but if you are allowing yourself to be bothered and talk to the person, you will in fact be interacting with one another and will be diffrent than the rest of the society like Clarisse and Montag.
4 Taylor // Nov 14, 2006 at 2:02 pm

I think taht Montag basicly is trieng to say that it is better to face and solve your problems, instead of triend to ignore them, and try to get your mind off of them. Doing that could make a person stressed out, and or harm themselves. Mildred showed a very poor examlpe of how to deal with her emotions by taking the sleeping pills as Angelica stated. Mildred has been going with the flow, and has become a product of her surrounded for some time now, and nothing ever bothers her. Montag is beging to realize that it is somewhat important to have a say in your society by observing what the old lady did with the burning of the house and books.
5 Taylor // Nov 14, 2006 at 2:04 pm

i ment trieng to ignore them
6 Kelsey // Nov 14, 2006 at 2:11 pm

I think that Montag says that because in thier world people never really take the time to talk to eachother. If you do not ever talk to someone elses then you are isolating your self from everyone else. Mildred and her TV or Parlor are iscolating her from the outside world and Montag.
7 Ian // Nov 14, 2006 at 3:23 pm

he says this because he doesn’t want to be left alone. he wants to be bothered with somthing so he has somthing to think about. when you are bothered by somthing you want to think about how to solve the problem. but for Montag he has no problems to solve because in their society their are not soposed to be and problems, any worries, or any things that you have to think about. i think that he just wants somthing to think about.
8 Ian // Nov 14, 2006 at 3:23 pm

you can comment on my post if you want and if you think it is right or wrong
9 Amanda // Nov 14, 2006 at 5:03 pm

I think Montag says this because he wants to be able to think he is trying to get his wife to understand that.
10 Raya // Nov 14, 2006 at 6:09 pm

I think Montag said this to Mildred because she is never bothered. She watches tv all day, what could possibly bother her? Her means that she sould talk to someone because when you talk to someone you can become bothered with the conversation or someone’s personality. I feel that Montag has a point, saying that being bothered is good that she should try having being bothered. in her life
11 L'eandra // Nov 14, 2006 at 6:23 pm

I think the reason why he said this was to see if she would be moved by this topic. I also think that he wants her to start listening to what he has to say and reply upon the topic. Yes, i do think that Montag as a point. I think it’s an huge point, his wife is always in front of the TV and thinks what she thinks life is all about. He also wants her mind to be freed from the TV life and come back to life as she left it. I agree with this and not at the same time. The reason being is that he wants to much out of her, yet he knows she can over come her fears of ” real life”.
12 Romel // Nov 14, 2006 at 6:54 pm

i think he is saying well you dont have to care but i do care and that be left alone and not interacting with eachother isn’t really good because then you wouldn’ t really get a chance to know the person you are suposed to love or even know
13 Romel // Nov 14, 2006 at 6:58 pm

and i think the reason that mildred is always watching tv is because she had a bad life experience in the past and has not trusted life ever since
14 Ashley // Nov 14, 2006 at 7:06 pm

I think that Montag says this to her because he wants her to have real feelings about something as serious as this. I think that Montag does have a point because he wants her to step out of the arrogant state of mind that she has and step into reality. And how to deal with real problems instead of problems that Mildred faces by watching her TV shows that she watches.
15 Blair // Nov 14, 2006 at 7:10 pm

Yes, I do believe that it is farely important for you to be bothered once in a while. But, please note the ONCE IN A WHILE… people don’t always want you all up under them.. but if nobody ever pays attention to what you say, or do you might eventually want attention and do something stupid to get the attention that is desired. That might be shown as “bothering you”.. Although, some people just get bothered easily no matter what. And regardless of the situation. Bothering people actually might keep human beings saine.
16 Blair // Nov 14, 2006 at 7:20 pm

WHen he says this to her I thinkt hat he is just so iratated with her at this point that he almost loses his composure.. so he slightly goes off. What Midred is saying would get iratating because she doesn’t know anything and you can’t have a true conversation with her because she basically blows you off and ignores what you have to say.. Its almost like talking to a wall

Imagine you’re talking to someone who consistantly says stupid things that don’t make any sense, and also laughs off whatever you have to say, when ever you ask a question that might make you think. I think that it is almost like talkin to a brick wall. And I dont know about you but that doesn’t sound like fun.

