While Millie and Montag are reading, Clarisse's profound influence on Montag becomes obvious. In fact, Montag points out that "She was the first person I can remember who looked straight at me as if I counted." However, Millie and Montag have forgotten — or are ignoring — the danger of their situation. They hear "a faint scratching" outside the front door and "a slow, probing sniff, and exhalation of electric steam" under the doorsill. Millie's reaction is "It's only a dog." Only a dog? The Mechanical Hound lurks outside, probably programmed by Beatty to collect evidence that he can use later against Montag.
The Montags, however, can't ignore the sounds of bombers crossing the sky over their house, signaling the imminence of war. Although no on knows the cause of the war or its origins, the country is filled with unrest, which is a parallel to the growing unrest and anger smoldering within Montag.
Abandonment of reality has become uppermost in Millie's mind. When Montag speaks to her about the value and merit in books, she shrieks and condemns him for possessing the books. Bradbury describes her as "sitting there like a wax doll melting in its own heat." Here, fire imagery again implies destruction. This time, however, Millie carries the seeds of her own destruction. As stated earlier at the end of Part One, she can choose books (and life). But because she shuns books and the lessons that she can learn from them, Bradbury describes her as a doll that melts in its self-generated heat. Montag, on the other hand, wants to comprehend the information that the books give him. More importantly, however, Montag realizes that he needs a teacher if he wants to fully understand the books' information.
