Despite her stoicism, Mildred is not completely unaffected by her deteriorating health. She is still passionate about cleaning the house and is obsessed with doing a good job, often bending her body in unattractive postures. She is also concerned about her drooping skin and believes that it might be caused by the lack of germs in their house.
Montag tries to talk to her about his feelings, but she refuses to listen. She says that he should just burn the books and not keep them hidden away, so that she doesn't have to worry about reading them. Montag is frightened that she might report him, and he tries to persuade her not to do so in order to save their friendship.
Instead, she explains that she will not be happy if her TV "family" is destroyed. This shows that the media has immersed her in an unhealthy state of detachment from reality. She feels that the nonexistent characters on her television screen are more important than their marriage. In the same way, Montag realizes that he would not be sad if Mildred died, because their marriage is nothing more than a title that has no meaning.
When Mildred overdoses on sleeping pills, she is rushed to the hospital. The doctors use a machine that pumps her stomach and replaces her poisoned blood with fresh, clean blood. This machine is similar to a blood transfusion or gastric suction. It is used to restore an individual's healthy blood cells after they have been damaged by medication or surgery. This process represents an attempt to bring back a person's repressed, primal, instinctive self. Bradbury uses this imagery to suggest that his society's technology has removed people from their real lives and turned them into empty shells of themselves.