Although he might not have had a point it could have just been out of frustration but I am not completly sure.
17 David // Nov 14, 2006 at 7:38 pm

Montag says this to Mildred after the traumatic experience with the old woman burning herself. Why does he say this to her? What does he mean by this? Do you think that he has a point?
Do you agree with this statement and is it good to be bothered? Why or why not?
I think he says this because he feels that he never gets a chance to talk to Mildred so he wants to bother her, even if it will get her attention. He has a point because in his situation he may feel that people that are
“married” should talk to each other even if one person is bothered.

I think that to being bothered isn’t good. It isn’t good to be bothered if your sad or depressed because this makes you feel very angery at a person who has done nothing but in your opion has bothered you. Even if your not already sad or depressed you can still be anoyed by someone else bothering you.
18 David // Nov 14, 2006 at 7:42 pm

You can comment on my post also and say your thought about it.
19 Victoria // Nov 14, 2006 at 8:03 pm

Mildred really doesn’t think about other people just herself. She is self-centered and doesn’t like to go into uncomfortable conversations. Montag has a point because he could be fed up with Mildred’s ignorance. It’s good to be bothered sometimes because it gives you a chance to think about how it is bothering you.
20 Romel // Nov 14, 2006 at 8:05 pm

i also think that he is saying that everyone is not bring botherd and this is the reason that everything is the way it is. all the people all traping thereselves in their homes and doing things that are seperating them from the rest of the world such as watching tv and listening to the radio, and if they aren’t doing these things then they are being punished by getting their homes burnt down for reading and trying to understand the world.
21 Steven // Nov 14, 2006 at 8:15 pm

I think Montag has a very good point. You must be bothered at some point in your life to fully understand reality. because what happened to that old lady was sadly reality and its hard to imagine that you were part of the reason she died. I dont think Mildred really understands this cause she’s living in a fantasy world where theres not a care in the world. She’s always at home watching tv she doesn’t have a job, she also doesn’t work around the house and sh’e convinced herself that what she see on TV is reality( talks about the TV as her family).
22 Romel // Nov 14, 2006 at 8:27 pm

i have a felling that in this book mildred is suposed to represent the world she is always alone and trying to imagine life as an actress and becoming a star and seems to be fantasizing that she is in the world of television agtain like steven said she is refering to the people in the tv as her family.
23 P.J. // Nov 14, 2006 at 8:49 pm

I think tha when Guy says that they need to be bothered he means that as opposed to just pushing problems aside that people should stop to think about the problem and not simply keep it all bottled up inside. people need to let their emotions out once in awhile. People NEED to express feelings. To be bothered is human nature it is something that must happen for a person to be healthy. Mildred is the ideal example, she was mentally unstable from keeping her emotions in and that is why she overdosed on the pills.
24 Mr. Kolade // Nov 14, 2006 at 9:10 pm

Everyone seems to agree that being bothered is good…. but as Blair sort of brought up, is Montag going about this the right way with Mildred? How should he try and “bother” here?
25 William L. // Nov 14, 2006 at 9:15 pm

When someone says they don’t want to be bothered with something or someone they mean exactly what they say. However, in this case people such as Mildred don’t want to be bothered when it comes to talking about things that she doesn’t care about. Such as Clarisse. She was of no importance to Mildred, even when she died. On the other hand, Montag thinks that every now and then something important comes up and it has a large effect on you as an individual. I think that Montag just wants Mildred to feel his pain just a little bit. If she could just do that then, he would probably not think of the woman and her house that was burned as much. Does Mildred care about anything besides her t.v family? All she does is ignores Montag. Montag, I can’t say that I feel your pain but, if you were real I would at least pay some type of attention to you! I agreee with Montag, some things are really worth putting emphasis on.
26 Deji M. // Nov 14, 2006 at 9:17 pm

Obviously Montag is fed up with people in gerenal. After Clarisse died it seems that Montag has no one else to relate too. Montag has a point, people of his time really need to be bothered from their everyday “happy” life and realize how improper their life is now and to actually think about others instead of themselves. Mildred is an example of how Montag’s society is like. She seems to be clueless on what her real deep down feelings are.
27 William L. // Nov 14, 2006 at 9:21 pm

Montag has every right to be angry but, two wrong’s do not make a right. However,the treatment that Mildred has given him deserves revenge. ”Montag should give her a taste of her own medicine”. The only problem is, she never has anything important to tell him so he can’t ignore her. She never tries to start an actuall conversation with her husband. He’s the one doing all of the talking.
28 Jeremy // Nov 14, 2006 at 9:32 pm

I think Montag is saying that people always want things to be perfect withought anything bad happening in the world. They are so used to a perfect socety that when something goes wrong they are really traumitized and dont know how to handle all the stress.
29 Chris // Nov 14, 2006 at 9:34 pm

The majoirty of the people in that world are isolated and
Montag is trying to say that people need to get out of isolation and talk to someone and think about something.
30 Jeremy // Nov 14, 2006 at 9:36 pm

i think its okay to be bothered once in a while or else peopel become numb to the bad things going on around them
31 Nate // Nov 14, 2006 at 10:29 pm

he said this to her because they are usually aloneand they don’t really commiuncate. he means that she needs to have to think about something important. I think that he does a point.I agree with the statement because if you don’t have to think of anything important, life is just plain boring.
32 **Veronica** // Nov 15, 2006 at 2:09 pm

I think he says it and feels concerned about it. Nobody cares anymore and why. Yeah I think that every one should care about something not nothing.
I think it’s good to be bothered when you do something wrong. or when you question something you should feel bothered if your really curious.
33 Malcolm // Nov 15, 2006 at 3:47 pm

Maontag is saying that that people don’ think about any thing, they just take things for granted.
34 Yinka // Nov 15, 2006 at 4:08 pm

Montag should bother Mildred to try to communicate with her eve if she is really annoyed. She might even say something to Montag with a more emmotional tone, or side.
35 Emmanuel // Nov 15, 2006 at 4:30 pm

I think Montag says this because in the book, people don’t really say anything to each other so its like isolation. Mildread isolates herself from Montag and everything else because of the TV. I also agree with what Jeremy said about saying its okay to be bothered by someone once in a while because if you dont talk to anybody people wont know what’s going on around them.
36 Aaliyah // Nov 15, 2006 at 4:51 pm

I thnk that sometimes when people say they don’t want to be bothered that you shouldn’t bother tham because they could be having a really bad day. But other times it is ok to bother people, because sometimes you may need someone to just talk to you even if you don’t care. Also because when people talk to you it sometimes comforting because you are felling really down.
37 Neil // Nov 15, 2006 at 6:24 pm

Responding to Mr.Kolade’s post, I think Montag wants to and needs to bother Mildred. Why, you say? Well, simply because if he doesn’t bother her or try to have a conversation with her than she is nothing to him. He wants to bother her so she and him can talk to each other. Maybe show emotion to each other on their real feelings? Mabye leading her in a spot where she has to think, so bothering her is a good thing to patching up their relationship.

Montag is really trying to tell Mildred that basically SOMETHING IS WRONG. But bieng as odd and too normal as she is Mildred interupts to say she doesn’t care. He tries to talk with her about his “Problems” (maybe his hand having another mind?) but she doesn’t see that Montag is doing this. His point to saying all of this is basically he wants to talk to her properly.
38 Jordan // Nov 15, 2006 at 7:07 pm

I think that Montag just kind of got pushed over the edge. Montag was suffering while Mildred didn’t even care. So he just sort of went off on her. He just got fed up with the whole society’s ignorance. I empathize with Montag and the point he was trying to get across, but him yelling things such as that wouldn’t make Mildred, let alone the society, see him as rational, but as ludicrous.
39 Aliyah // Nov 15, 2006 at 8:01 pm

I do think its okay to be bother because then you want be lonely and I also think that it’s not okay because people do want some alone time every once in awhile
40 Nia Simmons // Nov 15, 2006 at 8:01 pm

Think for a moment……If we (we being teenagers) weren’t bothered about cleaning our room we would be living in a pig stye. If adults weren’t bothered by their parents about getting a job, or having a life of their own….or getting married they: would be unemployed, have no life, and be all alone.

My point is that if we weren’t bothered about important things everything would be in complete chaos!! If my room wasn’t clean (it is now) I would get yelled at, lectured at, and have to clean my room….all because I wasn’t bothered about doing it.
41 DeAndre Says: // Nov 15, 2006 at 8:03 pm

Montag should bother Mildred by asking her questions because it will make her think and she doesn’t want to think she wants to be iscolated in her tv room with her “family”. By what we see in the story she get’s nervous and irritated when he asks her questions that make her think, Mildred doesn’t really think the tv and radio does the thinking for her.
42 Nia Simmons // Nov 15, 2006 at 8:12 pm

Everyone has a self conscious right? If we do something wrong or unnatural it would bother us right? If we weren’t bothered by our self concious once in a while we could do whatever,and not care or confess.

It’ll be like this dark cloud looming over us, or this heavy burden. If we cheat on a test, wouldn’t that bother us. If it didn’t then that would be very sad….and bad. (that’s against the honor code and bad for your conscious)
I don’t know one human being on earth that doesn’t have a conscious. If there is then they are (in the words of the great Mr. Kolade)….aaawkward!!
43 Nia Simmons // Nov 15, 2006 at 8:17 pm

Anyone who overdoses on sleeping pills (and push the matter aside) is TOTALLY mentally unstable……and not bothered enough……and weird…..and AAAWKWARD!!
44 Nia Simmons // Nov 15, 2006 at 8:42 pm

I am sorry to be so mean, (because I am NOT a mean person) but Mildred is quite dim…and cold hearted. 1) She almost KILLED herself by taking a WHOLE BOTTLE of SPEEPING PILLS. 2) When her husband tries to confront her about it, she TOTALLY blows off the fact that she almost (in fact did) comitt suicide. 3) She has no communication skills WHATSOEVER towards herhusband. If I was Montag, I would have better luck talking to a HAM SANDWICH….than with Mildred. I could talk to a DUCK and have better conversation…than with Mildred.
P.S : I would not have a conversation with a duck, because I don’t speak duck, I don’t say “quack”, and I’m not insane.
45 Jocelyn // Nov 16, 2006 at 7:47 am

He said this to Mildred because he is concerned about the old women. That the women set her own self on fire. Yes I do think he has a point because let’s say he was set on fire how would he feel and his wife feel.Also I believe and agree with the statement that you need to be bothered because the world would not be the world if everybody did not bother each other
46 Alec // Nov 16, 2006 at 8:20 pm

I think that Montag is learning how to understand, and think for himself. He is begining to learn how to identify certain traits and thought processes that normal people would have in a normal society. He is also upset about 3 things:
Clarrisse’s death
Mildered’s stupidity, uncaringnes, and unlifelike
Worried about his books
47 Randy/Randall // Nov 18, 2006 at 10:53 pm

I think that Montags point to his statement is that people need to be bothered so they can listen and then think about what they are being bothered about. I say this because when someone bothers you about something, that someone probably wants you to think about what they’re saying so you can give your own feedback and maybe even consider what that someone is saying. Thats the whole point of commercials and advertisements in our society today.
48 William J. // Nov 19, 2006 at 2:42 pm

Montag says this to Mildred after the burining because he actually cares. Lately he’s been realizing that nobody cares about one another, when the woman burns herself, Montag shows remorse because he cares. Like it said in the book, it was just a way to get attention and just an ordinary suicide that everyone’s been doing lately in ther society.

He does present a point about how selfish and cruel their society is now. Whereas no one cares if their own neighbor passes, or in that case, kills themselves in the manner in which she did.